II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4340 

To provide for accurate energy appraisals in connection with residential 

mortgage loans, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 15, 2024 

Mr. BENNET introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To provide for accurate energy appraisals in connection with 

residential mortgage loans, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Getting Renewable and 

5 Energy Efficient Neighborhoods Appraisals Act of 2024’’ 

6 or the ‘‘GREEN Appraisals Act of 2024’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. GETTING RENEWABLE AND ENERGY EFFICIENT 

2 NEIGHBORHOODS ACCURATE ENERGY AP3 PRAISALS. 

4 (a) DISCLOSURE.—The head of each covered agency 

5 shall require that any creditor to which an application for 

6 a covered loan is made shall provide to the borrower, on 

7 the same date that the creditor delivers or places in the 

8 mail the disclosures described under section 

9 1026.19(e)(1)(iii)(A) of title 12, Code of Federal Regula10 tions, for such loan, a written disclosure that includes the 

11 following: 

12 (1) A statement that the prospective borrower 

13 or current homeowner may provide an energy report, 

14 or any information in such report, regarding the 

15 property subject to the covered loan to the creditor 

16 or to a qualified appraiser or other interested party 

17 for consideration during a home appraisal or appli18 cation for a covered loan. 

19 (2) A statement that the prospective borrower 

20 under the covered loan has the right to request an 

21 energy report regarding the property subject to the 

22 covered loan. 

23 (3) A statement that, in developing an ap24 praisal in connection with such covered loan— 

25 (A) a qualified appraiser will take the in26 formation in the report into consideration; and 


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1 (B) the appraisers’ final opinion of the 

2 value of the property may be higher, lower, or 

3 no different than if the energy report had not 

4 been available for the appraiser to review. 

5 (4) A statement that, as with any other data 

6 considered by the appraiser that affects the apprais7 er’s opinion of the value of a property, consideration 

8 of such data may help or hurt the ability of the pro9 spective borrower to obtain a covered loan. 

10 (b) REQUIRED ANALYSIS.—In connection with a cov11 ered loan, the creditor under such loan shall, in under12 writing the loan, use the appraised value of the subject 

13 property value as determined by a qualified appraiser. The 

14 consideration of an energy report by the qualified ap15 praiser may not be used as a basis to reject a home ap16 praisal or application for a covered loan. 

17 (c) CONSIDERATION OF ENERGY CHARACTERIS18 TICS.—On and after March 1, 2026, the head of each cov19 ered agency shall require, with respect to any covered loan 

20 for a property for which an energy report is available, that 

21 upon the prospective borrower’s consent the creditor shall 

22 provide the appraiser with the energy report when the ap23 praiser receives the assignment, and any underwriting or 

24 verification systems used by the creditor shall accommoVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:41 Jun 17, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4340.IS S4340

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1 date any appraisal that takes the energy report into con2 sideration. 

3 (d) CONSIDERATION OF INFORMATION.—A qualified 

4 appraiser to whom an energy report is provided in connec5 tion with a covered loan shall take the information in such 

6 report into consideration when developing an appraised 

7 value of the property. In developing the appraised value 

8 of the property, the qualified appraiser shall take into con9 sideration— 

10 (1) the energy efficiency characteristics of the 

11 property for which the report was prepared, any re12 newable energy related features of such property, es13 timated energy savings for such property, the energy 

14 consumption for such property relative to com15 parable homes, or any one or more of such items; 

16 (2) whether such characteristics of the property 

17 are relevant to the market value of the property; and 

18 (3) any additional information, as determined 

19 by the relevant head of a covered agency. 

20 (e) PORTABILITY.—Upon the request of a prospective 

21 borrower under a covered loan, the creditor shall provide 

22 a copy of an energy report with respect to the property, 

23 at no cost, to the prospective borrower. 

24 (f) GUIDANCE.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The heads of the covered 

2 agencies, after consultation with the advisory com3 mittee established pursuant to paragraph (2), shall 

4 jointly prescribe guidance for creditors to implement 

5 this section which— 

6 (A) shall confirm the acceptance, by each 

7 of the covered agencies, of all applicable ap8 proaches to value utilized by appraisers to dem9 onstrate market reaction to energy efficiency 

10 and renewable energy; 

11 (B) shall set forth procedures for consumer 

12 disclosures, the preparation and sharing of en13 ergy reports, and the provision of the reports to 

14 qualified appraisers; and 

15 (C) shall not provide for how an appraiser 

16 shall consider information in an energy report. 

