Filed under: Sustainability
On February 13, 2009, Representative Matt Smith introduced a bill in the Pennsylvania House that would have required many new state buildings in Pennsylvania to achieve LEED certification. The requirement would have applied to the following new construction: (1) any stated owned building that was larger than 20,000 gross square feet; (2) any building receiving from the State either more than 50 percent of its construction costs or $500,000 in construction financing; or (3) any building larger than 20,000 gross square feet in which the State was to lease at least 90 percent of the space. The bill was passed by the House 180-17 but not before it was amended so that it no longer specified LEED certification, but instead a high performance building requirement selected by the Department of General Services in consultation with the Department of Environmental Protection.
Since its passage by the House, the bill (now known as HB 444) has been in the Senate’s Environmental Resources and Energy Committee. On June 22, 2010, that Committee approved the HB 444, but not before further amending it. The most significant amendment reduced the scope of the bill so that it will no longer apply to buildings built with state financing but only to state owned or occupied buildings. Given the bill’s wide approval in the House and the favorable action the Senate committee, it would seem likely that the bill will become law before the current session expires in December. The text of the bill, as approved by the Senate’s Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, is at http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/PN/Public/btCheck.cfm?txtType=HTM&sessYr=2009&sessInd=0&billBody=H&billTyp=B&billNbr=0444&pn=3951.
Kenneth Joseph, Esq.
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