Friday, December 20, 2013

Advocacy Update, December 20th

Last Advocacy Week in Review of 2013

Reminders for 2014


2014 Advocacy Planning - Chapter Priorities

It was great to see so many chapter volunteers and staff at Greenbuild. Many of you heard about the 2014 Chapter priorities, specifically about Advocacy in 2014, in Philly or prior to that when the Community Advancement team hosted an online forum to role out the priorities in the Fall. 

The 2014 chapter advocacy priority will continue to carry forward USGBC’s seven advocacy campaigns. In addition, USGBC will collaborate with chapters to establish critical infrastructure for our advocacy work in 2015 and beyond. We will provide resources, support and training to help each chapter craft their unique 2015 Chapter Advocacy Plan. We have provided two documents to help chapters move towards this new approach. One of the documents is a tool developed by the Aspen Institute to help organizations do long-term planning and an internal guideline we have put together for chapters.

2014 Monthly Advocacy Call

Apologies for the confusion with this month's advocacy call. In 2014, our monthly calls will be 4pm every 3rd Monday of the Month. However, January's call will be on Monday, January 13th and February's call is on Monday, February 10th. USGBC observes Martin Luther King, Jr Day and Presidents Day, the office is closed those days.

Click to add the calls/webex to your calendar. The calendar invite will include the webex link and call in number.

Federal Update

With only a few short weeks before the New Year, the House and Senate completed a series of important legislative milestones including the bipartisan budget deal. With this budget deal in place, the House and Senate Appropriations Committee will begin to formally negotiate over the holiday recess by dividing up some $498.1 billion in domestic discretionary spending. They will have until January 15th to negotiate a spending package to replace the expiring continuing resolution to fund the government for rest of the fiscal year. More details will become available in early January so stay tuned for developments.

Congress has also cleared the re-authorization of programs at the Department of Defense, which authorizes $632.8 billion for the Pentagon and defense-related programs for FY 2014.This year’s authorization no longer contains limitations regarding the Department of Defense's use of green building codes and rating systems, including LEED. For more information on these provisions and others the summary of the defense bills are included here.

Chapter News

New Jersey Priority Permitting bill
SB 2732 directs the Department of Community Affairs, the Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Transportation, municipal agencies, and county planning boards to give priority consideration to permit applications for green building projects.

USGBC-North Pole News
In case anyone was wondering about about the greenness of Santa's workshop.

By Chartwell, Inc.
Happy Holidays! See you in 2014.

Campaigns

Posted by at No comments:

Friday, December 13, 2013

December 12 Advocacy Update

Back to Regular Programming

We are back to regular Friday updates!

2014 Advocacy Planning - Chapter Priorities

It was great to see so many chapter volunteers and staff at Greenbuild. Many of you heard about the 2014 Chapter priorities, specifically about Advocacy in 2014, in Philly or prior to that when the Community Advancement team hosted an online forum to role out the priorities in the Fall. 

The 2014 chapter advocacy priority will continue to carry forward USGBC’s seven advocacy campaigns. In addition, USGBC will collaborate with chapters to establish critical infrastructure for our advocacy work in 2015 and beyond. We will provide resources, support and training to help each chapter craft their unique 2015 Chapter Advocacy Plan. We have provided two documents to help chapters move towards this new approach. One of the documents is a tool developed by the Aspen Institute to help organizations do long-term planning and an internal guideline we have put together for chapters.

2014 Monthly Advocacy Call

Apologies for the confusion with this month's advocacy call. In 2014, our monthly calls will be 4pm every 3rd Monday of the Month. However, January's call will be on Monday, January 13th, because the 3rd Monday is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, which USGBC observes so the office is closed.

Click to add the calls/webex to your calendar. The calendar invite will include the webex link and call in number.

Twenty Thousandth LEED Certification

Last Thursday, the 20,000th LEED commercial project was certified. It is a LEED 2009 CI project in Knoxville, TN.

100 LEED Certified Schools in Ohio

This past Wednesday, we celebrated with the four Ohio chapters of USGBC, the Ohio School Facilities Commission, and about 80 Ohioans the first 100 LEED certified schools at the Ohio Capitol. Roger Platt, Senior Vice President of Global Policy and Law provided his Master of Ceremony skills during the program to celebrate this milestone.

