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On Thursday, April 30th, the President signed S. 535, the Energy Efficiency Improvement Act of 2015, into law. This law, introduced by Senators Portman (R-OH) and Shaheen (D-NH) creates the "Tenant Star" program, a voluntary, market-driven approach to encouraging landlords and tenants to adopt energy efficient practices. NAR, in coalition with other real estate industry groups, had sent a letter to the House earlier in the month encouraging them to quickly take up and pass the bill from the Senate.
On the same day, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a hearing on Energy Efficiency legislation, covering many bills introduced in the 114th Congress on the topic. These bills include some that could directly impact residential and commercial buildings, some that impact federal buildings, and some that address or establish state programs or issues, among others. At this point in the legislative process, these bills continue to be worked on; NAR will remain engaged on the issue and continue to stress our policy of supporting energy efficiency through voluntary incentives, commercially reasonable approaches and education as opposed to federal mandates.