Before returning home to their constituents, Congress passed, and President Barack Obama signed, a Continuing Resolution (H.R.5325), which provides funding for Federal government programs through December 9, 2016 at approximately the same levels as Fiscal Year 2016, which ended September 30. Full-year funding was also provided through this bill for Military Construction and Veterans Affairs.

Members of Congress will need to decide how they want to proceed on funding the government through the remainder of FY 2017 when they return for their post-election lame duck session during the week of October 14. A likely scenario is the combination of the remaining 11 appropriations bills into a single omnibus funding measure, rather than a year-long Continuing Resolution.

Members of the High Performance Building Coalition (HPBC) traveled to Capitol Hill on April 21st for a day of meetings with High Performance Building Caucus member offices and a lunch briefing on the importance of funding key federal programs related to high performance buildings.

A dozen HPBC members broke up into groups to meet with 17 High Performance Building Caucus member offices throughout the day to speak about the important work that the HPBC is doing, as well as to discuss our policy and appropriations priorities. In particular, as the House and Senate begin conference discussions to harmonize various provisions of the Energy Policy Modernization Act (S. 2012) and the North American Energy Security and Infrastructure Act (H.R. 8), the HPBC asked that our policy priorities that were originally included in one or both pieces of legislation be included in the final conference version, including:

The Environmental Protection Agency’s WaterSense Program, a voluntary program to help consumers identify water-efficient products and services;
The Nexus of Energy and Water for Sustainability Act (NEWS Act), which would better coordinate federal energy and water programs; and
The Sensible Accounting to Value Energy Act (SAVE Act), which would improve the accuracy of mortgage underwriting by including the value of energy efficiency in a home.

During the lunch briefing, attendees hear from Kevin Kampschroer, Director of the Office of High Performance Green Buildings at the U.S. General Services Administration, on the many programs that GSA is implementing to improve the performance of federal buildings across the country. Next, John Pouland, Vice President of Government Affairs and Solutions at Philips Lighting, spoke about the importance of the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, and in particular the Solid State Lighting research and development work that it supports. Finally, the audience heard from Christopher Lindsay, Manager of Government Relations at the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials (IAPMO), about important water and energy programs within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, including Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds, Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation (WIFIA) funding, and the ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager tool for benchmarking the energy performance of buildings.

The High Performance Building Coalition will continue to remain active on Capitol Hill to promote its policy and appropriations priorities throughout the remainder of the 114th Congress and into the 115th Congress. Please visit our website regularly for policy updates, as well as information about High Performance Building Week, June 13–17, 2016.