As the Council moves toward the close of its 4-year term, it is pushing many bills that have stalled in the past or are difficult to pass for various reasons. One such bill, Int. No. 1620-A ("A” here means it is an amended version of the original), is an energy efficiency bill that calls for codes that require significantly more efficient buildings in the near future. Due to our advocacy work and that of others allied with us, this bill has lost most of its most problematic aspects, including its call for passive house energy efficiency standards by 2025. Nonetheless, we and our allies still have concerns and are now in the process of pressing the Council for additional changes, including a trip down to 250 Broadway, where Ron Zeccardi, Ernest Conrad, LEED AP, CEM, BEAP, BOMA Fellow, Laura Belt Ponomarev, RPA, FMA, and I met with the bill’s sponsor. Otherwise, we will submit comments to Council staff calling for change. The Council strongly wants to pass the legislation in one of the two stated Council Meetings in December.
A second energy bill I’ve discussed here, Int. NO. 1745, which would regulate fossil fuel use and total building energy use in existing buildings, has been put off to next term. It is sponsored by the same Councilmember, Costa Constantinides, as the above bill, so we also expressed our concerns about this bill in the above-mentioned meeting. Come next year, we will be keeping our eye on this effort and work with allies to shape the best legislation possible.
