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The bill creates a federally funded, standardized battery recycling system that improves safety, recovery, and industry support, but it finances those benefits with an excise tax and a dedicated trust fund that will raise consumer prices, shift federal revenues, impose compliance costs, and introduce trade-offs around oversight and market impacts.
Households and businesses that buy covered batteries will get a federally funded, nationwide battery-recycling program and buy-back incentives that make safe disposal easier and reduce fire risk.
The bill creates a self-funded Lithium Battery Buy-Back Trust Fund that provides predictable, ongoing funding to the Energy Department for recycling programs without needing annual appropriations.
Individuals who turn in used lithium batteries, and approved recyclers, can receive buy-back payments and competitive grants, lowering household recycling costs and supporting local recycling jobs and capacity.
Consumers who buy batteries (households and businesses) will likely face higher retail prices because manufacturers and retailers are expected to pass the new excise tax onto buyers.
Directing excise revenues into a dedicated trust fund and mandating automatic transfers reduces general Treasury receipts, can crowd out other priorities, and limits annual congressional oversight of spending.
Retailers, manufacturers, and small businesses will incur new compliance costs and administrative burdens to collect, remit, and report the battery excise tax.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Imposes a battery excise tax, creates a 30% tax credit for detection devices, and funds a DOE/EPA national lithium battery recycling program via a dedicated trust fund.
Introduced October 3, 2025 by Donald Norcross · Last progress October 3, 2025
Creates a new federal excise tax on sales of lithium batteries, a 30% business tax credit for purchases of battery-detection devices used in recycling businesses, and a dedicated Treasury trust fund to pay for a national lithium battery recycling program. The Department of Energy and EPA must jointly set up a competitively awarded recycling and buy-back program, publish an approved list of recycling facilities, and prioritize federal purchases from approved facilities; funding comes from the new trust fund sourced from the battery excise tax receipts. Key effective dates: tax and credit rules apply to sales and taxable years after Dec 31, 2025, and the federal recycling program must be established within five years of enactment.