HR 906

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To promote and coordinate global change research, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Mark Udall (D) CO
 
Status: Active
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Summary:
4/24/2008--Reported to House amended, Part I. Global Change Research and Data Management Act of 2007 - Title I: Global Change Research - (Sec. 103) Directs the President to establish or designate an interagency committee to ensure cooperation and coordination of federal research activities pertaining to processes of global change. Requires the committee to: (1) include representatives of agencies conducting global change research and agencies with authority over resources likely to be affected by global change; (2) serve as the forum for developing the National Global Change Research and Assessment Plan (NGCRA Plan) and a vulnerability assessment; (3) ensure cooperation among federal agencies with respect to global change research activities; (4) work with groups conducting such research to provide for periodic public and peer review of the United States Global Change Research Program (USGCR Program); (5) cooperate with the Secretary of State in providing representation at international meetings on global change research and coordinating federal activities with other nations' programs and international global change research activities; (6) work with authorities to ensure that the USGCR Program is designed to produce information needed to develop policies to reduce the vulnerability of the United States and other regions to global change; (7) facilitate ongoing information exchange with regional, state, and local governments and other user communities; and (8) identify additional decision making groups that may use information generated through the USGCR Program. (Sec. 104) Directs the President to establish the interagency USGCR Program to improve understanding of global change, to respond to the information needs of communities and decision makers, and to provide periodic assessments of the vulnerability of the United States and other regions to global and regional climate change. Requires the Office of Science and Technology Policy to be the lead agency for the Program. Requires the Office's Director to identify interagency activities included in the NGCRA Plan that do not fall within participating agencies' current fiscal year budgets and to allocate funds to agencies to conduct such activities. Authorizes such activities to include: (1) developing scenarios for climate, land-cover change, population growth, and socioeconomic development; (2) calibrating and testing alternative regional and global climate models; (3) identifying economic sectors and regional climatic zones; and (4) convening regional workshops to facilitate information exchange and involvement of stakeholder groups in the activities of the Program. Requires the Director to ensure that at least one workshop is held per year in specified regions to facilitate information exchange and outreach to stakeholders. Authorizes appropriations for FY2008-FY2013. (Sec. 105) Directs the President to develop the NGCRA Plan to implement the USGCR Program, including recommendations for global change research and assessment. Requires the President to submit a completed Plan to Congress within three years and at east every five years thereafter. Sets forth provisions concerning Plan contents. Requires the Plan to set research goals and priorities and to include: (1) global measurements, establishing worldwide to regional scale observations prioritized to understand global change and to meet the information needs of decision makers on all relevant spatial and time scales; (2) information on economic, demographic, and technological trends that contribute to changes in the Earth system and that influence society's vulnerability to global and regional climate change; (3) development of indicators and baseline databases to document global change, including changes in species distribution and behavior, extent of glaciations, and changes in sea level; (4) studies of historical changes in the Earth system, using evidence from the geological and fossil record; (5) assessments of predictability using quantitative models of the Earth system to simulate global and regional environmental processes and trends; (6) focused research initiatives to understand the nature of and interaction among physical, chemical, biological, land use, and social processes related to global and regional climate change; and (7) focused research initiatives to determine and meet the information needs of governmental decision makers. Requires the Plan to incorporate the recommendations relating to data acquisition, management, integration, and archiving made by the interagency climate and other global change data management working groups established under this Act. Requires the President to enter into an agreement with: (1) the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to evaluate the scientific content of the Plan and recommend priorities for future global and regional climate change research and assessment; and (2) the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices to evaluate the utility to state, local, and regional decision makers of each Plan and of the information outputs of the Program for development of policies to reduce vulnerability to global change and recommend priorities for future global and regional climate change research and assessment. Requires the President to publish the Plan for public comment before submitting it to Congress.(Sec. 106) Requires the President to provide general guidance to each federal agency participating in the Program with respect to the preparation of requests for appropriations for Program activities.(Sec. 107) Requires the President to submit a vulnerability assessment to Congress within a year and every five years thereafter. Requires such assessment to: (1) integrate, evaluate, and interpret the findings of the Program and discuss the scientific uncertainties associated with such findings; (2) analyze current trends in global change and project major trends for the subsequent 25 to 100 years; (3) analyze changes to the natural environment, land and water resources, and biological diversity in major geographic regions of the United States and other continents; (4) analyze the effects of global change on food and fiber production, energy production and use, transportation, human health and welfare, water availability and coastal infrastructure, and human social and economic systems; and (5) summarize the vulnerability of different geographic regions of the world to global change and analyze the implications of global change for the United States, including for international assistance, population displacement, food and resource availability, and national security.