Friday, March 28, 2014

Federal Update

The Senate Finance Committee is aiming for next week to begin its consideration of whether and how to extend a bevy of temporary tax breaks that lapsed at the beginning of this year. The key building efficiency incentives the 45(L) new and efficient homes credit and the 179(d) energy efficient commercial building tax deduction are included in this deliberation. While USGBC has yet to see the draft proposal, we encourage chapters and advocates to contact senators on the Finance Committee and urge the committee that 45(L) and 179D be extended through at least the end of 2015 with a new performance-based component that rewards retrofits that produce actual and verified energy savings. A component of these incentives include that retrofit incentives are scaled to increase with greater energy savings.   

For more information please contact Bryan Howard or Fleming Roberts.


State News

Arkansas
The State Legislative Joint Committee on Energy conducted a public hearing Tuesday, March 18, on the revised Arkansas Residential Energy Standard.  Written comment period remains open until April 9 and may be submitted via email to: JLowery@ArkansasEDC.com. 

District of Columbia
The District of Columbia has again demonstrated its commitment to being at the forefront of sustainable building practices by adopting the 2013 D.C. Construction Codes. Mayor Vincent Gray announced the adoption this past Wednesday, which takes effect today. New among the District’s codes is the D.C. Green Construction Code. Developed with the input and support of local experts and stakeholders, including members of the U.S. Green Building Council, National Capital Region (USGBC-NCR) Chapter and the national office of the U.S. Green Building Council, these codes represent the mainstreaming of many core elements of green building practice and propel the community forward in the District’s race to be the greenest and most livable city in the nation. Read more about the the construction code adoption, here.

Ohio
We learned this week that SCR 25, a resolution to ban the use of LEED for state building projects, is on hold until the Fall. The bill currently sits in the House Manufacturing and Workforce Development committee. USGBC and the Ohio chapters are still keeping up the pressure through amplifying the support of the Ohio business community for LEED.

South Carolina
H. 3592 was unanimously pass byt the South Carolina Senate this week. USGBC of South Carolina and its allies worked to mitigate the bill and were able to amend the bill, although LEED v4 is still not treated as favorably. The bill is now back to the South Carolina House for consideration in its amended form.


Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace

KSE Focus State Legislation Tracker
This is the last call for chapter sign-ups for the KSE Focus state legislation tracker. Remember, each chapter gets ONE POC for the legislation tracker.


April Advocates Call

Date: Monday, April 21st 4pm - 5pm ET


Posted by at No comments:

Friday, March 14, 2014

Daylight Savings

Day Light Savings:


In case you are wondering about how Daylight Savings Time came about, The National Geographic has put together a brief history. 

Federal Update

Last week the House passed a positive bill efficiency in buildings, H.R. 2116. Read more about the bill here.

Senator Johnson (SD) and Crapo (ID) have announced agreement of a reform of housing finance. Targeting changes for the Government Sponsored Enterprises, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. USGBC is in the process of reviewing the proposal, which is expected to be considered by the Senate Banking Committee in the coming weeks. A brief summary is available here.

March Advocacy Call

The March Advocacy Call is on Monday, March 17th from 4-5pm ET. Click here to add the webinar to your calendar and to join us on Monday.

Agenda:
1.  Welcome and Introductions
2.  Aaron Lande, Star Communities
3.  Federal Update - Bryan Howard
4.  Update on Anti-LEED action in the states
5.  Around the horn.
6.  Next Call Reminder/Sign-off

LEED Exposed Pushback

You have undoubtedly heard about the Environmental Policy Alliance and the LEED exposed site. We had a very large communication effort to push back against their false claims. To read about the efforts, check out this Yammer post from Marisa Long, Communication Director. 
Posted by at No comments:

Friday, February 28, 2014

Advocacy Update February 28, 2014

Spring Thaw?

The advocacy updates the last few months have been very weather focused, because it is no longer a topic for small talk. Just in case you were curious about the cities hardest hit by winter weather.






Congressional Ice Breaking

It seems members of Congress are in the mood to shed it's image as a do-nothing institution.

It has been a busy week on Capitol hill. After much anticipation and uncertainty Senators Shaheen and Portman reintroduced the Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act. The new bill incorporates a number of new elements of the bill intended to draw in additional support from the U.S. Senate to advance the measure. Many of the additions, including a move to incorporate energy efficiency into the underwriting and appraisal of mortgages, are positive. While others, such as changes to federal efficiency standards for buildings and federal review of green building systems, appear to be a mixed bag. USGBC is reviewing the updated bill and will update advocates with more information as the bill progresses towards floor consideration.

Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp released a draft proposal on tax simplification this week to little fanfare from Congress or business. Consideration of the proposal this Congress appears dim.

Next week the House is set to consider the Better Buildings Act. The updated bill is expected to include some additional provisions related to the federal data center efficiency and energy transparency of federal buildings.

LEED heats things up in Ohio

After three weeks - totaling 7 hours - of opposition testimony from USGBC, Ohio chapter members, national business members, school administrators, and students, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and subsequently passed SCR 25. The resolution calls into question the state's use of LEED and encourages Ohio agencies to discontinue using it for a green building rating system.

The resolution is now headed to the Ohio House. We will keep you updated on what you can do.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank all of the dedicated chapter members in Ohio that have put so much time and energy into defeating SCR 25. Even though we did not get the outcome we wanted in the Senate, this effort has brought the four chapters together and has built capacity for future advocacy efforts - hopefully on the pro-active side.

