The legislation would set an emissions "cap and trade" system for electric utilities only. The cap would begin in 2011 and require a decrease in greenhouse gas emissions from electric utilities of 8 percent by 2020 and 41 percent by 2050. The bill would also establish a Climate Science Advisory Board to inform the administration and Congress of the state of climate science, and make recommendations to achieve climate stabilization; provide R&D funding for low- and zero-emitting carbon technologies, clean coal technologies, and energy efficient technologies relevant to the utilities industry; and require periodic evaluations by the Environmental Protection Agency to determine whether emissions targets are adequate.^[2]

• Requires that the Election Assistance Commission pay eligible jurisdictions to cover the costs of conversion to a paper ballot voting system or to cover the costs of retrofitting electronic voting systems to produce paper records (Sec. 2).^[3]

• Requires that the Election Assistance Commission pay states to cover the costs of conducting any necessary manual audits of results from federal elections taking place in November 2008 and, at the option of the state, results from state and local elections taking place at the same time (Sec. 3).^[3]

• Requires that the Election Assistance Commission pay states to cover the costs of conducting any necessary hand counts of results from federal elections taking place in November 2008 (Sec. 4).^[3]

• Mandates that the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology shall study, test, and develop products and practices that ensure the accessibility of paper ballot verification and casting for disabled voters, for voters whose primary language is not English, and for voters with literacy difficulties (Sec. 5).^[3]