D.C. Act 25-701. Building Energy Performance Standards Amendment Act of 2024.

AN ACT

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", 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.

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:

(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.

(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 a 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 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:

"(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.".

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) and 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)).