HR280DEC16

TheWeekInCongress.com

Week Ending December 16, 2005

H.R.280 To facilitate the provision of assistance by the Department of Housing and Urban Development for the cleanup and economic redevelopment of brownfields.

BRIEF

Brownfields are polluted property sites but not so polluted to include them as Superfund sites. The bill aims to promote developing those sites as a tool to revitalize communities and improve their quality of life and the environment.

Regulations governing qualifying for Federal funds to develop brownfields have traditionally been weighted towards qualifying for large redevelopment sites such that municipalities with smaller sites to develop find the process of qualifying somewhat insurmountable.

This bill opens a few financing doors for the smaller projects by allowing funds to be provided through grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The grants could only be used for reasonable administrative costs for establishing enterprise zones and renewal communities. Funds could also be used for planning and development and public outreach. Grants could also be used to build or improve tornado-safe shelters for residents of manufactured housing. Those grants would be awarded to non-profit and for-profit groups including owners of trailer parks with the exception that the funds could not build a shelter if there is no warning siren within 1500 feet of the park

The bill provides for some grants to municipalities to be used to acquire land for redevelopment.

Sponsor: Representative Gary G. Miller (R-CA-42^nd)

Vote: Passed House by voice vote December 14, 2005.

Cost to the taxpayers: “CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 280 would cost $99 million over the next five years, assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts. Of this amount, $69 million would be used by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to provide grants to local and tribal governments to support the environmental cleanup and economic development of brownfield sites. The remaining $30 million of the bill's estimated cost would be used by HUD to establish a pilot program to encourage more communities to support redevelopment efforts at brownfield sites.”

MORE INFORMATION

(a) Findings- The Congress finds that--

(1) returning the Nation's brownfield sites to productive economic use could generate more than 550,000 additional jobs and up to $2,400,000,000 in new tax revenues for cities and towns;

(2) redevelopment of brownfield sites and reuse of infrastructure at such sites will protect natural resources and open spaces;

(3) lack of funding for redevelopment is a primary obstacle impeding the reuse of brownfield sites;

(4) the Department of Housing and Urban Development is the agency of the Federal Government that is principally responsible for supporting community development and encouraging productive land use in urban areas of the United States;

(5) grants under the Brownfields Economic Development Initiative of the Department of Housing and Urban Development provide local governments with a flexible source of funding to pursue brownfields redevelopment through land acquisition, site preparation, economic development, and other activities;

(6) to be eligible for such grant funds, a community must be willing to pledge community development block grant funds as partial collateral for a loan guarantee under section 108 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, and this requirement is a barrier to many local communities that are unable or unwilling to pledge such block grant funds as collateral; and

(7) by de-linking grants for brownfields development from section 108 community development loan guarantees and the related pledge of community development block grant funds, more communities will have access to funding for redevelopment of brownfield sites.

(b) Purposes- The purpose of this Act is to provide cities and towns with more flexibility for brownfields development, increased accessibility to brownfields redevelopment funds, and greater capacity to coordinate and collaborate with other government agencies--

(1) by providing additional incentives to invest in the cleanup and development of brownfield sites; and

(2) by de-linking grants for brownfields development from community development loan guarantees and the related pledge of community development block grant funds.

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