We are pulling together pictures as we speak, so more to come later. However, if you cannot wait and you are on Twitter, check out #LEEDworksOH and you will see some of the photos tweeted out by attendees and staff. Also, check out The Center for Green Schools Director, Rachel Gutter's, blog post. 

LEED in Motion

We released the third and final installment of its LEED in Motion report series: Impacts and Innovation. The report details key impact areas and results of the thousands of projects that are utilizing the LEED® green building rating system, as well as innovation highlights related to LEED and green building technologies.

USGBC members can download Impacts and Innovation, as well as the first two reports, People and Progress and Places and Policies.

Anti-LEED report from John Scofield

John Scofield from Oberlin College released a paper, last week, on how LEED is ineffective. It is titled, "Efficacy of LEED-certification in reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions for large New York City office buildings."

Chapter Corner

Fayetteville, AR PACE District
USGBC-Arkansas has been working on PACE Districts. The enabling legislation passed in the spring 2013 Legislative Session and now the City of Fayetteville, AR has taken steps to become the first PACE District in the state. More on it from the Fayetteville. Please contact Linda Smith, USGBC-AR for more information.

Madison, WI Benchmarking Ordinance
Sherrie Gruder and Manus McDevitt from Wisconsin Green Building Alliance have been leading a benchmakring effort for Madison, WI. Last week, the ordinance went to the city council and was referred to two committees and scheduled for public hearings next week.

California Energy Efficiency Standards implementation delayed
Per USGBC-CA. "At its December 11, 2013 Business Meeting, the California Energy Commission revised the effective date for the 2013 Building Energy Efficiency Standards (Title 24, Part 1, Chapter 10 and Part 6, and affected provisions in Part 11 [Cal. Green Building Standards Code]) from January 1, 2014 to July 1, 2014." Please contact Dennis Murphy from USGBC-CA for more information.

 King County, WA Adopting LEED
King County has adopted a sustainable building ordinance. Ordinance LEED highlight, "Requiring all King County government construction and major renovation projects to strive for the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum designation."

Campaigns

Posted by at No comments:

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Advocacy Update: December 3, 2013

While We Were Away...

It has been a few weeks since this space has been updates. But that doesn't mean we have not been busy, quite the opposite. Ohio, Greenbuild, and turkey eating have taken up all of our time the last three weeks. We will back to our regular schedule next Friday.

#LEEDWorksOH Update

There has not been no official movement from the Ohio Senate on SCR 25. But the Ohio chapter members have been busy mobilizing their members and supporters. Hundreds of call have gone into senate offices and lots of shares of our #LEEDWorksOH petition with their social networks.

Ohioan looking up her state senator.
Also, at Greenbuild, we held an Ohio Happy Hour Huddle in the Exhibit Hall that was attended by over 25 Ohio Greenbuild attendees. They heard brief remarks from Doug Gatlin, USGBC's VP, LEED & Product Management and then started a phone blitz into Ohio Senate offices.

The Happy Hour Huddle also included some social time!















100 LEED certfied schools for Ohio

Next week, December 11th, the four Ohio chapters and USGBC will celebrate the milestone of 100 LEED certified schools in Ohio. Please RSVP if you can join us. The link is below.



Greenbuild

What an amazing week! There is so much to say, but sometimes pictures speak a thousand words. Also, here is the Greenbuild Playlist so you can watch some of the great speakers, like former Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Rick Fedrizzi with former Secretary Clinton
Bon Jovi performing after the keynote speech

Nate Silver, closing plenary speaker: "Shades of probability get lost in translation for most people."










































Chapter Corner

South Florida - Keys Branch: In the past month, the City of Key West adopted sustainable building requirements.

Campaigns

Posted by at No comments:

Friday, November 8, 2013

November 8, 2013 Update: We're Back!

We are back!

We were unable to pull together a weekly update for you last week because of  legislative action in Ohio.

Ohio

 The legislation we have been anticipating in Ohio came to fruition on Halloween. SCR 25 is a senate concurrent resolution that pushes the State of Ohio to exclude LEED as a building standard for public buildings and for public schools. Even though it is a resolution, there is language in the "Resolved' sections that implies LEED was not properly adopted by the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission (OFCC), which would make the case for agency rule review, with an eye to repealing the use of LEED to achieve Ohio's goal of energy efficient buildings.

