Energy bill relief for low-income families, trees planted in underserved neighborhoods
H.R. 3009 — TREES Act of 2025 · Filed by Doris Matsui (D-CA) · 5 cosponsors · Introduced Apr 24, 2025 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill directs the Department of Energy to create a grant program funding tree-planting projects that reduce residential energy costs, with priority given to low-income neighborhoods, areas with few trees, and communities with seniors or children. The federal government would cover 90% of project costs, with $50 million authorized annually through 2030 to plant at least 300,000 trees per year.
Why we flagged it
The bill establishes a straightforward federal grant program for tree planting as a residential energy-conservation measure, with explicit equity priorities built into the grant-award criteria.
What the text implies
- Retail power providers are eligible entities, creating potential for utilities to capture grant funds and direct tree-planting to their service territories, which could benefit their bottom line through reduced peak-demand pressure.
- The 90% federal cost-share may incentivize grantees to inflate project budgets, since local matching requirements are minimal.
- Three-year maintenance and monitoring window is relatively short; long-term tree survival and energy-benefit realization depend on post-grant stewardship not funded by this program.
- Priority criteria favor neighborhoods with high energy burden but do not explicitly require that energy savings be passed to residents; utilities or other intermediaries could capture the benefit.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The program directly benefits ordinary households by reducing energy bills through shade and wind protection, with explicit priority for low-income families with high energy burdens. It also creates local employment and improves environmental quality in underserved neighborhoods.
Who stands to gain
- tree nurseries and suppliers
- landscaping and construction contractors
- retail power providers (utilities)
- nonprofit organizations managing community projects
Named in the bill
Department of Energy, U.S. Forest Service, State governments, Local governments, Indian Tribes, Nonprofit organizations, Retail power providers, Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3)
Where it stands
5 cosponsors: 3 Democrats, 2 Republicans.
- Apr 24, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Apr 24, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $230,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 68 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Doris Matsui, the sponsor, reported $1,026,688 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- League of Conservation Voters — $230,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (4,503 characters) on Aug 19, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Energy bill relief for low-income families, trees planted in underserved neighborhoods” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr3009 Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.