2023 CODE OF GEORGIA › Title 12 - CONSERVATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES (§§ 12-1-1 — 12-17-6) › Chapter 6 - FOREST RESOURCES AND OTHER PLANT LIFE (§§ 12-6-1 — 12-6-257) › Article 5 - GEORGIA CARBON SEQUESTRATION REGISTRY ACT (§§ 12-6-220 — 12-6-232) › Section 12-6-224.1 - Sustainable Building Material Technical Advisory Committee; operation and role; abolishment

(a)
The director shall establish the Sustainable Building Material Technical Advisory Committee. The advisory committee shall consist of:
(1)
One representative from the Georgia Institute of Technology with expertise in engineering and architecture;
(2)
One representative with extensive knowledge of and expertise in the Georgia State Minimum Standard Codes;
(3)
One representative who is a real estate developer or builder;
(4)
One representative who works in the field of or has expertise in carbon offset protocol development, including carbon accounting rules such as additionality, baseline, leakage, and permanence, and requirements for monitoring and reporting;
(5)
One representative who has whole building life cycle assessment expertise; and
(6)
Up to three at-large representatives.
(b)
The director shall determine the chairperson of the committee.
(c)
Prior to the first meeting of the advisory committee, the director shall hold a listening session open to members of the public for the purpose of seeking external input on the rules for the Georgia Carbon Sequestration Registry for building materials.
(d)
The advisory committee shall serve the director in an advisory capacity in the rule-making process for the establishment of two baselines:
1)
one from which carbon sequestration of building materials shall be measured; and
2)
one from which the building embodied carbon shall be measured. The committee shall use the United States Department of Energy's Commercial Prototype Building Models in effect on January 1, 2021, to establish baseline categories using prototype building occupancies and structural systems.
(e)
A primary objective of the advisory committee shall be to ensure the interoperability, general alignment, and compatibility of credits derived from the carbon sequestration results of building materials and embodied carbon results with global carbon credit and offset markets, including establishing guidelines for establishing a carbon baseline, additionality, validation, verification, permanence, and co-benefits.
(f)
The chairperson shall be responsible for calling all meetings of the advisory committee. The committee may conduct such meetings at such places and at such times as it may deem necessary and convenient to enable it to exercise fully and effectively its powers, perform its duties, and accomplish the objectives and purposes of this article.
(g)
A majority of the voting members of the advisory committee shall constitute a quorum. The committee shall take no action except by affirmative vote of the majority of those present and voting.
(h)
Any vacancies on the advisory committee shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointment.
(i)
Any member of the committee who, during his or her term of appointment, ceases to meet the qualifications required for the original appointment shall be immediately removed from his or her office.
(j)
The advisory committee shall stand abolished no later than one year from the date upon which the first meeting of the committee takes place. The committee may be reestablished, at the calling of the director, within five years of its creation in order to make recommendations to the director for updating or amending the rules and regulations of the commission. The director shall appoint new members to the reestablished committee in accordance with subsection (a) of this Code section.
(k)
Appointed members of the advisory committee shall receive a daily expense allowance in an amount the same as that specified in subsection (b) of Code Section
45-7-21
, as well as the mileage or transportation allowance authorized for state employees.
Added by 2021 Ga. Laws 257,§ 1, eff. 7/1/2021.