Legislative auditor: Minnesota’s sustainable building (B3) program lacks clear oversight, data to show results

The Capital Investment Committee heard on Jan. 23 from the Office of the Legislative Auditor that Minnesota’s sustainable building guidelines — commonly called B3 and including the Sustainable Building 2030 energy standard — are required for projects funded with general obligation bond proceeds but operate with unclear oversight and incomplete data.

“For example, there’s little oversight of this program. There’s no state agency that ensures all building projects comply with the guidelines and there are no consequences if building projects do not comply with the guidelines,” said Caitlin Badger, manager of the Legislative Auditor’s evaluation. Badger described recommendations sent to the Legislature when the office released its evaluation in 2023.

The nut of the report, Badger told the committee, is that statutes assign the Departments of Administration and Commerce responsibility to develop the guidelines but do not assign any agency responsibility for administering, monitoring or enforcing compliance after the guidelines are adopted. The audit found…