i'll first apologize for having to move this hearing unfortunately it overlapped with the hearing that's been held by chairman and our regular financial services hearing room and we had no choice but to come to an alternative site and so for those of you who don't have seats i don't know what us to tell you but staff thank you for your patience members we just left a meeting with secretary donovan so i would just gaveled at the hearing of the subcommittee on housing and community opportunity will come to order ladies and gentlemen i'd like to thank  ranking member and other members of the subcommittee on housing and community opportunity for joining me today for this hearing on h r two three three six the green act of two thousand and nine without objection to representative of this legislation will be considered a member of the subcommittee for the duration of this hearing i would like to note that this is our first hearing on this legislation next tuesday we will be joined by the department of housing and urban development which will share its views about this legislation i would also like to note that h r two four five four the american clean energy and security act of two thousand and nine is not the subject of today's hearing while i understand member interest in this legislation today's hearing is folks augusten soley on the green act how energy costs are felt most acutely by low income families these families are more likely to live in older buildings which are usually less energy efficient energy costs for these families have increased much faster than their incomes meaning that these households spend sixteen percent of their annual income on energy this is four point four times more than other families spend as a result of low income families frequently make hard choices between heating their homes and seeking medical care paying rent or even eating according to one survey of low income households receiving federal assistance with their utility costs forty seven percent of families went without medical care twenty five percent failed to pay their housing costs and another twenty percent were without food for at least one day is important that green improvements do not result in higher upfront costs especially for low income families this is why section twenty seven of the bill establishes a loan insurance fund that would help bridge the cost gap between the upfront cost of going green and the long term savings mr wallace will expand upon the importance of this provision in his testimony the green act contains provisions that would lead to energy savings for the low income families served through heads programs for example the bill would address the energy consumption of residential and commercial buildings according to department of energy the building sector is responsible for thirty nine percent of total u s carbon dioxide emissions in addition homes businesses and industries consume more than seventy percent of the natural gas and electricity used in this country this bill would also assist hud which administers the bulk of a portable housing in this country the department spends an estimated four point six billion annually on energy more than ten percent of its annual budget energy savings of about five percent a year over five years would generate one billion dollars in savings for her the bill would allow hud to achieve the savings by making its residences meet the criteria of the two thousand and nine international energy conservation code in addition the bill would authorize a demonstration project through hud which increased the energy efficiency of fifty thousand motive bama housing units in urban and rural areas resulting in lower utility costs for residents i'm looking forward to hearing from a panel of witnesses on the benefits and challenges involved in implementing the green act of two thousand nine i would now like to recognize i said committee's ranking member to make her opening statement capital yes thank you madam chair for holding this i'm going to preview my opening statement because we're rushing up against a vote i think and i know we've got a lot of good panelists here the buzz phrase of the decade i think and those to come will be going green in the innovation and creation and manufacturing of more environmentally friendly goods and development of building techniques that makes our homes more sustainable or all the hallmarks i think of american ingenuity i'd like to thank mr perlmutter for his efforts on this legislation before sadat he has worked tirelessly on this bill i have too many red flags i would like to raise i do have some reservations about the new incentives for bill for it for them to purchase green mortgages while i support the concept i think we all now in this room that these two entities are under significant duress and i'm not sure now's the time to be adding additional missions to their goals additionally the f h a will be task with insuring fifty thousand mortgages that meet energy energy efficiency standards by the year two thousand and twelve again a very laudable goal however the f h a is a major market player and their market is increasing daily and i have concerns that they're overburdened with a growing load in the f h a insurance program as well as financial difficulties and difficulties in programs such as heck so our goal i think should be to restore these entities to two full fiscal footing before we try before we tweak their missions and begin to put other onus is on them that while a lot of all i don't want to i want to make sure that they are firmly on on solid financial footing before we go in that direction also have a bit of concern in terms of representing a state like west virginia sometimes we we hear from our builders and our constituents that materials expertise and inspectors for new green building standards are sometimes not readily available in the more rural areas i don't want to penalize people in rural areas to be able to access what i think as i said before several times a lot of the goal of green building and with that i will enter my full full record into the full statement into the record thank you thank you very much and mr green for three minutes for an opening statement thank you madam chair and i will probably yield back some time to you i would like to associate myself with the comments of the chair i am excited about this piece of legislation and i thank you for helping us to move it such that we can get it to the floor i think mr promo for what he has done right he says that the right time the time is always right to do right this appears to be the right thing to do and if it is the right thing to do the time is right to do right because it is the right thing to do for your back thank you very much miss bigger fifty three minutes thank you madam chair i i'd also like to thank  mother for all the work that he's done i am the lead republican on the green act i think it is a bipartisan effort to provide incentives for green buildings and i think that that the bill still needs a little more work and i think we'll hear that from the witnesses today but i think it's come a long way from the original version which mandated green and that