(Sec. 108) Requires the President to enter into a joint agreement with the National Academy of Public Administration and NAS within a year and every four years thereafter to: (1) document current policy options being implemented by governments to mitigate or adapt to the effects of global and regional climate change; (2) evaluate the effectiveness of those current policy options; (3) identify and evaluate a range of additional policy options and infrastructure for mitigating or adapting to such effects; (4) analyze the adoption rates of policies and technologies available to reduce the vulnerability of society to global change, with an evaluation of the market and policy obstacles in the United States; and (5) evaluate the distribution of economic costs and benefits of these policy options across different U.S. economic sectors.(Sec. 109) Requires the President to submit with the budget request each year a report on the global change research activities conducted pursuant to this Act.(Sec. 110) Requires the President to: (1) ensure that National Climate Program's research, assessment, and outreach activities are considered in developing national global and regional climate change research and assessment efforts; and (2) facilitate ongoing information exchange with governments and other user communities through programs authorized in the National Climate Program Act.(Sec. 111) Repeals the Global Change Research Act of 1990.(Sec. 112) Requires the President to establish or designate a Global Change Research Information Exchange to make scientific research and other information produced through or utilized by the USGCR Program, which would be useful in preventing, mitigating, or adapting to the effects of global change, accessible through electronic means. (Sec. 113) Requires the Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to enter into an arrangement with NAS to study and report to Congress on the current status of ice sheet melt, as caused by climate change, with implications for global sea level rise. (Sec. 114) Requires the Administrator of NOAA and the Director of NSF to enter into an arrangement with NAS to study and report to Congress on the current state of the science on the potential impacts of climate change on patterns of hurricane and typhoon development and the implications for affected regions.Title II: Climate and Other Global Change Data Management - (Sec. 203) Directs the President to establish or designate an interagency climate and other global change data management working group to make recommendations for coordinating federal climate and other global change data management and archiving activities. Requires the working group to report to Congress within a year and every four years thereafter on: (1) recommendations for the establishment, maintenance, and accessibility of a catalog identifying all available climate and other global change data sets; (2) climate and other global change data collections in danger of being lost and recommendations to prevent such loss; (3) gaps in climate and other global change data and recommendations to fill those gaps; (4) procedures for climate and other global change data collection, management, and retention and recommendations for ensuring their use by federal agencies and other entities; (5) a coordinated strategy for funding and allocating responsibilities among federal agencies for climate and other global change data collection, management, and retention; (6) recommendations for ensuring that particular attention is paid to the collection, management, and archiving of metadata; (7) recommendations for ensuring a unified and coordinated federal capital investment strategy with respect to climate and other global change data collection, management, and archiving; (8) evaluation of the data record from each observing system and recommendations to ensure that delivered data are free from time-dependent biases and random errors before they are transferred to long-term archives; and (9) an evaluation of an optimal design of observation system components to ensure a cost-effective, adequate set of observations detecting and tracking global change.Title III: International Cooperation in Global Change Research - (Sec. 302) Requires the President to direct the Secretary of State to initiate discussions with other nations leading toward international protocols and other agreements to coordinate global climate change research activities. Provides that such discussions should include the following issues: (1) allocation of costs in global change research programs; (2) coordination of global change research plans with those developed by international organizations; (3) establishment of global change research centers and training programs for scientists, especially those from developing nations; (4) development of innovative methods for management of international global change research; and (5) establishment of international offices to disseminate information useful in identifying, preventing, mitigating, or adapting to the possible effects of global change.Requires the President to direct the Secretary of State to initiate discussions with other nations leading toward an international research protocol for cooperation on the development of energy technologies that have minimally adverse effects on the environment. Requires such discussions to include the following issues: (1) creation of an international cooperative program to fund research related to energy efficiency and conservation, solar and other renewable energy sources, and passively safe and diversion-resistant nuclear reactors; (2) creation of an international cooperative program to develop low-cost energy technologies that are appropriate to the environmental, economic, and social needs of developing nations; and (3) exchange of information concerning environmentally safe energy technologies and practices.
 
