S. 4603: Forest Health and Biomass Energy Act of 2020

116th Congress · introduced 2020-09-16 · Public Lands and Natural Resources · Latest: Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining. Hearings held. With printed Hearing: S.Hrg. 116-382.

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Follow this bill, step by step

Where it came from: introduced 2020-09-16 · official record
Who proposed it: Sen. McSally, Martha [R-AZ] · what a sponsor is
What happened next: no floor votes in our records yet. Why?
Where it stands now: Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining. Hearings held. With printed Hearing: S.Hrg. 116-382. Not final yet: this can still change. We check for updates every day.
If it becomes law and spends money: follow the money to money laws, then agencies and contracts and grants.

What does this mean?

Official title

Forest Health and Biomass Energy Act of 2020

Plain summary

Forest Health and Biomass Energy Act of 2020 This bill addresses biomass energy, particularly with respect to materials removed from high-hazard areas (e.g., areas that pose wildfire risks). The bill directs the Department of Energy, in coordination with the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture (USDA), to assess the potential to produce biomass energy from certain land under the administrative jurisdiction of Interior and USDA. With respect to the removal of timber located within certain high-hazard areas, USDA shall not charge a stumpage rate or assign any value to (1) certain trees, (2) forest processing residues or byproducts of forest restoration, or (3) a large dead tree that is not suitable for higher-valued wood products because of decay. The bill establishes the High Hazard Area Wood Biomass Fund, into which USDA may deposit a percentage of the revenue generated from base stumpage rates of timber sales that occur on National Forest System land to assist timber operators and biomass energy producers with the collection, harvest, storage, and transportation of biomass material removed from high-hazard areas. The President shall include in the annual budget submission an annual performance metric, which shall be established by USDA, for the harvest of wood biomass material in green tons made available for bioenergy markets.

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

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A “Nay” vote

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What does this mean? (plain words)

Official text

Forest Health and Biomass Energy Act of 2020

Source: Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate)

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Officials and money

Sponsor: Sen. McSally, Martha [R-AZ] · 0 cosponsors

Cost estimate: No cost estimate published yet.

No linked floor roll calls in our collected records yet. This does not mean the bill has never had a vote. Check the official bill history.

Words on this page, explained (2)

Bill: A proposed law. It becomes law only if it passes the legislature and is signed by the president or governor (or a veto is overridden).
Jurisdiction: The area or the matters a government or court has authority over.

Plain meanings written from linked sources. All words.

Sources

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate)
Congress.gov
Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-116s4603.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/116/s>

Record fed-us-cong116-s4603 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong116 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong116