Sponsors (4)
The bill aims to accelerate commercialization and broader use of wood-based products and mass timber—potentially creating jobs, markets, and better building guidance—while requiring modest federal support and raising risks that increased commercialization could shift research priorities, divert research funds, and harm conservation if not carefully managed.
Small forest-products businesses gain access to Forest Service R&D through vouchers and commercialization support, helping them develop and bring new wood-based products to market.
Researchers and Forest Service labs get clearer pathways and dedicated funding to move technologies into commercial use, increasing technology transfer and private-sector uptake.
Rural timber communities could gain new markets and jobs from research into using low- or no-value forest material (including as feedstock for renewable fuels).
Supporting commercialization of wood-based fuels and products could encourage increased harvesting or utilization of low-value material, risking negative impacts on conservation and ecosystem services if safeguards are weak.
Taxpayers face increased federal spending and a diversion of existing research funds (authorizations and appropriations up to several million dollars), which could reduce resources for other priorities.
A required non‑Federal cost share (up to 50% for demonstrations) may limit participation by cash‑strapped small firms or shift costs onto private partners, reducing equitable access to program benefits.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Directs the Forest Service to expand wood‑product research and commercialization, create a tech‑transfer office and CCO, and fund a mass‑timber R&D and education program.
Introduced July 31, 2025 by Martin Heinrich · Last progress July 31, 2025
Directs the USDA Forest Service, working with the Department of Energy, to expand research and commercialization of wood-based products from forest management activities. It creates an internal Office of Technology Transfer and a Chief Commercialization Officer to move Forest Service research into the marketplace and to coordinate patents, interagency tech-transfer efforts, and private-sector engagement. The bill also establishes a mass-timber science and education program to fund practical research, develop strategic research lines, support competitive projects, create a voluntary curriculum for architecture and engineering schools, convene a technical advisory group, and deliver a strategy to Congress by September 30, 2026, with up to $4 million in Forest Service research funds available to implement the program.