Text of Legislation:

HR 906 IH

111th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. R. 906

To provide incentives for affordable housing.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

February 4, 2009

Mrs. TAUSCHER (for herself, Mr. CARDOZA, Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California, Ms. BERKLEY, and Mr. HINCHEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To provide incentives for affordable housing.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE AND TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    (a) Short Title- This Act may be cited as the ‘Housing Disaster Area Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2009’.

    (b) Table of Contents- The table of contents for this Act is as follows:

      Sec. 1. Short title and table of contents.

TITLE I--EXPANSION OF STATE FORECLOSURE MITIGATION PROGRAMS

      Sec. 101. Stabilization of the mortgage revenue bond market.

      Sec. 102. TARP assistance for refinancing underwater mortgages.

      Sec. 103. Interest rate buy-down for refinancing mortgages and new mortgages for homes in areas served by State housing finance agency foreclosure prevention programs.

      Sec. 104. HUD action to increase access to mortgage insurance by State housing finance agencies.

      Sec. 105. State reports on use of refinancing bond authority.

TITLE II--HOUSING TAX INCENTIVES

      Sec. 201. Temporary increase in volume cap for housing bonds issued for areas most affected by foreclosure crisis.

      Sec. 202. Extension of time for using increased volume cap for housing bonds.

      Sec. 203. Expansion of use of mortgage revenue bonds for mortgage refinancing loans.

      Sec. 204. Alternative minimum tax limitations not applicable to refinancings of tax-exempt housing bonds.

      Sec. 205. Clarification of applicability to high foreclosure impact areas.

TITLE I--EXPANSION OF STATE FORECLOSURE MITIGATION PROGRAMS

SEC. 101. STABILIZATION OF THE MORTGAGE REVENUE BOND MARKET.

    The Secretary of the Treasury shall take all necessary steps to support the mortgage revenue bond market, including the use of amounts made available under title I of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 to purchase mortgage revenue bonds (as defined in section 143 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986) at a rate of interest that makes the housing programs carried out with the proceeds of such bonds economically feasible.

SEC. 102. TARP ASSISTANCE FOR REFINANCING UNDERWATER MORTGAGES.

    (a) Authority- The Secretary of the Treasury shall carry out a program to use amounts specified in subsection (e) to reduce the outstanding debt on qualifying existing underwater mortgages in connection with the refinancing of such mortgages.

    (b) Qualifying Existing Underwater Mortgages- For purposes of this section, the term ‘qualifying existing underwater mortgage’ means a mortgage or mortgages on a 1- to 4-family owner-occupied residential property that has an appraised value that is less than the outstanding obligation under such mortgage or mortgages.

    (c) Terms of Refinancing Mortgage- The Secretary may use amounts under the program under this section only with respect to qualifying existing underwater mortgages that are refinanced under a mortgage that is eligible to be financed with the proceeds of a mortgage revenue bond pursuant to section 143(k)(12) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.

    (d) Recapture of Assistance Amounts- In making assistance available under the program under this section with respect to a qualifying existing underwater mortgage, the Secretary shall take such actions and enter into such binding agreements as are necessary to provide for recovery by the Secretary, upon any sale of the residential property subsequent to the refinancing of the mortgage under such program, of the lesser of--

      (1) an amount equal to 50 percent of any proceeds of the sale in excess of the amount necessary to fully pay any outstanding obligations, including interest, under the refinanced mortgage; or

      (2) the amount of assistance provided under the program with respect to such mortgage.

