Federal Update
On Tuesday, the House Energy & Commerce Committee vote on H.R. 2126, the “Better Buildings Act” sponsored by Reps. David McKinley (R-WV) and Peter Welch (D-VT). USGBC supports this bill and have has been working with real estate community to advance the bill in both the House and Senate.
The bill, authorizes the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Administrator to consult with the Secretary of Energy to develop model leasing provisions and voluntary best leasing practices that align landlords and tenants to achieve greater energy efficiency in commercial buildings. The bill also establishes a voluntary recognition program developed by the EPA Administrator, in consultation with the Secretary of Energy dubbed “Tenant Star.” This work act as an Energy Star designation for tenant fit outs.
For more information on the bill please visit the Energy and Commerce website.
Department of Energy, Green Affordable Housing Webinar
Thursday, January 302:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time The Energy Department will present a live webinar titled "Overcoming Persistent Barriers to Energy Efficiency in Multifamily Housing through Partnerships." Multifamily housing presents tremendous opportunities for improving energy efficiency nationwide, but has been a perennially difficult sector to tackle. While in many cases multifamily work has fallen outside of the jurisdiction of state energy offices (SEOs), this webinar will discuss how SEOs can play a key role by partnering with entities like housing authorities, utilities, and private investors to enhance and support energy efficiency policies and programs in this sector. Webinar Sponsor: Weatherization and Intergovernmental Program Register to attend the webinar: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/361976094.
January Advocates Slides and Recording
I have posted the slides and recording and recording from the January 13th monthly advocates call. Along with addition resources from the Alliance for Justice.
The February Advocates Call is on February 10th at 4pm ET. Here is the link to log into the webinar.
Chapter Corner
A lot is happening across the country, so let's start at the very beginning of the alphabet. Don't worry, it's not all bad news!
Alabama
SB 152 was introduced last Wednesday. The chapter has been working tirelessly to activate their members and work with coalition partners on defeating this legislation. Check out USGBC of AL's website.
Arkansas
Northwest Kansas is greening the MLS! This MLS region also covers parts of Oklahoma and Missouri. The chapter banded together with a few other nonprofits to cover the software for the (not so) whopping cost of $900.
Michigan and South Carolina
South Carolina is going to get two mentions this week. Advocacy volunteers in both states took to social media to elevate green building into the statewide policy chatter of each state's governor's state of the state address. In an election year, these speeches often are much more jobs and the economy focused, so they tweeted and posted about the impact of the green building sector has on each state's economy. To see what each chapter said, check out their Twitter and Facebook accounts: @USGBC_Detroit and @determinedrenae, @USGBC_SC and @AlanMHancock.
If you are interested in how you can use your governor's state of the state address, I posted on Yammer some examples of what you can do - they are not green building related, just to give you a look at how it can be done. Looking forward to the other chapters who will be live tweeting along with their governor's state of the state address!
South Carolina
H3592 is a "LEED freeze" bill introduced in the South Carolina Legislature. The bill is scheduled for a committee hearing on February 5th in the Senate Ag and Natural Resources Committee. The chapter is working with a diverse coalition to lobby legislators.
Washington
SB 6341 was introduced earlier this week in the Washington Senate. The bill replaces the state’s commitment to leadership with LEED with a government-developed program. Cascadia GBC is in touch with the bill sponsors as well as allies in the Senate and USGBC has reached out the Governor's office.