This past week, Doug Widener from the Community Advancement team, Nate Allen from the Center for Green Schools team, and Christina Kuo from Advocacy, along with 12 volunteers from the 4 Ohio chapters made legislative visits to educate lawmakers about the impact of SCR 25 and the success of Ohio's green schools program. We met with the following state senators: Widener, Hite, Coley, Patton, Seitz, Hughes, Schaffer (cosponsor), Lehner, Jones, Manning, Kearney, Oelslager, Schiavoni, Gentile, Taveras, and Bacon. The resolution now sits in Energy and Natural Resources and as of time of publication, it has not been scheduled for a hearing.

We have sent emails and phone calls into the senate offices to ensure the whole senate knows that this resolution is happening and they have the full information. We will have more ways you can get involved later this week. Please contact Christina if you have additional questions.

November Advocacy Call

Please join us for the November advocacy call. We have a special guest, Erin Skene-Pratt, who will talk to you about nonprofit advocacy strategic development and how it can help achieve your organizations overall goals. Here is the link to the Webex or to call in only 1-650-429-3300 code: 752935317#. 

Erin Skene-Pratt
Erin Skene-Pratt is an independent consultant with 15 years experience as a leader and catalyst for program design and implementation in the areas of advocacy, organizational development, and capacity building efforts. Erin provides a strategic outlook on work of the nonprofit sector, and a proven track record of results having assisted thousands of nonprofits to better serve their communities.

Erin is also an affiliate consultant with Public Policy Associates (PPA) providing facilitation services and working with PPA’s clients on training, policy, and communication strategies. As an adjunct faculty member at Grand Valley State University, Erin teaches a graduate level course on nonprofit advocacy and public policy covering the roles of government and nonprofits in serving society and basic advocacy tactics.

Prior to forming Skene-Pratt Consulting in 2009, Erin served as Senior Director of Public Affairs at Michigan Nonprofit Association (MNA). At MNA, Erin crafted curriculum and trained thousands of nonprofits on how to effectively advocate for public policy change and authored the first Michigan-specific how-to-guide on effective advocacy. Erin also successfully developed and implemented MNA’s first statewide public policy agenda for the nonprofit sector, built and mobilized a grassroots network of 2,000 nonprofits, successfully fundraised for MNA’s policy work, developed and staffed a committee to provide input to the Michigan attorney general on charitable matters, formed the first Michigan nonprofit legislative caucus, advocated on policy issues relevant to the nonprofit sector resulting in passage of legislation to enhance fundraising efforts of nonprofits and to increase nonprofit accountability in Michigan, and founded/staffed the Michigan Participation Project to enhance the voter engagement efforts of Michigan’s nonprofits.

Erin holds an MPA from Western University, BAs in Journalism and English from Michigan State University, and a Certificate in Fund Raising Management from The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

Chapter Corner

Thank you to NE Ohio-USGBC, Central Ohio-USGBC, USGBC-Cincinnati, and NW Ohio chapters for all their hard work in helping us with turning out grassroots support at the Ohio capital last week.

Northern California Chapter honored Green Building Super Heroes.

USGBC Gulf Coast honored Tony Richardson, Highlight Green Homes Campaign Co-Chair, for his work in greening the MLS. Congrats Tony!

Greenville Technical College in South Carolina has started to seek bids for architectural and engineering work on its planned enterprise campus, a project that will cost up to $25 million. The building is designed to achieve LEED Silver or Green Globes.

USGBC North Capital Region held a successful Energy Summit on October 30th. They brought together utilities, local government, NGOs,and building owners and managers

Campaigns

Posted by at No comments:

Friday, October 25, 2013

Advocacy Week in Review October 25, 2013

Federal Update -BREAKING NEWS


Breaking News: LEED Green Building Program Remains Preferred Rating System for Use in Federal Buildings
Today the General Services Administration (GSA) finally made the much, much anticipated recommendation to government agencies on their use of green building certification systems. LEED remains a program of choice, and the recommendation comes over a year after more than 1,250 businesses and organizations urged GSA to continue to use LEED, and 8 months after the National Academy of Sciences recommended LEED Silver for Department of Defense projects.  Read more here.

