Efficiency First

Legislative Update

July 31, 2009 – During this week’s Efficiency First Webinar, David J. Leiter and Kevin M. Kappel of ML Strategies updated members on the status of climate and energy legislation pending on Capitol Hill.

Lobbying on behalf of Efficiency First, one of ML Strategies’ top priorities at this time is to gain some Republican support for the Retrofit for Energy and Environmental Performance (REEP) bill that was inserted in the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES). Leiter stated that of the 40 current sponsors of the REEP bill, all or Democrats, and that GOP Congressmen have been reluctant to endorse the bill despite strong support from a number of prominent non-partisan organizations, including the National Association of Realtors, the National Association of Homebuilders and the Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET). Leitner and Kappel added that if the House and the Senate fail to agree on the broader provisions of the ACES legislation, there’s still a strong possibility that the REEP bill could be resurrected and passed independently.

We urge all Efficiency First members to exert whatever influence they may have over Republican legislators to gain bipartisan support for the REEP legislation, which would provide federal support for state energy retrofit programs, including financial incentives for commercial and residential efficiency retrofits combined with training, certification of contractors, certification of buildings, and post-retrofit inspection. If passed, this legislation will have a major long-term impact on the Home Performance industry.

A brief two-page summary of the bill is available in downloadable PDF format at: http://www.efficiencyfirst.org/static/files/REEP_Summary.pdf

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