WASHINGTON, D.C. – April 30, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — Today, U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) announced that President Barack Obama has signed his bipartisan legislation with U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), The Energy Efficiency Improvement Act of 2015. This is the first energy bill to be signed into law this Congress.
“I’m pleased the President has signed my bill into law because it is good for the economy and good for the environment,” said Portman. “This is an important part of our energy plan for America that can help bring jobs back, help make our manufacturers more competitive, and actually help to protect the environment. I’ll continue to work for passage of my larger bill and a national energy strategy that boosts American workers while protecting the environment at the same time.”
The Energy Efficiency Improvement Act of 2015 includes three simple but effective provisions that include no mandates and that have been scored by the Congressional Budget Office to be budget neutral. Title I establishes a voluntary, market-driven approach to aligning the interests of commercial building owners and their tenants to reduce energy consumption. Title II exempts certain electric resistance water heaters used for demand response from pending Department of Energy regulation. Title III requires that federally-leased buildings without Energy Star labels benchmark and disclose their energy usage data, where practical.
Text of the legislation can be found here.
Portman is continuing to work for passage of his Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act, which he discussed at a hearing in the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources today. Video can be foundhere.
