Keeping Score

BillTrack50 Scorecards

One of the many functions available in www.billtrack50.com is creating legislative scorecards. This is an exciting feature that chapters can use to summarize the legislative session for their fellow chapter members, the press, and coalition partners or to internally use as research to develop strategy for future legislative sessions. Here is a screenshot of the draft legislative scorecard we have developed for Virginia's legislature.

If your advocacy committee is interested in creating a scorecard, then reach out to Christina for a quick tutorial and helpful hints.

Green Leases

According to the Institute for Market Transformation (IMT), “Green Leases” could clear this hurdle by aligning the financial and sustainability interests of landlord-tenant leases, unlocking up to $3.3 billion in annual energy cost savings.

June Advocates Call

June 15th @ 4pm ET

Join WebEx meeting

Meeting number:

756 481 233

Meeting password:

Adv0cates

  Join by phone 
1-650-429-3300 Call-in toll number (US/Canada) 
Access code: 756 481 233  

Just the Bill

GSA LEED v4 comment period complete

Thanks to the many people from the chapter network who commented in support of GSA’s review of LEED v4. This effort was largely successful and USGBC owes a great deal of gratitude to the chapter network for its continued support. GSA should make an announcement with regards to LEED v4 later this summer. All of the comments are available here.

Senate Energy Bill

As one its final acts last week, the U.S. Senate took a positive step in advancing building efficiency legislation with the passage of S. 535, the Energy Efficiency Improvement Act. This bipartisan bill cleared the Senate on a voice vote.

Georgia HB 255 - LEED Exclusion Bill

HB 255 was passed out of the Georgia Senate on March 27th. It is now headed to the Governor's desk for a signature. Thank you to the Georgia chapter and our members in Georgia for all of their hard work. We did our best, but it was not all a loss. W educated law makers and found some new allies in the process of making sure that Georgia .

Oregon HB 2448

This bill would extend the sunset for a popular tax credit available to businesses who want to make energy conservation upgrades to their facilities. It is currently before the Revenue Committee in the Oregon Legislature and has the support of Governor Kate Brown.

April Advocates Call

The April Advocates Call is on Monday, April 20th at 4pm ET. Here is the link to join. Join WebEx meeting

Quick Updates

GSA LEED v4 Comments

GSA is now seeking public comment on its 2014 report which determined that LEED v4 aligns better than ever with Federal green building requirements. GSA is also asking for input on questions about GSA’s process for reviewing green building certification systems, whether GSA should emphasize certain credits, and how the federal agencies can be involved in developing and supporting such systems. Let GSA know you support LEED v4.

March Advocates Call

The March Advocates call is on Monday, March 16th at 4PM ET. The call-in information is below.

Join The Meeting

Meeting number:         756 481 233    

Meeting password:      Adv0cates      

Join by phone 
1-650-429-3300 Call-in toll number (US/Canada) 
Access code: 756 481 233  

Opportunities for Action

There is a lot going on at the federal, regional, and state levels for opportunities for action.

GSA Accepting Public Comments for LEED v4

Following the overwhelming adoption of LEED v4, GSA initiated a review of v4 to stay current with the evolution of green building certification systems. Last fall, GSA released its review of LEED v4, showing that the newest version of our green building rating system is better aligned than ever with the federal sustainability requirements, and reaffirms LEED as a consensus standard. The report, Green Building Certification System: Supplemental Review of USGBC’S LEED v4 Systems, showed that while there isn’t direct alignment across every federal requirement, LEED v4 is well situated to help accelerate the federal sector’s uptake of the best and leading strategies in green building. The GSA needs to hear from you!

If you would like to read more about the GSA review process, then check out Bryan Howard's recent blog.

ATTENTION Georgia Residents: HB 255, LEED Exclusion Bill

HB 255 will exclude the use of LEED for state building, because the timber industry lobbyists have wrongly characterized LEED’s commitment to local, Georgia forestry products. As you probably know, the use of locally-harvested wood as a building material is among the most highly incentivized strategies in LEED.  Georgia forest products of any stripe (SFI, ATFS, FSC, no certification…) are eligible contribute to greater than 10% of all possible points in the rating system.

Please help us tell the real story of how important Georgia forest products are to LEED projects in the state.

The bill will be heard in the State Properties committee on WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4th at 2PM-3PM. You can help in two ways:

1)   Contact the State Properties committee and let them know LEED is an important tool for state buildings. Click HERE to send a message.