was something that bothered me but speaking of mandates i'd like to mention the provisions in the  standard of the cold would be charged one hundred dollars a day and i think that's outrageous so this bill is much different from that and really prove it and then congressman more of kansas and i have a bill to provide grants to state and local agencies to update the building codes which again is an incentive program and it is my hope that that that bill and the the green act will be what what congress wants and i think that incentive not mandates for the for the green effort and i again would like to to really thank mr pearl mother for working on this and look forward to hearin from the witnesses thank you very much mr clay for three minutes thank you very much mr ellison for three minutes without objection such as the order thank you very much i thank you very much for suppose motor and i will now welcome our distinguished panel our first witness will be mr dural howard president of the national association of home builders bernstein president of the center for neighborhood technology our fifth when this will be mr edward masseria executive director of architecture to twenty thirty and our six witness will be mr roy willis executive vice president of our urban southern california division of learner urban i last witness will be mr david i think that's luca dereck her national association of realtors at thank you for appearing before the subcommittee today and without objection your written statement will be made a part of the record and i will now recognize each of you for five minutes summary of your testimony starting with our first witness mr general how thank you madam chairman ranking member capital mr promo tour and distinguished members of the subcommittee i am jerry howard the president and c e o of the national association of home builders thank you for the opportunity to give our thoughts on the impact of h r twenty three thirty six on green building energy efficiency and affordable housing mr perlmutter ms figure we appreciate the ongoing input that we've been allowed to have into the green act there are some very ambitious and well intentioned proposals in the bill that encourage green building in energy efficiency within the government housing programs and any age be appreciates the incorporation of many of our ideas and feedback into the final bill and we believe the bill generally promotes green building and sustainability in a manner that is reasonable and largely voluntary while there are some areas that any age he believes would benefit from additional clarification and h p supports the approach and intent of the legislation the green act proposes many new programs covering everything from revamping appraisals to encouraging advanced renewable energy systems in housing the legislation also provides much broader flexibility in achieving green building compliance for additional credit and includes the recognition of the n h b i c c national green building standard which is the only national standard to earn approval from the american national standard institute it is the technical benchmark for green building in residential arena and h p supports and hansing energy efficiency and green in both new and existing housing as outlined in my written statement there are some provisions in the bill that would benefit from additional clarification for example it is difficult to determine which energy requirements would apply to f h a insured mortgages also section tina appears to require mandatory energy ratings again with potential implications a which we believe may impair the use of the program during a period of critical housing recovery additional details on those two areas for example would provide clarity for both the industry and hud when making determinations about appropriate for appropriate energy strategies for the various programs under hud's discretion and administration despite our overall support for the direct direction of the green act and h p is very concerned about the implications of other legislation and how will conflict with the goals and potential success of this bill the major climate energy policy bill recently passed by the house energy committee h r twenty four fifty four contains building energy provisions that greatly exceed the goals and incentives contained in the green act in section two a one of h r twenty four fifty four new federal energy code mandates are established that would bypass green building entirely and increase the cost of housing in a manner that does not consider affordability and could impede economic recovery in our sector because green building is more than energy efficiency alone it is impossible to accommodate the broader sustainability framework of green into narrow energy code mandates furthermore section two a one of h r twenty four fifty four makes it unlawful to occupy a home or a building that does not meet aggressive federal energy code threshold by a certain date buildings and building owners would be subject to civil penalties and violations if homes and buildings do not meet the federal mandate and states that choose not to adopt the codes that are equally as stringent as the federal minimum w not only lose their emissions allowances and other federal funding but will also have a new federal code applied in force by d o a within one year as an h p understands the intent is to include the green act as part of the larger climate change bill will be incredibly important to assess the disconnect between what the broader bill is seeking for building efficiency and what the green act is trying to do to promote efficiency sustainability and provide cost effective ways to help families access affordable energy efficient housing i'm hopeful that this subcommittee will be able to restore the balance necessary to truly incentivize green building and preserve affordability as the debate over climate change continues it would be terribly disappointing to see the good faith effort in collaborative work on the green act displaced with unworkable federal mandates such as those in vision h r twenty four fifty four and h p urged congress to consider the negative impact that this approach will have on both housing and sustainability and work to remove such policies from the legislation lastly i'd like to mention that i have responded to the questions presented to me in the letter of invitation and those responses are detailed in my written statement we appreciate the opportunity to provide this info and look forward to working with you madam chairman mr promoter speaker to miss capital to see that this bill gets through the full committee and to the floor thank you very much thank you very much mr howard i'm not going to go to the next witness at this point they have called a vote on the floor and while normally we would stay up until the last five minutes or so i'm going to use this time to recess so that you can all reconvene in a room twenty one twenty eight it is now free i can't stand these people spending over here looking so constable and this room been so crowded so we'll go take the boat we'll see you back down to room twenty one twenty eight thank you very much