Congress
With the Senate in recess this week and the House on an abridged schedule the focus of the hill was largely on problems with the health care law’s federal insurance exchanges and how to address improve the programs performance.
The lull in activities this week will be short lived as Senate Budget Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-WA) and House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, (R-WI), are set to convene the first formal meeting of the budget conference committee on October 30. As many recall, this conference is one element that lawmakers agreed to in part to re-open the federal government. While this effort could have dramatic implications on long term debt and deficit issues there is a great deal of skepticism that much will actually come from the effort.

2013 USGBC Board Elections

Have you voted yet?  Board elections are happening right now for the USGBC board. You can view the ballot and the slate of candidates. You have until October 30, 2013 to vote for new board members. Make your voice heard!

Affordable Housing Summit - November 19-20 at GreenBuild

This two-day summit will educate, advance, challenge and inspire those who already are involved in providing green affordable housing and community development, as well as engage those who are just being introduced to this exciting and active development sector. For more information click here.


Green Schools Nominations

The Best of Green Schools list highlights green schools leadership across 10 categories. The Center for Green Schools is now accepting submissions for the Best of Green Schools 2013 list. You can find the online submission form here. 
We invite you to nominate any stories that moved you this year, and ask that you please share the call for submissions with your networks. Nominations must be submitted online by Friday, November 29. Learn more about the 2011 and 2012 recipients here.
The 2013 Best of Green Schools nomination categories are:
  • K-12 (school or district)
  • Higher education (institution or system)
  • Policy maker (person)
  • Ambassador (person)
  • Community event
  • Collaboration
  • Student Leadership
  • Business Leadership 
  • Transformation
  • Moment of the movement
This has been another monumental year for the green schools movement and we’re excited to see this year’s submissions. Thank you for your continued support and please let us know if you have any questions about this process.


Save the Date: November Advocates Call - November 12th at 2pm ET (Please note change of time)

Posted by at No comments:

Friday, October 18, 2013

Advocacy Week In Review: October 18, 2013

State Focused

Ohio Capitol Dome

O-H-I-O

This week's update will be more about the work that is happening out in the states as Jeremy Sigmon, Nate Allen, Emily Riordan, and myself spent most of the week in Columbus, Ohio. We had the opportunity to meet with chapter members, connect with legislators and help support the chapters' legislator education efforts. Also, green homes rater and USGBC-Cincinnati  Regional chapter volunteer, Paul Yankie submitted testimony about the energy efficiency aspects of LEED and green building to the Policy and Legislative Oversight committee. Unfortunately, due to the length of testimony from other witnesses, Paul couldn't testify to committee members. However, the topic of his testimony was noted by the committee chair, as it brought in an additional point of view - energy efficiency -  to Ohio's current energy policy discussions, which has largely centered on energy production.
Jeremy, Paul, and Christina at the Ohio Capitol
Jeremy, Christina, Emily, and Nate at the Ohio
state display inside the Ohio Capitol.
Although, we did not find out about this until after the store opened. Walmart opened its first LEED registered store in South Euclid, Ohio.


Victory in New Mexico.


The Policy: The entire rule change as it was written (which included the piece about striking down LEED) was voted down by the State Board of Finance this week. 

The Chapter: This year’s tumultuous advocacy and policy challenges in New Mexico has reinvigorated the founding board chair, Karen Cook. Through the work this year, she reconnected with the USGBC-NM board and is initiating a planning process for further growth in the New Year and beyond. On the advocacy front, meetings are being scheduled in Santa Fe to make sure the Chapter has enough face time to reemerge as an effective voice for green building in the state. Also, through the advocacy process and the Green Ribbon Schools program, the Emerging Green Builder network has grown from zero to a multi-university participation with roughly 25 students and growing.

Federal Update

After more than two weeks of tense negotiations the federal agencies have resumed regular operations and the borrowing authority of the federal government has been extended to the beginning of next year. With one fiscal crisis resolved, the next round budget fights and policy battles are beginning. As part of the deal to re-open the federal government, lawmakers are preparing for the first budget conference committee in four years that will cast a wide net on federal spending. USGBC will be following the progress of those negations and will update chapters and our membership with more information as it becomes available.

