House Energy committee greenlights straw poll to move S.138 language into Commerce bill

Kathleen James, chair of the House Energy and Digital Infrastructure Committee, led a final walkthrough and straw poll on draft 2.2 of an amendment to S.138 on April 9, and reported the committee’s result as eight in favor and one abstention. One member was absent.

James told the committee the text of S.138 will remain in the committee’s files but that Commerce will "cut it out of S.138 and paste it into S.325," meaning Commerce will carry the substantive language forward and schedule testimony on S.325. "We don't have to vote it out on a formal vote; it's basically a nod to Commerce saying take this," James said.

Committee discussion focused on a handful of edits in draft 2.2. Members reviewed a page-three change requiring certification by a licensed professional engineer that proposed resiliency improvements will "result in improved resiliency" for the project. On page four, the committee debated an "and" versus "or" edit affecting new-construction certification language related to meeting or exceeding energy- and water-efficiency or renewable-energy requirements and the commercial building energy standards referenced as "386 53." On page six the committee approved language, submitted by Mike Yaki, clarifying that "the combined amount of the assessment plus any outstanding mortgage applications for the property shall not exceed 90% of the appraised real property value of that property as stabilized or as complete." Members asked that the transcript wording be corrected from "assessed" to "appraised."

A committee member who declined to vote said they would "abstain because I do not have the information I need to make a decision." James confirmed that the straw poll is not a formal committee vote on S.138 itself; rather, it authorizes Commerce to incorporate the language into its bill and take it to the floor. The committee will not make further changes to the live copy because the substantive text will live in Commerce’s bill going forward.

Next steps: Commerce will amend the Commerce bill (referred to in discussion as S.325), schedule testimony on that vehicle and present the amended bill on the House floor, at which point a member from this committee may present the language and report the committee’s straw-poll result.