Energy Poverty Prevention and Accountability Act
Energy Poverty Prevention and Accountability Act
This bill addresses energy poverty (i.e., insufficient access to affordable energy) in at-risk communities. An at-risk community is a community that is low-income, minority, rural, elderly, or Native American.
The Department of the Interior must submit to Congress a report that (1) identifies barriers to the ability of at-risk communities that live on or near federal land or tribal land to access reliable and affordable energy, including how the presence of adequate energy transmission infrastructure affects such access; and (2) recommends actions that it and the Forest Service may take to reduce such barriers.
The Congressional Budget Office must report how a bill or resolution will affect the cost of energy for at-risk communities.
The Government Accountability Office must (1) analyze federal energy and environmental laws and regulations, and state renewable portfolio standards, to determine how such laws, regulations, and standards affect electricity prices, home heating prices, gasoline prices, motor vehicle prices, natural gas prices, and household appliance prices in at-risk communities; and (2) develop criteria to determine whether an at-risk community is experiencing energy poverty.
The Office of Management and Budget must review each applicable energy regulation to determine if any regulation imposes, relative to the general population, disproportionate costs on at-risk communities.
Referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committees on Agriculture, Energy and Commerce, the Budget, and Rules, 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.