II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1052 

To require a study on the impact of State and local performance 

benchmarking and disclosure policies for commercial and multifamily 

buildings, to provide for competitive awards to utilities, States, and 

units of local government, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 22, 2015 

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

to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To require a study on the impact of State and local performance benchmarking and disclosure policies for commercial 

and multifamily buildings, to provide for competitive 

awards to utilities, States, and units of local government, 

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. ENERGY INFORMATION STUDY. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 

5 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Energy 

6 (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall complete 

7 a study, with opportunity for public comment— 


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1 (1) on the impact of— 

2 (A) State and local performance 

3 benchmarking and disclosure policies, and any 

4 associated building efficiency policies, for com5 mercial and multifamily buildings; and 

6 (B) programs and systems in which utili7 ties provide aggregated information regarding 

8 whole building energy consumption and usage 

9 information to owners of multitenant commer10 cial, residential, and mixed-use buildings; 

11 (2) that identifies best practice policy ap12 proaches studied under paragraph (1) that have re13 sulted in the greatest improvements in building en14 ergy efficiency; and 

15 (3) that considers— 

16 (A) compliance rates and the benefits and 

17 costs of the policies and programs on building 

18 owners, utilities, tenants, and other parties; 

19 (B) utility practices, programs, and sys20 tems that provide aggregated energy consump21 tion information to multitenant building own22 ers, and the impact of public utility commis23 sions and State privacy laws on those practices, 

24 programs, and systems; 


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1 (C) exceptions to compliance in existing 

2 laws where building owners are not able to 

3 gather or access whole building energy informa4 tion from tenants or utilities; 

5 (D) the treatment of buildings with— 

6 (i) multiple uses; 

7 (ii) uses for which baseline informa8 tion is not available; and 

9 (iii) uses that require high levels of 

10 energy intensities, such as data centers, 

11 trading floors, and television studios; 

12 (E) implementation practices, including 

13 disclosure methods and phase-in of compliance; 

14 (F) the safety and security of 

15 benchmarking tools offered by government 

16 agencies, and the resiliency of those tools 

17 against cyber attacks; and 

18 (G) international experiences with regard 

19 to building benchmarking and disclosure laws 

20 and data aggregation for multitenant buildings. 

21 (b) SUBMISSION TO CONGRESS.—At the conclusion 

22 of the study, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a re23 port on the results of the study. 


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1 SEC. 2. GRANTS TO UTILITIES. 

2 (a) GRANTS TO UTILITIES.—Based on the results of 

3 the research for the portion of the study described in sec4 tion 1(a)(1)(B), and with criteria developed following pub5 lic notice and comment, the Secretary may make competi6 tive awards to utilities, utility regulators, and utility part7 ners to develop and implement effective and promising 

8 programs to provide aggregated whole building energy 

9 consumption information to multitenant building owners. 

10 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

11 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

12 $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2016 through 2020, 

13 to remain available until expended. 

14 SEC. 3. GRANTS TO STATES AND UNITS OF LOCAL GOVERN15 MENT. 

16 (a) GRANTS TO UTILITIES.—Based on the results of 

17 the research for the portion of the study described in sec18 tion 1(a)(1)(B), and with criteria developed following pub19 lic notice and comment, the Secretary may make competi20 tive awards to States and units of local government to de21 velop and implement effective and promising 

22 benchmarking and disclosure policies, and any associated 

23 building efficiency policies, for commercial and multi24 family buildings. 

25 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

26 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 


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1 $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2016 through 2020, 

2 to remain available until expended. 

3 SEC. 4. INPUT FROM STAKEHOLDERS. 

4 The Secretary shall seek input from stakeholders to 

5 maximize the effectiveness of the actions taken under this 

6 Act. 

7 SEC. 5. REPORT. 

8 Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment 

9 of this Act, and every 2 years thereafter, the Secretary 

10 shall submit to Congress a report on the progress made 

11 in complying with this Act. 

Æ 


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