I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1273 
To promote energy savings in residential and commercial buildings and 
industry, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 4, 2015 
Mrs. BLACKBURN (for herself and Mr. SCHRADER) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To promote energy savings in residential and commercial 
buildings and industry, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Energy Savings and Building Efficiency Act of 2015’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Definition of Secretary. 
TITLE I—BUILDINGS 
Subtitle A—Building Energy Codes 
Sec. 101. Greater energy efficiency in building codes. 
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Subtitle B—Worker Training and Capacity Building 
Sec. 111. Building training and assessment centers. 
TITLE II—MISCELLANEOUS 
Sec. 201. Voluntary nature of building asset rating program. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITION OF SECRETARY. 
In this Act, the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Sec-
retary of Energy. 
TITLE I—BUILDINGS 
Subtitle A—Building Energy Codes 
SEC. 101. GREATER ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN BUILDING 
CODES. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 303 of the Energy Con-
servation and Production Act (42 U.S.C. 6832) is amend-
ed— 
(1) by striking paragraph (14) and inserting 
the following: 
‘‘(14) MODEL BUILDING ENERGY CODE.—The 
term ‘model building energy code’ means a voluntary 
building energy code or standard developed and up-
dated through a consensus process among interested 
persons, such as the IECC or ASHRAE Standard 
90.1 or the code used by other appropriate organiza-
tions.’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
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‘‘(17) IECC.—The term ‘IECC’ means the 
International Energy Conservation Code as pub-
lished by the International Code Council. 
‘‘(18) ASHRAE STANDARD
90.1.—The term 
‘ASHRAE Standard 90.1’ means the American So-
ciety of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning 
Engineers ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90/1 
Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise 
Residential Buildings. 
‘‘(19) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘Indian tribe’ 
has the meaning given the term in section 4 of the 
Native American Housing Assistance and Self-De-
termination Act of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 4103). 
‘‘(20) SIMPLE
PAYBACK.—The term ‘simple 
payback’ means the time in years that is required 
for energy savings to exceed the incremental first 
cost of a new requirement or code. 
‘‘(21) TECHNICALLY
FEASIBLE.—The term 
‘technically 
feasible’ 
means 
capable 
of 
being 
achieved, based on widely available appliances/equip-
ment, technologies, materials, and construction prac-
tices.’’. 
(b) 
STATE
BUILDING
ENERGY
EFFICIENCY 
CODES.—Section 304 of the Energy Conservation and 
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Production Act (42 U.S.C. 6833) is amended to read as 
follows: 
‘‘SEC. 304. UPDATING STATE BUILDING ENERGY EFFI-
CIENCY CODES. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide tech-
nical assistance, as described in subsection (f), for the pur-
poses of— 
‘‘(1) implementation of building energy codes 
by States, Indian tribes, and, as appropriate, by 
local governments that are technically feasible and 
cost-effective; and 
‘‘(2) supporting full compliance with the State 
and local codes. 
‘‘(b) STATE AND INDIAN TRIBE CERTIFICATION OF 
BUILDING ENERGY CODE UPDATES.— 
‘‘(1) REVIEW
AND
UPDATING
OF
CODES
BY 
EACH STATE AND INDIAN TRIBE.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years 
after the date on which a model building energy 
code is published, each State or Indian tribe 
shall certify whether or not the State or Indian 
tribe, respectively, has reviewed and updated 
the energy provisions of the building code of the 
State or Indian tribe, respectively. 
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‘‘(B) DEMONSTRATION.—The certification 
shall include a statement of whether or not the 
energy savings for the code provisions that are 
in effect throughout the State or Indian tribal 
territory meet or exceed— 
‘‘(i) the energy savings of the most re-
cently published model building energy 
code; or 
‘‘(ii) the targets established under sec-
tion 307(b)(2). 
‘‘(C) NO MODEL BUILDING ENERGY CODE 
UPDATE.—If a model building energy code is 
not updated by a target date established under 
section 307(b)(2)(D), each State or Indian tribe 
shall, not later than 3 years after the specified 
date, certify whether or not the State or Indian 
tribe, respectively, has reviewed and updated 
the energy provisions of the building code of the 
State or Indian tribe, respectively, to meet or 
exceed the target in section 307(b)(2). 
‘‘(2) VALIDATION
BY
SECRETARY.—Not later 
than 90 days after a State or Indian tribe certifi-
cation under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall— 
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‘‘(A) determine whether the code provi-
sions of the State or Indian tribe, respectively, 
meet the criteria specified in paragraph (1); 
‘‘(B) determine whether the certification 
submitted by the State or Indian tribe, respec-
tively is complete; and 
‘‘(C) if the requirements of subparagraph 
(B) are satisfied, validate the certification. 
‘‘(3) LIMITATION.—Nothing in this section 
shall be interpreted to require a State or Indian 
tribe to adopt any building code or provision within 
a code. 
‘‘(c) IMPROVEMENTS IN COMPLIANCE WITH BUILD-
ING ENERGY CODES.— 
‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years 
after the date of a certification under sub-
section (b), each State and Indian tribe shall 
certify whether or not the State and Indian 
tribe, respectively, has— 
‘‘(i) achieved full compliance under 
paragraph (3) with the applicable certified 
State and Indian tribe building energy 
code or with the associated model building 
energy code; or 
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‘‘(ii) made significant progress under 
paragraph (4) toward achieving compliance 
with the applicable certified State and In-
dian tribe building energy code or with the 
associated model building energy code. 
‘‘(B) REPEAT
CERTIFICATIONS.—If the 
State or Indian tribe certifies progress toward 
achieving compliance, the State or Indian tribe 
shall repeat the certification until the State or 
Indian tribe certifies that the State or Indian 
tribe has achieved full compliance, respectively. 
‘‘(2) MEASUREMENT OF COMPLIANCE.—A cer-
tification under paragraph (1) shall include docu-
mentation of the rate of compliance based on— 
‘‘(A) inspections of a random sample of the 
buildings covered by the code in the preceding 
year; or 
‘‘(B) an alternative method that yields an 
accurate measure of compliance. 
‘‘(3) ACHIEVEMENT OF COMPLIANCE.—A State 
or Indian tribe shall be considered to achieve full 
compliance under paragraph (1) if— 
‘‘(A) at least 90 percent of building space 
covered by the code in the preceding year sub-
stantially meets all the requirements of the ap-
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