Brownfields Reauthorization Act of 2025
Latest action · Feb 5, 2025 Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 6.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedJan 30, 2025
- Passed SenateNot reached
- Passed HouseNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Brownfields Reauthorization Act of 2025
This bill extends through FY2030 and modifies the Brownfields Program under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The Brownfields Program is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to provide grants and technical assistance to states, communities, tribes, and other entities to assess, clean up, and reuse contaminated properties.
First, the bill expands eligibility for Brownfields Program resources to tax-exempt organizations defined under section 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code, which are organizations that are not organized for profit and do not provide net earnings to private shareholders or individuals (e.g., chambers of commerce).
Additionally, the bill
- increases to $1 million the maximum grant amount that the EPA may provide for brownfield remediation per site,
- removes the 5% cap that a grant recipient may use for administrative costs,
- reduces the cost-sharing requirement for grant recipients from 20% to 10%,
- requires the EPA to waive cost-sharing requirements for grant recipients located in small communities or disadvantaged areas,
- authorizes the use of grants by a state or Indian tribe for the implementation of a response program,
- modifies the criteria used to rank grant applications by requiring the consideration of whether the applicant has a plan to engage a diverse set of local groups and organizations that represent the views of the local community directly affected by the proposed brownfield project, and
- requires the EPA to report on and update application ranking criteria and the approval process.
Cosponsors 1
Members who signed on, in the order they did. All signed on Jan 30, 2025.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-DE | Lisa Blunt Rochester | Original | Jan 30, 2025 |
Committees 1
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
| Chamber | Committee | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| Senate | Environment and Public Works Committee | Referred Jan 30, 2025Markup Feb 5, 2025Reported Feb 5, 2025 |
Actions 6
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Feb 5, 2025Committee on Environment and Public Works. Committee consideration held. Business Meeting printed. S. Hrg. 119-267.
- Feb 5, 2025Committee on Environment and Public Works. Ordered to be reported without amendment favorably.
- Feb 5, 2025Committee on Environment and Public Works. Reported by Senator Capito without amendment. Without written report.
- Feb 5, 2025Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 6.
- Jan 30, 2025Introduced in Senate
- Jan 30, 2025Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Research
What has been written about this bill: committee reports, cost estimates, the sponsor’s authority statement, printed hearings and the Congressional Research Service’s work.
Congressional Budget Office cost estimate
- Feb 25, 2025S. 347, Brownfields Reauthorization Act of 2025As reported by the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on February 5, 2025
Printed hearings 1
Hearings whose printed record names this bill, newest first: hearings on it, and wider hearings where it came up.
| Number | Hearing | Committee | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| S. Hrg. 119-267 | BUSINESS MEETING63 pages | Environment and Public Works Committee | Feb 5, 2025 |
CRS reports 1
Congressional Research Service work that CRS links to this bill or the law it became, newest first.
Cite it 1
Products on other subjects that cite it, usually among other measures.
| Product | Title | Kind | Published |
|---|---|---|---|
| R49055 | Federal Brownfields Program: Background and Issues for Congress | Report | Jul 31, 2026 |
Titles 3
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- A bill to amend the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 to reauthorize brownfields revitalization funding, and for other purposes.
- Short Title(s) as Introduced
- Brownfields Reauthorization Act of 2025
- Short Title(s) as Reported to Senate
- Brownfields Reauthorization Act of 2025
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Environmental Protection.
Text 2
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Feb 5, 2025Reported to Senate
- Jan 30, 2025Introduced in Senate
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.