    (e) Use of TARP Amounts- Of any amounts made available under title I of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (12 U.S.C. 5211 et seq.), the Secretary of the Treasury shall reserve for use only under the program under this section, and shall use only under such program, amounts sufficient to provide assistance under the program in connection with any mortgage refinanced with the proceeds of a mortgage revenue bond pursuant to section 143(k)(12) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.

SEC. 103. INTEREST RATE BUY-DOWN FOR REFINANCING MORTGAGES AND NEW MORTGAGES FOR HOMES IN AREAS SERVED BY STATE HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY FORECLOSURE PREVENTION PROGRAMS.

    (a) Authority- The Federal National Mortgage Association and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation shall each carry out a program under this section to purchase and securitize qualified refinancing mortgages and qualified new mortgages on single-family housing, in accordance with this section and policies and procedures that the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency shall establish.

    (b) Purchase of Qualified Mortgages-

      (1) REQUIREMENT TO PURCHASE- If a lender proffers to an enterprise, in accordance with requirements established by the Director, a mortgage or mortgages for purchase under this section, the enterprise shall make a determination of whether such mortgage or mortgages are qualified mortgages. Subject to subsection (h), if the enterprise determines that such mortgage or mortgages meet the requirements for qualified mortgages, the enterprise shall make a commitment to purchase, and shall purchase, the mortgage or mortgages.

      (2) ADVANCE COMMITMENTS- The Director shall require each enterprise to establish a procedure for approval of lenders to receive commitments, in advance of the origination of qualified mortgages, for purchase of such mortgages under this section by the enterprise.

    (c) Qualified Mortgages-

      (1) QUALIFIED MORTGAGE- For purposes of this section, the term ‘qualified mortgage’ means a mortgage that is a qualified refinancing mortgage or a qualified new mortgage.

      (2) QUALIFIED REFINANCING MORTGAGE- For purposes of this section, the term ‘qualified refinancing mortgage’ means a mortgage that meets the following requirements:

        (A) SINGLE-FAMILY HOUSING IN HOUSING DISTRESS AREAS SERVED BY STATE HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY FORECLOSURE REDUCTION PROGRAMS- The property subject to the mortgage shall be a residence as defined in section 143 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 that is located within a qualified census tract or area of chronic economic distress (within the meaning given such terms in section 143(j) of such Code) that is located within a foreclosure crisis State (as such term is defined in section 146(d)(6) of such Code).

        (B) PRINCIPAL RESIDENCE- The mortgagor under the mortgage shall satisfy the requirement in section 143(c)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.

        (C) REFINANCING- The principal loan amount repayment of which is secured by the mortgage shall be used to satisfy all indebtedness under an existing first mortgage that--

          (i) was made for purchase of, or refinancing another first mortgage on, the same property that is subject to the qualified refinancing mortgage; and

          (ii) was originated on or before January 1, 2008.

        (D) INTEREST RATE; TERM TO MATURITY- The mortgage shall--

          (i) bear interest at a single annual rate that is fixed for the entire term of the mortgage, which shall not exceed the annual rate that is 100 basis points less than the prevailing annual interest rate for mortgages of similar type and term to maturity, as determined by the Director; and

          (ii) have a term to maturity of not less than 30 years and not more than 40 years from the date of the beginning of the amortization of the mortgage.

        (E) UNDERWRITING STANDARDS- The mortgage shall meet such underwriting standards as the Director shall require.

        (F) WAIVER OF PREPAYMENT PENALTIES- All penalties for prepayment or refinancing of the underlying mortgage refinanced by the mortgage, and all fees and penalties related to the default or delinquency on such mortgage, shall have been waived or forgiven.

      (3) QUALIFIED NEW MORTGAGE- For purposes of this section, the term ‘qualified new mortgage’ means a mortgage that meets the following requirements:

        (A) TERMS- The mortgage meets the requirements under subparagraphs (A), (B), (D), and (E) of paragraph (2).

