Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

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                                             A BILL

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                                              25-801

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                    IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

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                                    _____________________

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 To amend the Green Building Act of 2006 to change the benchmark reporting and verification

       deadline from April 1 to May 1, to change the frequency of third-party verification from

       every 3 years to every 6 years, and to require the Department of Energy and Environment

       (“DOEE”) to submit a report to the Council by April 1, 2025, analyzing and evaluating the

       effectiveness of third-party verification; and to amend the CleanEnergy DC Omnibus

       Amendment Act of 2018 to align the District’s Building Energy Performance Standards

       with the recommendations from the Building Energy Performance Standards Task Force,

       to delay the start of the second and third compliance cycles by one year, to require DOEE

       to establish building energy performance standards for the second and third compliance

       cycles no later than January 1, 2028, and every 6 years thereafter, to provide that for the

       first compliance cycle that began on January 1, 2021, all buildings shall have 6 years from

       the date that the standards are established to meet the their energy performance

       requirements, to create a whole-cycle exemption for qualifying buildings that are vacant or

       in financial distress, to change the term “alternative compliance penalties” to “alternative

       compliance payments”, and to provide DOEE with rulemaking authority to govern the

       pass-through of these payments from non-residential tenants, and to require DOEE to

       amend regulations to confirm that mechanical and electrical upgrades made to comply with

       the District’s Building Energy Performance Standards are exempt from stormwater

       requirements.

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        BE IT ENACTED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this

 act may be cited as the “Building Energy Performance Standards Amendment Act of 2024”.

        Sec. 2. Section 4(c)(2) of the Green Building Act of 2006, effective March 8, 2007 (D.C.

 Law 16-234; D.C. Official Code § 6-1451.03(c)(2)), is amended as follows:

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        (a) Subparagraph (A)(ii)(I) is amended by striking the phrase “April 1 of the respective

 following year. In 2011 only” and inserting the phrase “May 1 of the respective following year. In

 2011 and 2024 only” in its place.

        (b) Subparagraph (B)(vi) is amended by striking the phrase “January 1, 2024” and inserting

 the phrase “January 1, 2025” in its place.

        (c) Subparagraph (F) is amended to read as follows:

                        “(F)(i) In 2024, 2027, and every 6 years thereafter, the owner, or the owner’s

 designee, shall perform a third-party verification of its benchmark and ENERGY STAR statements

 in accordance with requirements specified by DOEE.

                                “(ii) By April 1, 2025, DOEE shall submit a report to the Council

 that analyzes and evaluates the effectiveness of third-party verification, based on findings from the

 submission of third-party verification information that was submitted to DOEE pursuant to this

 section and rules issued to implement this section.”.

        Sec. 3. Section 301 of the CleanEnergy DC Omnibus Amendment Act of 2018, effective

 March 22, 2019 (D.C. Law 22-257; D.C. Official Code § 8-1772.21), is amended as follows:

        (a) Subsection (a) is amended as follows:

                (1) Paragraph (2) is amended by striking the phrase “Beginning January 1, 2027”

 and inserting the phrase “Beginning January 1, 2028” in its place.

                (2) Paragraph (3) is amended by striking the phrase “Beginning January 1, 2033”

 and inserting the phrase “Beginning January 1, 2034” in its place.

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        (b) Subsection (b)(1)(A) is amended by striking the phrase “January 1, 2021,” and inserting

 the phrase “January 1, 2021, January 1, 2028,” in its place.

        (c) Subsection (c) is amended to read as follows:

        “(c)(1) All buildings below the energy performance standard for their property type,

 established pursuant to subsection (b)(1) and (2) of this section, shall have 5 years from the date

 the performance standards are established to meet the building energy performance requirements

 established by DOEE; except, that for buildings subject to the compliance cycle that began on

 January 1, 2021, all buildings shall have 6 years from the date that the standards are established to

 meet the energy performance requirements established by DOEE.

