Green building standards act

Green Building Standards Act

Summary: An Act for the purpose of requiring that the design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and deconstruction of buildings owned or leased by the state of <insert your state here> comply with certain energy-efficient building standards.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of <insert your state here>:

Section 1. Short Title.

This Act shall be known and may be cited as the “Green Building Standards Act.”

Section 2. Findings and Declarations.

The Legislature finds and declares the following:

It is the policy of <insert your state here> to encourage the construction, rehabilitation, and maintenance of buildings in this state in such a manner as to:

(A) Promote better environmental standards for the construction, rehabilitation, and maintenance of buildings in the state;

(B) Improve energy efficiency and increase generation of energy through renewable and clean energy technologies;

(C) Increase the demand for environmentally preferable building materials, finishes, and furnishings;

(D) Improve the environment by decreasing the discharge of pollutants from buildings;

(E) Create industry and public awareness of new technologies that can improve the quality of life for building occupants; and

(F) Improve the health and productivity of building occupants by meeting advanced criteria for indoor environmental quality.

In order to facilitate the foregoing policies, the Legislature hereby requires that any building to be constructed by or for the state after the date of enactment of this Act shall be designed and managed to comply with the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum rating standards as set forth in Section 4 of this Act.

Section 3. Definitions.

(A) “Commissioner” means the head of the Department of Energy <or insert your state’s equivalent>.

(B) “Commissioning” means the process of verifying and ensuring that the entire building and the systems within are designed, constructed, functionally tested, and calibrated to operate as intended.

(C) “Department” means the Department of Energy <or insert your state’s equivalent>.

(D) “Energy and Atmosphere Credit Number One” means the credit awarded by the LEED Green Building Rating System, which requires increased energy performance above the standard as defined in the most current version of the LEED-NC or LEED-EB rating system.

(E) “Energy and Atmosphere Credit Number Three” means the credit awarded by the LEED Green Building Rating System, which requires additional commissioning above the fundamental commissioning prerequisite as defined in the most current version of the LEED-NC or LEED-EB rating system.

(F) “Gold rating” means the rating in compliance with, or exceeding, the second highest rating awarded by the USGBC LEED certification process.

(G) “Green building” or “high-performance building” means a building that is designed to achieve integrated systems design and construction so as to significantly reduce or eliminate the negative impact of the built environment on the following:

(1) Site conservation and sustainable planning;

(2) Water conservation and efficiency;

(3) Energy efficiency and renewable energy;

(4) Conservation of materials and resources; and

(5) Indoor environmental quality and human health.

(H) “LEED Green Building Rating System” means the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating system developed and adopted by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), which measures and evaluates the energy and environmental performance of a building.

(I) “LEED-EB” or “Green Building Rating System Version LEED-EB” means the most current Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System guidelines developed and adopted by the United States Green Building Council for existing buildings.

(J) “LEED-NC” or “LEED Green Building Rating System Version LEED-NC” means the most current Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System developed and adopted by the United States Green Building Council for new buildings and major renovations.

(K) “Life-cycle cost” means the cost of a building, as determined by the methodology identified in the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s special publication 544 and interagency report 80-2040, available as set forth in the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 15, Part 230, including the initial cost of its construction or renovation, the marginal cost of future energy capacity, the cost of the energy consumed by the facility over its expected useful life or, in the case of a leased building, over the remaining term of the lease, and the cost of operating and maintaining the facility as such cost affects energy consumption.

(L) “Major facility” means any building:

(1) Owned or operated, in whole or in part, by a state agency; or

(2) Constructed on land leased from the state; and

(a) Which is intended to be used as a school; or

(b) Which has five thousand or more gross square feet.

(M) “Platinum rating” means the rating in compliance with, or exceeding, the highest rating awarded by the USGBC LEED certification process.

(N) “Silver rating” means the rating in compliance with, or exceeding, the third highest rating awarded by the USGBC LEED certification process.

(O) “State agency” means any department, board, bureau, commission, institution, public higher education institution, school district, or other governmental entity of this state.

Section 4. Requirements.

The design, construction, operations, maintenance, renovation, and deconstruction of all major facilities that enter into the pre-design phase after the date of enactment of this Act, and the site of all such facilities, shall conform to, or exceed, the platinum rating of the most recent version of the USGBC LEED-NC Green Building Rating System for a new building and for major renovations OR the most recent version of LEED Green Building Rating System Version LEED-EB for an existing building. All such buildings shall be certified through the LEED certification process and:

(1) The state agency or instrumentality of the state or political subdivision of the state responsible for each such facility shall seek LEED certification at the earliest stage of development for the site of each such facility, and throughout the life of each such facility;

(2) In achieving its LEED rating, the facility must earn at least four LEED points for Energy and Atmosphere Credit Number One; and

(3) In achieving its LEED rating, the facility must earn the point for the LEED Energy and Atmosphere Credit Number Three.

Section 5. Exemptions.

(A) The Commissioner may exempt any building from compliance with the mandates under Section 4, if it is deemed that the cost of compliance sufficiently exceeds the building’s life-cycle cost savings.

(B) Any building under the mandate under Section 4 that is given exemption by the commissioner must comply with the USGBC LEED Green Building Rating System to the maximum extent possible such that the cost of compliance does not sufficiently exceed the building’s life-cycle cost savings.

Section 6. Guidelines for Administration and Compliance.

(A) The Department hereby has the authority to issue regulations pertaining to compliance and certification with this Act as described in Section 4.

(B) The Department shall develop processes and systems to verify compliance with the mandate under Section 4.

Section 7. Conflicting Provisions.

All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.

Section 8. Effective Date.

This Act shall take effect immediately upon enactment.

Section 9. Severability.

If any provision of this Act, or the application thereof to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of this Act, which can be given effect without regard to the invalid provision or application and, to this end, the provisions of this Act are severable.