        (B) HOME PURCHASE- The principal loan amount repayment of which is secured by the mortgage shall be used to purchase the property that is subject to the qualified new mortgage.

        (C) NEW MORTGAGES- The mortgage was originated on or after the date of the enactment of this Act.

    (d) Exceptions to Underwriting Standards- Each enterprise shall establish such exceptions to the underwriting standards of the enterprise, including downpayment and credit rating standards, that conform to the underwriting standards established pursuant to subsection (c)(2)(E), as may be necessary to allow the enterprise to purchase and securitize qualified refinancing mortgages and qualified new mortgages under this section, in accordance with such requirements as the Director shall establish.

    (e) Securitization-

      (1) REQUIREMENT- Each enterprise shall, upon such terms and conditions as it may prescribe, set aside any qualified mortgages purchased by it under this section and, upon approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, issue and sell securities based upon such mortgages set aside.

      (2) FORM- Securities issued under this subsection may be in the form of debt obligations or trust certificates of beneficial interest, or both.

      (3) TERMS- Securities issued under this subsection shall have such maturities and bear such rate or rates of interest as may be determined by the enterprise with the approval of the Secretary.

      (4) EXEMPTION- Securities issued by an enterprise under this subsection shall, to the same extent as securities which are direct obligations of or obligations guaranteed as to principal and interest by the United States, be deemed to be exempt securities within the meaning of laws administered by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

      (5) PRINCIPAL AND INTEREST PAYMENTS- Mortgages set aside pursuant to this subsection shall at all times be adequate to enable the issuing enterprise to make timely principal and interest payments on the securities issued and sold pursuant to this subsection.

      (6) REQUIRED DISCLOSURE- Each enterprise shall insert appropriate language in all of the securities issued under this subsection clearly indicating that such securities, together with the interest thereon, are not guaranteed by the United States and do not constitute a debt or obligation of the United States or any agency or instrumentality thereof other than the enterprise.

    (f) Federal Reserve Financing Facility- The Secretary of the Treasury shall establish a credit facility of the Federal Reserve System to make credit available to the enterprises at interest rates comparable to rates on securities issued by the Secretary of the Treasury under chapter 31 of title 31, United States Code, and having comparable terms, as determined by the Board.

    (g) Definitions- For purposes of this Act, the following definitions shall apply:

      (1) DIRECTOR- The term ‘Director’ means the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

      (2) ENTERPRISE- The term ‘enterprise’ means the Federal National Mortgage Association and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation.

      (3) SECRETARY- The term ‘Secretary’ means the Secretary of the Treasury.

    (h) Termination- The requirement under subsection (b)(1) for the enterprises to purchase mortgages shall not apply to any mortgage proffered to an enterprise after December 31, 2010.

SEC. 104. HUD ACTION TO INCREASE ACCESS TO MORTGAGE INSURANCE BY STATE HOUSING FINANCE AGENCIES.


Full Text of Legislation
 
Subject Name:
 
All Actions:

Actions Date
Action Text
2/7/2007
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR E282-283)
2/7/2007
Referred to the Committee on Science and Technology, and in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
2/7/2007
Referred to House Science and Technology
2/7/2007
Referred to House Foreign Affairs
2/13/2007
Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy and Environment.
5/3/2007
Subcommittee Hearings Held.
6/6/2007
Subcommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
6/6/2007
Forwarded by Subcommittee to Full Committee (Amended) by Voice Vote .
6/27/2007
Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
6/28/2007
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR E1431-1432)
4/24/2008
Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Science and Technology. H. Rept. 110-605, Part I.
4/24/2008
Committee on Foreign Affairs discharged.
 
Titles:

Global Change Research and Data Management Act of 2007
Global Change Research and Data Management Act of 2007
To promote and coordinate global change research, and for other purposes.
 
Committee:
Referral, Markup, Reporting
Referral, Hearings, Markup, Reporting
Referral, Discharged
 
Related Bill Details:

 
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