H.R. 6213 (112^th): No More Solyndras Act

GovTrack’s Bill Summary

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Library of Congress Summary

The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.

House Republican Conference Summary

The summary below was written by the House Republican Conference, which is the caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives.

This summary can be found at http://www.gop.gov/bill/112/2/hr6213.

Background

The Committee on Energy and Commerce conducted extensive oversight investigations of the failed Solyndra loan, and uncovered a series of wrongdoings by the Obama administration in its management of the loan guarantee program.  H.R. 6213 would effectively terminate the administration’s loan guarantee program by prohibiting the Department of Energy from issuing any loan guarantees for applications submitted after December 31, 2011.  The legislation will also provide taxpayers with new protections for already pending participants, including increased due diligence, new transparency requirements, and the prohibition of taxpayer subordination.

House Republicans understand that the Nation would benefit from an all-of-the-above energy policy that includes alternative as well as conventional energy sources.  Increasingly it has become clear that the energy mix will change over time to take advantage of new technological breakthroughs.  However, according to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, there “is a right way and a wrong way to diversify the Nation's energy supply, and heavy-handed government attempts to pick winners and losers have a long and unsuccessful history.”

House Report 112-652 states, “Nonetheless, this was the approach taken by the Obama Administration in the 2009 stimulus package, which allocated $90 billion dollars for the so-called green energy economy.  The results of the stimulus spending are largely in, and they are no better than Washington's past efforts to spur energy innovation and jobs by favoring specific companies and technologies.  Particularly disappointing is the Administration's record on the loan guarantee program established under Title 17 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.”

Additional resources related to Solynda and the “No More Solyndras Act” can be found here.

Summary

H.R. 6213 would accomplish the following:

• H.R. 6213 would phase out the Department of Energy’s (DOE) loan guarantee program under Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Incentives for Innovative Technologies) by prohibiting DOE from issuing any loan guarantees under Title XVII for applications submitted after December 31, 2011;

• Applicants and projects that are already pending in the queue and/or have received conditional commitments but have not yet been issued a loan guarantee would be grandfather into a new approval process;

• Under the new approval process, the bill would prohibit any pending applications from being guaranteed until the Secretary of Treasury has made a written recommendation to DOE on the merits of the guarantee within 30 days of receiving a loan proposal;

• The bill would require DOE  to provide a detailed explanation to Congress if a loan is guaranteed and does not conform to a Treasury recommendation;

• The bill would require DOE to provide a report to Congress detailing the following information for any new guarantees issued to an existing applicant: (1) the review and decision-making process utilized by DOE in issuing the guarantee; (2) the terms of the guarantee; (3) the recipient; and (4) the technology and project; and

• The bill would prohibit DOE from restructuring the terms of any guarantee unless they first consult with Treasury.

• The bill would provide civil penalties for any federal official who issues a loan guarantee in contravention of this legislation.
• The bill would require the Comptroller General to conduct a study of the Federal subsidies in energy markets provided from fiscal year 2003 through fiscal year 2012.

Cost

According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 6213 would cost about $1 million over the 2013-2017 period, assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts. Pay-as-you-go procedures would apply to this legislation because it would affect direct spending and revenues. CBO estimates, however, that those impacts would be insignificant over the 2013-2022 period.

House Democratic Caucus Summary

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We’ll be looking for a source of summaries from the other side in the meanwhile.