17 (2) ADVISORY COMMITTEE.—The heads of the 

18 covered agencies shall jointly establish an advisory 

19 committee of stakeholders to advise the heads of the 

20 covered agencies in carrying out this section, which 

21 shall consist of representatives of housing advocates, 

22 energy efficiency and renewable energy organiza23 tions, energy raters, home builders, architects, sin24 gle-family mortgage creditors, consumer advocates, 

25 appraisers, and other interested groups. 


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1 (3) SYSTEMS REQUIREMENTS.—Not later than 

2 the expiration of the 2-year period beginning on the 

3 date of the enactment of this Act, the heads of the 

4 covered agencies shall jointly require a creditor origi5 nating a covered loan for which an energy report is 

6 prepared under this section to use origination and 

7 underwriting systems that review, score, or rate ap8 praisals in a manner consistent with the creditor 

9 guidance issued pursuant to paragraph (1). 

10 (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

11 (1) COVERED AGENCY.—The term ‘‘covered 

12 agency’’ means— 

13 (A) the Federal Housing Administration of 

14 the Department of Housing and Urban Devel15 opment; 

16 (B) the Federal Housing Finance Agency, 

17 to the extent that such Agency oversees and 

18 regulates the enterprises, as such term is de19 fined in section 1303 of the Federal Housing 

20 Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness 

21 Act of 1992 (12 U.S.C. 4502); except that any 

22 requirement imposed by this section on such 

23 Agency or the Director of such Agency shall be 

24 treated as a requirement with respect to the 

25 Federal National Mortgage Association and the 


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1 Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, to 

2 be imposed and enforced pursuant to the au3 thority of such Director and Agency to super4 vise and regulate such enterprises; 

5 (C) the Government National Mortgage 

6 Association; 

7 (D) the Rural Housing Service of the De8 partment of Agriculture; and 

9 (E) the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

10 (2) COVERED LOAN.—The term ‘‘covered loan’’ 

11 means a residential mortgage loan (as such term is 

12 defined in section 103 of the Truth in Lending Act 

13 (15 U.S.C. 1602)) that is made, insured, purchased, 

14 guaranteed, or securitized by a covered agency or in15 tended to be purchased, guaranteed, or securitized 

16 by a covered agency. 

17 (3) CREDITOR.—The term ‘‘creditor’’ has the 

18 meaning given such term in section 103 of the 

19 Truth in Lending Act (15 U.S.C. 1602). 

20 (4) ENERGY REPORT.—The term ‘‘energy re21 port’’ means, with respect to a property, an analysis 

22 that— 

23 (A)(i) details the energy-related features in 

24 the home; 


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1 (ii) estimates the expected energy costs or 

2 energy savings specific to the property, or both, 

3 based on specific information about the prop4 erty; or 

5 (iii) complies with both clauses (i) and (ii); 

6 (B) estimates the expected energy gen7 erated from installed renewable energy features; 

8 and 

9 (C) is conducted— 

10 (i) in accordance with the guidance 

11 issued under this section; 

12 (ii) in accordance with HERS by an 

13 individual certified by the Residential En14 ergy Service Network, unless the Secretary 

15 finds that the use of HERS does not fur16 ther the purposes of this section; 

17 (iii) by the Department of Energy’s 

18 Home Energy Score; or 

19 (iv) by other methods approved by the 

20 Secretary, in consultation with the Sec21 retary of Energy and the advisory com22 mittee established pursuant to subsection 

23 (f)(2), for use under this section, which 

24 shall include a quality assurance procedure 


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1 approved by the Secretary, in consultation 

2 with the Secretary of Energy. 

3 (5) HERS.—The term ‘‘HERS’’ means the 

4 Home Energy Rating System of the Residential En5 ergy Service Network. 

6 (6) QUALIFIED APPRAISER.—The term ‘‘quali7 fied appraiser’’ means an appraiser who, with re8 spect to the assignment to conduct an appraisal— 

9 (A) is licensed, qualified, or certified to 

10 conduct an appraisal in the State in which the 

11 property is located; 

12 (B) has completed a course of 7 or more 

13 hours of continuing education on the consider14 ation of energy reports in the appraisal process 

15 that— 

16 (i) includes case studies; 

17 (ii) includes an examination, which 

18 the appraiser has passed; and 

19 (iii) was submitted to, and approved 

20 by, the Appraiser Qualifications Board of 

21 the Appraisal Foundation through its 

22 Course Approval Program; and 


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1 (C) is, at the time of agreeing to perform 

2 the assignment, competent to perform the as3 signment. 

Æ 


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