II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1165 

To require Federal buildings to be designed, constructed, and certified to 

meet, at a minimum, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental 

Design green building rating standard identified as silver by the United 

States Green Building Council, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 19, 2007 

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

to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

A BILL 

To require Federal buildings to be designed, constructed, 

and certified to meet, at a minimum, the Leadership 

in Energy and Environmental Design green building rating standard identified as silver by the United States 

Green Building Council, 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 ‘‘American Green Build5 ing Act of 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

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1 (1) LEED SILVER STANDARD.—The term 

2 ‘‘LEED silver standard’’ means the Leadership in 

3 Energy and Environmental Design green building 

4 rating standard identified as silver by the United 

5 States Green Building Council. 

6 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

7 the Secretary of Energy. 

8 SEC. 3. GREEN BUILDING STANDARDS FOR FEDERAL 

9 BUILDINGS. 

10 (a) REQUIREMENT.—Except as provided in sub11 section (b), a Federal building for which the design phase 

12 for construction or major renovation is begun after the 

13 date of enactment of this Act shall be designed, con14 structed, and certified to meet, at a minimum, the LEED 

15 silver standard. 

16 (b) DETERMINATION OF IMPRACTICABILITY.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph 

18 (3)(B), the requirement under subsection (a) shall 

19 not apply to a Federal building if the head of the 

20 Federal agency with jurisdiction over the Federal 

21 building, in accordance with the factors described in 

22 paragraph (2), determines that compliance with the 

23 requirement under subsection (a) would be impracti24 cable. 

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1 (2) FACTORS FOR DETERMINATION.—In deter2 mining whether compliance with the requirement 

3 under subsection (a) would be impracticable, the 

4 head of the Federal agency with jurisdiction over the 

5 Federal building shall determine— 

6 (A) the quantity of energy required by 

7 each activity carried out in the Federal build8 ing; and 

9 (B) whether the Federal building is used 

10 to carry out an activity relating to national se11 curity. 

12 (3) REPORT.— 

13 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 

14 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 

15 and annually thereafter, the head of each Fed16 eral agency shall prepare and submit to the 

17 Secretary a report that includes a description of 

18 each Federal building for which the head of the 

19 Agency with jurisdiction over the Federal build20 ing determined that compliance with the re21 quirement under subsection (a) would be im22 practicable. 

23 (B) REVIEW BY SECRETARY.—Not later 

24 than 90 days after the date on which the Sec25 retary receives a report from a head of a Fedmstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

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1 eral agency under subparagraph (A), the Sec2 retary shall review the report and notify the 

3 head of the Federal agency on whether any 

4 Federal building described in the report sub5 mitted by the head of the Federal agency shall 

6 be required to comply with the requirement 

7 under subsection (a). 

8 (4) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 180 days 

9 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec10 retary shall promulgate regulations to carry out this 

11 subsection. 

12 (c) STUDY.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

14 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

15 shall submit to Congress the results of a study com16 paring— 

17 (A) the expected energy savings resulting 

18 from the implementation of this section; with 

19 (B) energy savings under all other Federal 

20 energy savings requirements. 

21 (2) INCLUSION.—The Secretary shall include in 

22 the report any recommendations for changes to Fed23 eral law necessary to reduce or eliminate duplicative 

24 or inconsistent Federal energy savings requirements. 

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1 SEC. 4. STORM WATER RUNOFF REQUIREMENTS FOR FED2 ERAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS. 

3 The sponsor of any development or redevelopment 

4 project involving property with a footprint that exceeds 

5 5,000 square feet and that is federally-owned or federally6 financed shall use site planning, design, construction, and 

7 maintenance strategies for the property to maintain, to 

8 the maximum extent technically feasible, predevelopment 

9 hydrology with regard to the temperature, rate, volume, 

10 and duration of flow. 

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