Both proposed bills are enhancements of environmental legislation signed in January called the Brownfields Revitalization and Environmental Restoration Act, which calls $1.24 billion over a five-year period to clean up abandoned contaminated sites. The new brownfields bill calls for $300 million over a five-year period for a program to help restore brownfield sites to fruitful use. "S.1079 may further the ability of local communities to redevelop brownfield sites and return them to productive use," said NAHB president F. Gary Garczynski. "Grants provided under S. 1079 have the potential to complement the United States Environmental Protection Agency brownfields grant program recently enacted in the new brownfields law."

The Community Character Act calls for$130 million in grants over a five-year period for state and tribal governments to update planning statutes in support of smart growth. "The bill wisely relies on incentive-based measures, rather than command and control systems," Deborah C. Anderson told the panel on behalf of NMHC/NAA. She continued, evoking the words of the bill's sponsor Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, who said, "Congress has created a demand for state and local planning. In fact, the Community Character Act should be viewed as providing the federal payment for an unfunded mandate whose account is overdue.