Campaign Corner


Posted by at No comments:

Friday, October 11, 2013

Advocacy Weekly Update: October 11, 2013

The Shutdown Continues

The second week of the partial government shutdown is coming to a close, while the debt ceiling limit is looming next week. For any statistic nerds out there, The Wall Street Journal and NBC released a poll that was taken last week. Here it is for your reading pleasure.





October Advocates Call

Thank you to everyone who made it for the October Advocates call. For those who missed it, here is a recording of the WebEx. A special thank you to Patti Mason for sharing Colorado's advocacy planning experience.

Chapter Corner

California
California Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 341 into law – a victory for the continually improving California Green Building Standards Code (CALGreen).  The bill, cosponsored by Assembly members Dickinson and Gordon, was both conceived and actively supported by USGBC California and the California Building Industry Association, among others. 

LEED v.4 Resources

A suite of LEED v4 resources for chapters is now available and includes a presentation with talking points, an FAQ and information on how you can host the free Introduction to LEED v4 Webinar Series to your members for CE hours.

2014 and Beyond

Chapter Grants
Just a reminder that the Letters of Inquiry for chapter Strategic Investment and Impact grants are due on Tuesday, October 15th. If you are planning to include advocacy in your grant request, please feel free to reach out to me with questions or suggestions!

Sample Plans
I posted a few old campaign/issue plans on Yammer as a reference for chapters as they start looking to put together their priorities and activities for 2014. Please take a look and send me any questions you may have.

Advocacy Weekly Update Hack

The format of this update has been a big change - better or worse - for subscribers to this weekly update. I want to offer one recommendation to help ease the transition. It depends on how you like to receive this information. 

If you prefer to receive the content of the email right in the body of the email, then you should subscribe to this blog. You can subscribe by entering your email in the top right hand corner of the blog. See the screenshot above. You will receive an email with the weekly update in the body of the email; once it is live. If you still want to receive the link in the email, then you don't have to do anything.





Posted by at No comments:

Friday, October 4, 2013

Advocacy Update and Reminder October 4, 2013

Green Apple Day of Service Round-Up

Many of you tirelessly worked to make your day of service projects a success! I hope you are celebrating all that you and your chapter accomplished. Here is a quick round-up of how Green Apple went around the country.

Reminder: Advocates Monthly Call - Tuesday, October 8th @3pm ET

This month advocacy call will focus on looking ahead to 2014 and what you an do to prepare. To join via Webex: https://usgbc.webex.com/usgbc/j.php?ED=220666962&UID=507270947&PW=NMjIwNDhiODU5&RT=MiMxMQ%3D%3D
Meeting Number:             750 497 187
Meeting Password:          Adv0cates

 Call-in only: 1-650-429-3300 code: 750 497 187#

 The Chapter Community team helped us spread the word to the chapters about 2014 advocacy priorities. Take a look before the call on Tuesday and come prepared to ask questions!

 Also, unsure of how to get more resources for advocacy in your chapter? Have you looked at the 2014 Chapter Grant Opportunities? Letters of Inquiry (LOI) are due October 15, 2013. I'll be helping the Community team go through the advocacy portions of any LOIs.Please let me know if you have any questions.

Federal Update

As the federal government shutdown enters its fourth day, there will be another tense weekend session during which Senate Democrats will keep pressuring the House to pass a stopgap spending bill without any controversial policy riders. Meanwhile, the House is preparing 11 individual spending bills in an attempt to reopen parts of the government and keep pressure on the Senate to negotiate. Some of those bill are expected to be considered by the House floor as soon as today. However, there seems to be little optimism that the current impasse will be resolved anytime soon.

Malcolm Lewis Impact! Award

Do you have an outstanding advocacy volunteer that has left his/her mark on your chapter? Are you that volunteer who has more than just "contributed" to your chapter? If you answered "Yes!" to either of those questions, then you need to submit a nomination for the Malcolm Lewis Impact! Award.