2)   Show up on WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4th at 2PM-3PM in room 403 of the Capitol to testify against bill 255. Suzanne Haerther, suzanne@haerther.com will be your point of contact for the day of the committee hearing. Please let her know if you will be attending the committee hearing.

Regional Committee Conferences

The Heartland Regional Committee and the Southeast Regional Committee are hosting leadership and learning conferences in March. Christina from the Advocacy team will be there training chapter leaders and volunteers on best practices for advocacy. Check out the event sites for Gear Up! and Heartland Regional Committee Leadership Summit for more information. Hope we see you there!

Groundhog Day...almost

New Legislative Sessions and Bill Tracking

By now, most state legislatures are up and running for new legislative sessions. We have seen a whole host of bills, mostly good, dealing with energy efficiency and renewables coming through state legislatures. You can peruse the ones we are tracking here:

The new bill tracking service we are using is called Bill Track 50. Some of the advocates in the states are already trained and using it. We have phased out our service with KSE, if you were depending on it for your bill tracking, then you need to contact Christina so she can get you set-up with Bill Track 50.

Also, on our February advocates call, USGBC's account manager will be on the call to do more in-depth tutorials on the other functions of Bill Track 50 that are available to advocates.

Federal Update

After a three-week debate and votes on dozens of amendments, the Senate finally passed a bill to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline project. Also included in the bill were amendments to promote energy efficiency and a symbolic statement that climate change is “real.” The final bill that will go to President Obama, after House and Senate Republican leaders confer, will likely only address the Keystone project.

2015 Advocacy Campaign Priorities

Some of you may have heard this already during the Chapter Priorities webinar that the Community Advancement team hosted. Here is the link to just the Advocacy Campaign Priorities for 2015 on Yammer. Please let Christina know if you have any questions.

February Advocates Call

The February Advocates call is Tuesday, February 17th at 4pm ET. The change in date is due to the Presidents Day holiday. Here is the webinar information.

Join WebEx meeting

Meeting number:         756 481 233    

Meeting password:      Adv0cates      

Join by phone 
1-650-429-3300 Call-in toll number (US/Canada) 
Access code: 756 481 233 

Happy New Year

2015 Monthly Advocates Calls

The 2015 monthly Advocates calls will adhere to the same schedule, 3rd Monday of the month at 4PM ET, except for January and February, due to federal holidays.

January Call: Tuesday, January 20th at 4pm ET.

We will have guest speaker, Steve Kihm, Principal and Chief Economist for the Energy Center of Wisconsin.

Here is the link to the webinar: Join WebEx meeting

New Legislative Session Template Email/Letter

On Yammer, you will find a template letter we think will be useful for your legislator outreach at the beginning of new legislative session. It is a basic letter that your chapter can customize.

Chapter Advocacy Days

We are looking ahead to a busy winter and spring for state legislative sessions. Please let us know, by filling out the form below, if you are planning a lobby day at your state capitol.

Last Advocates Update of 2014

Happy Holidays!

Advocacy team at USGBC is wishing you and your family a happy holidays. We look forward to working with you in 2015!

Bill Track 50

This is just a reminder to advocates that used to receive the KSE alerts and weekly digest of legislative activity. We have ended our contract with KSE and have moved to a new bill tracking service, Bill Track 50. If you have not reached out to me about a tutorial, please do so in the New Year. 

December Advocates Calls

In December, we hosted two advocates calls, one was about the impact of the 2014 election on green building advocacy in 2015 and 2016. The other call was about digital organizing - how to connect your chapters online presence to in-person advocacy. You can listen to the 2014 Election debrief here and the Digital Organizing call here.

Federal Updates

Open Letter from HUD Secretary to Utilities

The letter was mailed and emailed out to the majority of all electric, gas, and water utility companies across the nation. It is attached here and also referenced on the HUD website with a blog post here: http://blog.hud.gov/index.php/2014/11/21/knowing-our-energy-usage-helps-reduce-our-energy-consumption/

179D Tax Incentive Extended

The U.S. Senate passed H.R. 5771 by a vote of 76-16 (60 affirmative votes were required), extending the 179D tax deductions through the end of the year, checking off one of the items on my Christmas list (http://hpac.com/blog/hope-commercial-building-energy-efficiency-tax-deductions-lives)!  Any eligible projects done in 2014 can now be claimed. You can read the bill and check out the vote here.