Wednesday, October 11, 2017

BOMA California Advocacy Update: PACE Bills Supported, Water Bill Savings Act, Mandatory Benchmarking Regulations & Strategic Issues Conference - December 7-8, Napa, California




All BOMAs in California are part of BOMA California based in Sacramento. The focus of BOMA California is strictly advocacy and - thanks to the involvement of BOMA members - they are really good at protecting the industry's interests.

It has been a VERY busy time in Sacramento as the legislative session has come to close. Any bill that made it out of both houses is now on the Governor's desk for his consideration. The Governor has until October 15th to make a decision to sign or veto a bill. 

Please take a moment to review the information below from our California advocate, Matthew Hargrove, Senior Vice President of Government Affairs for BOMA California.


PACE Bills Supported


On behalf of our industry, we have requested that Governor Brown sign two bills enhancing to the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program.

We believe that AB 1284 (Dababneh; D-Encino) will strengthen the consumer protections associated with PACE financing. This measure builds upon the nation-leading PACE disclosures put in place last year. In addition to expanding access to financing for sustainable property improvements to a larger swath of Californians, PACE plays an important role in California’s plan to meet our greenhouse gas reduction goals by promoting greater adoption of energy-efficient technologies.

Additionally, we have asked the Governor to sign SB 242 (Skinner; D-Berkeley) as we believe the bill will strengthen the consumer protections associated with the PACE program.

Much of California’s existing building stock was built before the adoption of the state’s mandatory energy standards. These bills will strengthen a financing option that allows owners to take on deep energy retrofits without a state forced mandate.


Water Bill Savings Act

On behalf of our industry, we have requested that Governor Brown sign AB 564 (McGuire; D-Healdsburg) which creates the “Water Bill Savings Act.”

The Act allows local agencies to issue bonds to fund the purchase and distribution of drought tolerant landscapes, upgrades to hot water systems, gray water systems, high efficiency toilets, and high efficiency showerheads at private property within their jurisdictions.

The property owners and tenants can then repay the fixture upgrades over time through their utility bills. The ability to repay bonds with customer efficiency charges enables those receiving the benefit of reduced bills to pay for efficiency, and create benefits to the water system at scale.

The Water Bill Savings Act is a voluntary program and will create another tool for local governments to respond to drought that is regionally efficient, financially sustainable, and available to all municipal utilities, large and small.

We support SB 564 because it will help people save money on water while reducing wasted water and provide a voluntary tool to meet state conservation mandate. SB 564 is a sustainable model for investment in water efficiency.


Mandatory Benchmarking Regulations

Regulations to guide California’s implementation of the state’s mandatory benchmarking law are in the final stages of being finalized. Basically, if you will have to benchmark any building over 50,000 s.f. and report that information to the CEC. The regulations are a bit more complicated, as they get into lots of detail about many compliance scenarios. The last round of amendments to the regulations included the following:

1. Modifying the definition of “active” as it applies to utility accounts (§1681(a)).

2. Modifying the methods a building owner or owner’s agent may use to demonstrate

building ownership or agency when requesting energy use data from a utility

(§1682(a)(1)(B)).

3. Clarifying and simplifying the processes by which a building owner, owner’s agent, or

utility may obtain customer permission to share building-level energy use data with a

building owner or owner’s agent (§1682(b)(4)).

4. Specifying that a utility will not be required to provide whole-building energy use data

more than once in a three-month period (§1682(b)(7)), except for requests made for

compliance with the benchmarking and public disclosure requirements.

5. Adding requirements for a building owner or owner’s agent to notify a utility of certain

changes when the utility is providing recurring automatic upload of whole-building

energy use data (§1682(b)(8)).

6. Removing items from, and making modifications to, the list of metrics the Energy

Commission may make available on a public website (§1683(c)(3)).

Our industry has paid very close attention to this issue, has provided comments and feedback to the CEC through every step of the process, and we remain in support of these regulations. Click here to see all the details.


Strategic Issues Conference - December 7-8, Napa, California 

TEN major groups have come together to host an event you don’t want to miss! California Business Properties Association (CBPA), the American Council for Engineering Companies (ACEC), the Building Owners and Managers of California (BOMA CAL), the California Alliance for Jobs (CAJ), the California Building Industry Association (CBIA), the California Business Roundtable (CBRT), the California Manufacturers & Technology Association (CMTA), the Commercial Real Estate Development Association (NAIOP), the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) and the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) are co-hosting one of the premier biannual policy gatherings, 2017 Strategic Issues Conference.

The Strategic Issues Conference offers a unique opportunity, in an intimate setting, to enjoy significant exposure to key decision-makers and policymakers from both the public and private sectors. The goal of the Strategic Issues Conference is to increase public policy and political awareness of state and national issues, and to foster collaborative efforts among business leaders from all sectors of the California economy. Your sponsorship will contribute in achieving this goal, and will signal your strong support for the commercial, industrial, and retail real estate industry.

Click here for more information!

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