                 “(2) For the compliance cycle that began on January 1, 2021, the 6-year compliance

 cycle specified in paragraph (1) of this subsection shall include any one-year delay of compliance

 due to the COVID-19 public health emergency provided to building owners by DOEE through

 rulemaking.”.

        (d) Subsection (d) is amended as follows:

                 (1) Paragraph (1) is amended by striking the phrase “last 2 years of the 5-year

 compliance cycle, as compared to the normalized site energy use intensity averaged over the 2

 years preceding the first year of the 5-year compliance cycle” and inserting the phrase “last year

 of the 5-year compliance cycle, as compared to the normalized site energy use intensity of the year

 preceding the first year of the 5-year compliance cycle; except that, for a building that is subject

 to the compliance cycle that began on January 1, 2021, a performance pathway shall require a

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 building to demonstrate a greater than 20% decrease in normalized site energy use intensity

 averaged over the last year of the compliance cycle, as compared to the normalized site energy use

 intensity averaged over Calendar Years 2018 and 2019” in its place.

                 (2) Paragraph (2) is amended to read as follows:

                 “(2) For the compliance cycle that began on January 1, 2021, a prescriptive pathway

 for buildings to achieve compliance by implementing cost-effective energy efficiency measures

 with savings comparable to the performance pathway;”.

                 (3) A new paragraph (2A) is added to read as follows:

                 “(2A) For the compliance cycle beginning January 1, 2028, a trajectory pathway,

 in accordance with the recommendations in the report required by subsection (h) of this section,

 which shall require a building to meet building-specific performance targets that are established

 upon a trajectory from a baseline determined by DOEE towards long-term performance targets

 determined by DOEE through rulemaking or publication on the DOEE website; and”.

         (e) Subsection (e) is amended as follows:

                 (1) Paragraph (1) is amended by striking the phrase “financial distress, change of

 ownership, vacancy, major renovation, pending demolition, or other acceptable circumstances

 determined by DOEE by regulation” and inserting the phrase “change of ownership, major

 renovation, pending demolition, or other acceptable circumstances determined by DOEE by

 regulation” in its place.

                 (2) A new paragraph (1A) is added to read as follows:

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                 “(1A) DOEE shall establish criteria to exempt qualifying buildings from the

  building energy performance requirements for a given compliance cycle if the owner demonstrates,

  to the satisfaction of DOEE, financial distress, the qualifying building was below sufficient

  occupancy thresholds for either of the 2 years preceding the compliance cycle, or other acceptable

  circumstances determined by DOEE by regulation.”.

        (f) Subsection (g) is amended to read as follows:

        “(g)(1) Buildings failing to comply with the building energy performance requirements at

 the end of the 5-year compliance period shall pay an alternative compliance payment established

 by DOEE.

                “(2) DOEE may establish through rulemaking criteria to allow a building owner to

 recover from its non-residential tenants all or part of an alternative compliance payment rendered

 pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection.

                “(3) Payments collected pursuant to this subsection shall be deposited into the

 Sustainable Energy Trust Fund.”.

        (g) A new subsection (j-1) is added to read as follows:

        “(j-1) DOEE shall amend appropriate regulations to remove the cost of interior mechanical

 and electrical upgrades that are undertaken for the express purpose of compliance with the

 requirements of this section from calculations to determine whether the project triggers

 Stormwater requirements.”

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        Sec. 4. Fiscal impact statement.

        The Council adopts the fiscal impact statement in the committee report as the fiscal impact

 statement required by section 4a of the General Legislative Procedures Act of 1975, approved

 October 16, 2006 (120 Stat. 2038; D.C. Official Code § 1-301.47a).

        Sec. 5. Effective date.

        This act shall take effect following approval by the Mayor (or in the event of veto by the

 Mayor, action by the Council to override the veto), a 30-day period of congressional review as

 provided in section 602(c)(1) of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, approved December 24,

 1973 (87 Stat. 788; D.C. Official Code §1-206.02(c)(1)).

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