Housekeeping

KSE State Legislation Tracker
Please provide us for the point of contact for the person in your chapter that should receive and help you disseminate the state legislation tracker. Sign-up through this form.

State Advocacy Days
Please email me, Christina, dates for your advocacy day, if you have not already done so.

March Advocates Call
Date: March 17th
Time: 4-5pm ET
Link: https://usgbc.webex.com/usgbc/j.php?ED=224635977&UID=507270947&PW=NODdlZjEzNDEy&RT=MiMxMQ%3D%3D
Posted by at 1 comment:

Saturday, February 8, 2014

New Winter Vocabulary Edition

This winter has been brutal for large parts of the United States. It has spawned lots of new weather terms, like polar vortex, but now there is Cryoseism or "Frost Quakes."


February Advocates Call

A quick reminder about February's Advocates call. Monday, Febraury 10th, 4-5pm ET. Click here for the webinar: https://usgbc.webex.com/usgbc/j.php?MTID=m28fd11ebae3ab7142ac9a60a7136be21

Agenda:
1. Welcome
2. State fights: AL, MD, OH, SC, WA 
3. Chapter Advocacy Days
4. Around the country updates
5. Wrap-Up

Federal Update

Senator Baucus was confirmed to serve as the new ambassador to China. This sets off new musical chairs in some of important committees.

Senator Wyden will become the new chair of the finance committee. This move will likely slow some of the finance committee action on comprehensive tax reform. Wyden has publically expressed that tax extenders, including some lapsed building efficiency credits, will early priority for him. There has been no public announcement of staff changes at finance.


Senator Landrieu will become the new chair of the energy committee. Given Louisiana’s oil and gas density there is a fair bit of prognostication that extraction and public lands may be more in focus for the rest of the calendar year. This may make movement on the energy efficiency legislation, Shaheen-Portman, more challenging.

Anti-LEED Bills

The past two weeks has been very busy with a total of 6 committee hearings on anti-LEED bills in five states. Ohio has held 2 hearings on SCR 25. Brendan Ownes, VP of LEED Technical Development testified before the Ohio Senate Energy and Natural Resources. You can read Brendan's testimony here. The bill is up for testimony again this coming Tuesday, February 11th. There was also testimony heard in Washington, SB 631, in South Carolina, H.3592, and in Maryland, HB207. To hear more, please join us for the February Advocates call.

KSE Legislative Tracking Service

USGBC subscribed to a state legislative tracking service. Each chapter is allowed one point of contact to receive the legislative tracking updates. I am updating this information, please fill out this form to update the POC for your chapter. 

Chapter Advocacy Days

I am putting together a calendar of chapter advocacy days for 2014. Please email me, ckuo@usgbc.org and title it "Advocacy Day" with the date of your chapter's advocacy day. USGBC staff would like to join some chapters for these events. Cecilia Shutters and I were in Georgia for their advocacy day, however, the winter weather intervened and the event was rescheduled. We are also joining Iowa's advocacy day next week.
Posted by at No comments:

Friday, January 24, 2014

Advocacy Update January 24th

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. 
Posted by at No comments:

Friday, January 10, 2014

Weekly Update: Post-Polar Vortex

Post-Polar Vortex

Hope everyone survived the Polar Vortex and maybe tried out some of the homemade science experiments that went viral earlier this week.









January Advocates Call: Advocacy and Lobbying Rules and Regulations

Date: Monday, January 13, 2014
Time: 4:00 PM ET

The info below is to access the webinar. I highly recommend that you participate via the webinar

Meeting Number:             755 323 730
Meeting Password:          Adv0cacy
Call-in toll-free number (US/Canada): 1-866-469-3239  use the meeting number above for the code.

-------------------------------------------------------
To start or join the online meeting
-------------------------------------------------------
Go to https://usgbc.webex.com/usgbc/j.php?ED=224635977&UID=507270947&PW=NODdlZjEzNDEy&RT=MiMxMQ%3D%3D

Green Building Initiative's New President

The Green Building Initiative (GBI) announced today that it has named Jerry Yudelson as its president to accelerate growth of the non-profit and further leverage its green building assessment tools, including the highly recognized Green Globes® rating system, as it brings green building options to a larger audience of owners, designers, facility managers and investors. Read more.

ASHRAE standard 189.1 will be republished in 2014 for adoption in the IgCC 2015.

ASHRAE standard 189.1 will be republished in 2014 for adoption in the IgCC 2015. You can go online today and participate in meetings, public reviews, and more .. 

State of the State Addresses

It's that time of year! Governors are setting their policy priorities through state of the state addresses. Also, for many states, it kicks off their budget proposals to the state's legislature. If you are unsure of when your state's address is happening, find it here.

Also, consider some activities you can do around state of the state addresses to elevate green building issues. We will talk more about different activities on Monday's advocates call.

Chapter Corner

Georgia
Posted by at No comments:

Friday, January 3, 2014

First 2014 Advocacy Update

Happy New Year!














Hope everyone had a safe and restful holiday season. There is not much going on, so this update will be short.

January Advocates Call: Advocacy and Lobbying Rules Overview

As a refresher course, Susan Dorn, USGBC's General Counsel and I will go over advocacy and lobbying rules for advocates and chapters. This is recommended for anyone interested in advocacy. This will be an overview of IRS rules for 501(c)(3) organizations.

Date: Monday, January 13th
Time: 4pm-5pm EST

Meeting Number: 755 323 730
Meeting Password: Adv0cacy

To start or join the online meeting

Audio conference information
Call-in toll number (US/Canada): 1-650-429-3300
Access code:755 323 730

Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)