I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1785 
To amend the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to provide for the recogni-
tion of voluntary verification programs for air conditioning, furnace, 
boiler, heat pump, and water heater products. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 14, 2015 
Mr. LATTA (for himself, Mr. COOPER, and Mrs. BLACKBURN) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to provide 
for the recognition of voluntary verification programs 
for air conditioning, furnace, boiler, heat pump, and 
water heater products. 
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 ‘‘Voluntary Verification 
Program Act of 2015’’. 
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SEC. 2. VOLUNTARY VERIFICATION PROGRAMS FOR AIR 
CONDITIONING, 
FURNACE, 
BOILER, 
HEAT 
PUMP, AND WATER HEATER PRODUCTS. 
Section 326(b) of the Energy Policy and Conserva-
tion Act (42 U.S.C. 6296(b)) is amended by adding at 
the end the following: 
‘‘(6) VOLUNTARY VERIFICATION PROGRAMS FOR 
AIR CONDITIONING, FURNACE, BOILER, HEAT PUMP, 
AND WATER HEATER PRODUCTS.— 
‘‘(A) 
RELIANCE
ON
VOLUNTARY 
VERIFICATION PROGRAMS.—For the purpose of 
verifying compliance with energy conservation 
standards and Energy Star specifications estab-
lished under sections 324A, 325, and 342 for 
covered products described in paragraphs (3), 
(4), (5), (9), and (11) of section 322(a) and 
covered equipment described in subparagraphs 
(B), (C), (D), (F), (I), (J), and (K) of section 
340(1), the Secretary and Administrator of the 
Environmental Protection Agency (in this para-
graph referred to as the ‘Administrator’) 
shall— 
‘‘(i) rely on voluntary verification pro-
grams that are recognized by the Secretary 
or the Administrator according to criteria 
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that have consensus support established 
through a negotiated rulemaking; and 
‘‘(ii) not later than 180 days after the 
date of enactment of the Voluntary 
Verification Program Act of 2015, initiate 
a negotiated rulemaking described in 
clause (i) to establish criteria for achieving 
recognition by the Secretary or the Admin-
istrator 
as 
an 
approved 
voluntary 
verification program, which at a minimum 
shall ensure that voluntary verification 
programs— 
‘‘(I) are nationally recognized; 
‘‘(II) maintain a publicly avail-
able list of all verified products and 
equipment; 
‘‘(III) require the changing of the 
performance rating or removal of the 
product or equipment from the pro-
gram if testing determines that the 
performance rating does not meet the 
levels the manufacturer has verified to 
the Secretary or the Administrator; 
‘‘(IV) require the qualification of 
new participants in the program 
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through testing and production of test 
reports; 
‘‘(V) allow for challenge testing 
of products and equipment within the 
scope of the program; 
‘‘(VI) require program partici-
pants to verify the performance rating 
of all covered products and equipment 
within the scope of the voluntary 
verification program; 
‘‘(VII) provide to the Secretary 
or the Administrator— 
‘‘(aa) 
prompt 
notification 
when program testing results 
in— 
‘‘(AA) the rerating of 
the performance rating of a 
product or equipment; or 
‘‘(BB) the delisting of a 
product or equipment; and 
‘‘(bb) test reports, on the re-
quest of the Secretary or the Ad-
ministrator, for Energy Star 
compliant products, which shall 
be treated as confidential busi-
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ness information as provided for 
under section 552(b)(4) of title 
5, United States Code (commonly 
known as the ‘Freedom of Infor-
mation Act’); and 
‘‘(VIII) meet any additional re-
quirements or standards that the Sec-
retary or the Administrator shall es-
tablish consistent with this clause. 
‘‘(B) ADMINISTRATION.— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Neither the Sec-
retary nor the Administrator shall re-
quire— 
‘‘(I) manufacturers to participate 
in a voluntary verification program 
described in subparagraph (A); or 
‘‘(II) participating manufacturers 
to provide information that can be ob-
tained 
through 
a 
voluntary 
verification program described in sub-
paragraph (A). 
‘‘(ii) LIST OF COVERED PRODUCTS.— 
The Secretary or the Administrator may 
maintain a publicly available list of covered 
products and equipment verified under 
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subparagraph (A) that distinguishes be-
tween— 
‘‘(I) covered products and equip-
ment verified by a program described 
in subparagraph (A); and 
‘‘(II) products not verified by a 
program described in subparagraph 
(A). 
‘‘(iii) PERIODIC VERIFICATION TEST-
ING.—The Secretary and the Adminis-
trator shall not subject a manufacturer 
that participates in a voluntary verification 
program described in subparagraph (A), 
and that is in compliance with subpara-
graph (A)(ii) (I) through (VIII), to addi-
tional periodic verification testing to verify 
the accuracy of the performance rating of 
the product or equipment, if the voluntary 
verification program subjects covered prod-
ucts to periodic verification testing and 
provides test results to the Secretary or 
the Administrator on request. 
‘‘(iv) EFFECT
ON
OTHER
AUTHOR-
ITY.—Nothing in this paragraph limits the 
authority of the Secretary or the Adminis-
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