2014 Advocacy Day at Your State Capital

Some chapters have already started thinking about advocacy days at their state capitals. The New York chapters are bringing a new partner for their 2014 advocacy day, one of their champion state representatives. Michigan is considering having an advocacy day before the Michigan Legislature gets into the weeds with budgets. Has your chapter started planning your advocacy day? Share what you will be doing at your state capital and ask any questions you may have on Yammer.

Campaign Updates

Posted by at No comments:

Friday, September 27, 2013

Week in Review: September 27, 2013


I know the vast majority of you have been busy planning, promoting, and recruiting for your day of service events. Some of you may have even had yours already! The Northeast Ohio USGBC chapter held their event on September 18th. Over 50 people attended a composting seminar, where they not only learned how to compost, but also about LEED in Ohio and Green Apple Day of Service.Thanks to Kathy Rocco for sharing pictures of her event with us! Please send us pictures of your service events!
Kathy Rocco, teaching attendees about composting.













In other green schools related news, Senator Harkin calls on the GAO for new survey on the condition of America's schools. We are pleased to announce that U.S. Senator Tom Harkin, Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, has formally requested the U.S. Government Accountability Office to conduct a new survey to help identify the current conditions and needs around our school facilities – at study that hasn’t been conducted in 18 years.

Looking Ahead to 2014

I know, I know! It's not even October and I'm bringing up 2014, but there are less than 100 days in 2013 and we want to make sure all of you are prepared to hit the ground running with advocacy in 2014. We will be walking you through a couple of things to think about when it comes to 2014 advocacy planning on our next advocacy call on October 8, 2013 at 3PM EST. Here is the Webex information:
Meeting Number:             750 497 187
Meeting Password:          Adv0cates
Go to https://usgbc.webex.com/usgbc/j.php?ED=220666962&UID=507270947&PW=NMjIwNDhiODU5&RT=MiMxMQ%3D%3D
Phone only: 1-866-650-429-3300 code: 750 497 187#

Please email me any topics you would like to see addressed on the Monthly Advocates Call. Also, to give you a taste of the resources we want to provide for chapters to increase their advocacy capacity and skills, next year, take a look at this article from "Nonprofit Quarterly" about the role nonprofits play in educating the public about issues.


Federal Update

There are no new updates to the Shaheen-Portman bill. Congress is now on countdown to shutdown mode.

Campaigns


Posted by at No comments:

Friday, September 20, 2013

September 20, 2013

Happy (Almost) First Day of Fall

The Autumn Equinox is this coming Sunday!








Federal Update

Thank you to everyone for their hard work in talking to your senators about Shaheen-Portman!

Further consideration of a bipartisan bill to promote greater use of energy-efficient (S. 1392 aka Shaheen-Portman) will be postponed as the Senate receives stopgap spending legislation from the House. This move raises questions about whether Senate leadership will reconsider the measure in the coming weeks, especially as there has yet to be a breakthrough on potential amendments to the bill.  USBGC staff will continue to monitor and inform chapters on the next steps of this legislation and relevant amendments that have been filed to the bill.

Walmart Announcement


Green Apple Day of Service 

Rachel Gutter did 24 news interviews and virtual tours to promote Green Apple Day of Service around the country. They were all with networks affiliates across the country. 

Also, the day of service project coordinators and volunteers all received a template media advisory and press release.

Chapter Corner

New Jersey
AB 3680/Chapter 161, sponsored by Assembly Commerce and Economic Development Committee Chair Albert Coutinho, D-Newark, was signed into law on September 18 by Republican Gov. Chris Christie. This law creates “The New Jersey Economic Opportunity Act of 2013” and merges five economic development incentive programs into two programs. The Economic Development Authority is now required to establish standards based on the Green Building Manual prepared by the Community Affairs Commissioner. These standards are referred to as “minimum environmental and sustainability standards.” In addition to an initial tax credit given through the bill, $250 will be given each year for each full-time employee for projects exceeding the minimum environmental and sustainable standards, with an additional $250 a year for projects exceeding the LEED “silver” rating system.

USGBC Inland Empire
The USGBC Inland Empire Chapter (USGBC-IE) has been reaching out beyond architects, engineers and builders to low-income communities through its Sustainable and Healthy Community Initiative. This initiative aims to provide green building education and hands-on project experience to underserved communities, and to increase engagement with local programs related to green homes, green schools, green workplaces, and healthy communities.

