I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3659 
Amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a credit against income 
tax for amounts paid for energy efficient property placed in service 
in commercial buildings pursuant to an approved energy efficiency plan. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 29, 2009 
Mr. WU introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Ways and Means 
A BILL 
Amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a credit 
against income tax for amounts paid for energy efficient 
property placed in service in commercial buildings pursu-
ant to an approved energy efficiency plan. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Building Energy Tax 
Credit Act of 2009’’. 
SEC. 2. COMMERCIAL BUILDING ENERGY PROJECT CREDIT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart D of part IV of sub-
chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 
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1986 (relating to business related credits) is amended by 
adding at the end the following new section: 
‘‘SEC. 45R. COMMERCIAL BUILDING ENERGY PROJECT 
CREDIT. 
‘‘(a) ALLOWANCE OF CREDIT.—For purposes of sec-
tion 38, the commercial building energy project credit is 
an amount equal to 35 percent of the cost of energy con-
servation commercial building property placed in service 
by the taxpayer. 
‘‘(b) MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF CREDIT.—The credit 
under subsection (a) with respect to any building for any 
taxable year shall not exceed the excess (if any) of— 
‘‘(1) the product of— 
‘‘(A) $4.00, and 
‘‘(B) the square footage of the building, 
over 
‘‘(2) the aggregate credit allowed under sub-
section (a) with respect to the building for all prior 
taxable years. 
‘‘(c) ENERGY CONSERVATION COMMERCIAL BUILD-
ING PROPERTY.—For purposes of this section, the term 
‘energy conservation commercial building property’ means 
property— 
‘‘(1) with respect to which depreciation (or am-
ortization in lieu of depreciation) is allowable, 
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‘‘(2) which is installed on or in any building 
which is located in the United States, and 
‘‘(3) which is installed as part of a commercial 
building energy project. 
‘‘(d) COMMERCIAL BUILDING ENERGY PROJECT.— 
For purposes of this section, the term ‘commercial build-
ing energy project’ means a project— 
‘‘(1)(A) to install energy efficient commercial 
building property (as defined in section 179D(c)), or 
‘‘(B) with respect to a building, to achieve an 
energy consumption rate which is not more 60 per-
cent of the energy consumption rate under the 
ASHRAE Standard 90.1–2007 for commercial 
buildings, and 
‘‘(2) with respect to which credit amounts have 
been allocated by an energy credit agency under sub-
section (e). 
‘‘(e) ALLOCATIONS OF CREDIT AMOUNTS.— 
‘‘(1) CREDIT
LIMITATION
WITH
RESPECT
TO 
PROJECT.—The amount of credit determined under 
this section for any taxable year with respect to any 
project shall not exceed the State energy credit dol-
lar amount allocated to such project under this sub-
section. 
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‘‘(2) CREDIT
DOLLAR
AMOUNT
FOR
AGEN-
CIES.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The aggregate credit 
dollar amount which an energy credit agency 
may allocate for any calendar year is the limita-
tion allocated under subparagraph (B) for such 
calendar year to such agency. 
‘‘(B) CREDIT LIMITATION ALLOCATED TO 
STATE ENERGY AGENCIES.— 
‘‘(i) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary 
shall allocate for each calendar year the 
national energy credit limitation among the 
States in proportion to the population of 
the State. Such limitation shall be allo-
cated to the energy credit agency of each 
such State. If there is more than 1 energy 
credit agency of a State, all such agencies 
shall be treated as a single agency. 
‘‘(ii) NATIONAL ENERGY CREDIT LIMI-
TATION.—There is a national energy credit 
limitation for each calendar year of 
$100,000,000. 
‘‘(iii) POPULATION.—For purposes of 
this paragraph, population shall be deter-
mined in accordance with section 146(j). 
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‘‘(3) SPECIAL RULES.— 
‘‘(A) BUILDING MUST BE LOCATED WITH-
IN JURISDICTION OF CREDIT AGENCY.—An en-
ergy credit agency may allocate its aggregate 
energy credit dollar amount only to projects 
with respect to buildings located in the jurisdic-
tion of the governmental unit of which such 
agency is a part. 
‘‘(B) AGENCY ALLOCATIONS IN EXCESS OF 
LIMIT.—If the aggregate energy credit dollar 
amounts allocated by an energy credit agency 
for any calendar year exceed the portion of the 
national energy credit limitation allocated to 
such agency for such calendar year, the energy 
credit dollar amounts so allocated shall be re-
duced (to the extent of such excess) for projects 
in the reverse of the order in which the alloca-
tions of such amounts were made. 
‘‘(4) ENERGY CREDIT AGENCY.—The term ‘en-
ergy credit agency’ means any agency authorized to 
carry out this subsection. 
‘‘(f) RESPONSIBILITIES OF ENERGY CREDIT AGEN-
CIES.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 
provision of this section, the energy credit dollar 
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