Recovery Act Information, Legislation

References to specific NIST programs to be funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 taken from Congressional Record - House, February 12, 2009.

Starting from Page 15:

TITLE II—COMMERCE, JUSTICE, SCIENCE, AND RELATED AGENCIES

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY

SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL RESEARCH AND SERVICES

For an additional amount for "Scientific and Technical Research and Services", $220,000,000.

CONSTRUCTION OF RESEARCH FACILITIES

For an additional amount for "Construction of Research Facilities", $360,000,000, of which $180,000,000 shall be for a competitive construction grant program for research science buildings.

Starting from Page 25:

TITLE IV—ENERGY AND WATER DEVELOPMENT

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
ELECTRICITY DELIVERY AND ENERGY RELIABILITY

…..Provided further, That $10,000,000 is provided to implement section 1305 of Public Law 110–140: Provided further, That the Secretary of Energy may use or transfer amounts provided under this heading to carry out new authority for transmission improvements, if such authority is enacted in any subsequent Act, consistent with existing fiscal management practices and procedures.

SEC. 1305. SMART GRID INTEROPERABILITY FRAMEWORK.

(a) INTEROPERABILITY FRAMEWORK.—The Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology shall have primary responsibility to coordinate the development of a framework that includes protocols and model standards for information management to achieve interoperability of smart grid devices and systems.

Such protocols and standards shall further align policy, business, and technology approaches in a manner that would enable all electric resources, including demand-side resources, to contribute to an efficient, reliable electricity network. In developing such protocols and standards—

(1) the Director shall seek input and cooperation from the Commission, OEDER and its Smart Grid Task Force, the Smart Grid Advisory Committee, other relevant Federal and State agencies; and

(2) the Director shall also solicit input and cooperation from private entities interested in such protocols and standards, including but not limited to the Gridwise Architecture Council, the International Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the National Electric Reliability Organization recognized by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and National Electrical Manufacturer’s Association.

(b) SCOPE OF FRAMEWORK.—The framework developed under subsection (a) shall be flexible, uniform and technology neutral, including but not limited to technologies for managing smart grid information, and designed—

(1) to accommodate traditional, centralized generation and transmission resources and consumer distributed resources, including distributed generation, renewable generation, energy storage, energy efficiency, and demand response and enabling devices and systems;

(2) to be flexible to incorporate—

(A) regional and organizational differences; and

(B) technological innovations;

(3) to consider the use of voluntary uniform standards for certain classes of mass-produced electric appliances and equipment for homes and businesses that enable customers, at their election and consistent with applicable State and Federal laws, and are manufactured with the ability to respond to electric grid emergencies and demand response signals by curtailing all, or a portion of, the electrical power consumed by the appliances or equipment in response to an emergency or demand response signal, including through—

(A) load reduction to reduce total electrical demand;

(B) adjustment of load to provide grid ancillary services; and

(C) in the event of a reliability crisis that threatens an outage, short-term load shedding to help preserve the stability of the grid; and

(4) such voluntary standards should incorporate appropriate manufacturer lead time.

(c) TIMING OF FRAMEWORK DEVELOPMENT.—The Institute shall begin work pursuant to this section within 60 days of enactment. The Institute shall provide and publish an initial report on progress toward recommended or consensus standards and protocols within 1 year after enactment, further reports at such times as developments warrant in the judgment of the Institute, and a final report when the Institute determines that the work is completed or that a Federal role is no longer necessary.

(d) STANDARDS FOR INTEROPERABILITY IN FEDERAL JURISDICTION.— At any time after the Institute’s work has led to sufficient consensus in the Commission’s judgment, the Commission shall institute a rulemaking proceeding to adopt such standards and protocols as may be necessary to insure smart-grid functionality and interoperability in interstate transmission of electric power, and regional and wholesale electricity markets.

(e) AUTHORIZATION.—There are authorized to be appropriated for the purposes of this section $5,000,000 to the Institute to support the activities required by this subsection for each of fiscal years 2008 through 2012.

Starting from Page 65:

TITLE VIII—DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND
HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

OFFICE OF THE NATIONAL COORDINATOR FOR HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(INCLUDING TRANSFER OF FUNDS)

For an additional amount for "Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology", $2,000,000,000, to carry out title XIII of this Act, to remain available until expended: Provided, That of such amount, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall transfer $20,000,000 to the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the Department of Commerce for continued work on advancing health care information enterprise integration through activities such as technical standards analysis and establishment of conformance testing infrastructure, so long as such activities are coordinated with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology: ….

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

H. REPT. 111-16 - CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 1, AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT ACT OF 2009 – as printed in the Congressional Record dated February 12, 2009, beginning on page number H 1307

JOINT EXPLANATORY STATEMENT OF THE COMMITTEE OF CONFERENCE

TITLE II—COMMERCE, JUSTICE, SCIENCE, AND RELATED AGENCIES
(on page 1414 of the Congressional Record - House, February 12, 2009)

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY

SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL RESEARCH AND SERVICES

The conference agreement includes $220,000,000 for research, competitive grants, additional research fellowships and advanced research and measurement equipment and supplies. In addition, $20,000,000 is provided by transfer from the Health Information Technology (HIT) initiative within this Act. For HIT activities, NIST is directed to create and test standards related to health security and interoperability in conjunction with partners at the Department of Health and Human Services.

CONSTRUCTION OF RESEARCH FACILITIES

The conference agreement includes $360,000,000 to address NIST’s backlog of maintenance and renovation and for construction of new facilities and laboratories. Of the amounts provided, $180,000,000 shall be for the competitive construction grant program for research science buildings, including fiscal year 2008 and 2009 competitions.

TITLE IV—ENERGY AND WATER DEVELOPMENT
(on page 1417 of the Congressional Record - House, February 12, 2009)

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

ELECTRICITY DELIVERY AND ENERGY RELIABILITY

The conference agreement includes bill language proposed by the Senate providing $10,000,000 to implement section 1305 of Public Law 110–140. The House bill contained no similar provision.