 CTGBC and Urban Green Council (NY Metro USGBC Chapter)
Inter-chapter joint programming for Climate Week NYC: "Sea Change: The Shifting Relationship Between Sustainability and Resiliency."

Resiliency

Today, September USGBC and ICLEI hosted a National Leadership Speaker Series on Resiliency and Security in the 21st Century at the National Press Club. Sacramento Mayor, Kevin Johnson. More to come soon!



Common Ground Around Green Schools
Posted by at No comments:

Friday, September 13, 2013

Advocacy Weekly Update: September 13, 2013

Happy Friday the 13th! 

Watch out for those black cats, ladders, and broken mirrors, today! The Advocacy Team was out of the office last week on a staff retreat, so there was no update; which means, today's update may be a bit longer.

Federal Update 

This week, the Senate began consideration of a bipartisan energy efficiency bill, S. 1392, commonly referred to as Shaheen-Portman. The consideration of the base legislation and voting on relevant amendments to the bill have been held at bay through procedural efforts in an attempt to force a vote on elimination of federal contributions for health premiums for members of Congress and staff members under the health care overhaul. Majority Leader Reid and Minority Leader Reid have, as of yet, been unable to reach agreement on how to either address or dismiss this “non-germane” amendment  and proceed to regular order on S. 1392.

Many of you may have seen the amendment filed by Sen. Landrieu on Wednesday evening related to green building programs. It is now basically instructs agencies to do on-going review of credits, as opposed to selecting rating systems. Several USGBC members companies have been working behind the scenes to get chemical to back away from the “ban LEED” approach.
This amendment does not ban LEED, although it does increase the amount of bureaucratic red tape for the agencies, but they have reviewed the draft. LEED meets all the criteria specified in the amendment.

We greatly appreciate the support you have all provided in raising awareness what was being attempted and we are very thankful for the consistent message from our grassroots community and will keep in touch about how S. 1392 proceeds, if at all.

The #LEEDWorks campaign was extremely successful and we learned a lot about how to integrate social media into an advocacy effort. Take a look at some of the data and tweets!

Market Briefs 

We now have at our fingertips—state-by-state and region-by-region—an impressive collection of some of the countless, market-moving highlights of our 50-star studded flag under one green building nation.


Resiliency at the National Press Club - September 20th

The luncheon event features a keynote address by the Honorable Kevin Johnson, Mayor of the City of Sacramento and Chair of the Resilient Communities for America campaign, who will lay out a vision for a new national movement to safeguard our communities, adapt to a changing climate and transform adversity into economic opportunity. RSVP here 

Chapter Corner

USGBC-CA has been very busy the past few weeks!

  • AB 127 (Skinner), a bill that bans the use of flame retardant toxins for plastic spray-on foam insulation, passed the California Senate today 26-4 with support from the California Professional Firefighters and CBIA and recently converted "neutral" positions from the American Chemical Council, CMTA, Cal Chamber and the Spray Foam Manufacturers. 
  • AB 341 (Dickinson), new green building standards, passed an Assembly concurrence vote 77-1 (after a 38-0 Senate vote) and was enrolled and delivered to the Governor's desk.

USGBC-Illinois Victory: Energy benchmarking ordinance approved by Chicago City Council.
The new ordinance will provide another opportunity for Chicago building owners and tenants to learn about their energy use and work together to lower their costs. In addition, the ordinance sets a strong precedent that will help promote energy benchmarking and energy efficiency measures elsewhere in Illinois.

This event will bring together representatives from the local real estate industry, utilities, government, and NGO groups for a high level discussion the barriers and opportunities for successful adoption of upcoming changes to energy policy in Montgomery County.

Green Apple Day of Service - Have you invited your elected officials?
GADOS is only 2 weeks away! Remember to invite your lawmakers. You don't have to invite all of them, just invite the ones that you want to build a relationship with. Also, make sure that the event you are inviting them to will offer them an opportunity to meet with USGBC members and volunteers. Here is an invite that was put together for an event in Ohio to get you started.


Campaigns

I will be linking to each campaign's Yammer page. We will post and archive any interesting articles regarding each issue there. So I recommend you check it regularly!

Posted by at 1 comment:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)