Climate Change - Issue Summary
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| What is the fundamental issue? |
| Pending before Congress is climate change legislation that includes energy efficiency provisions both for commercial and residential buildings. NAR policy supports reasonable approaches and incentives to improving energy efficiency, but not individual building mandates particularly if they are imposed at time of sale. |
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| I'm a Realtor®. What does this mean to my business? |
| At risk is property owners’ ability to sell their home or building without having to first conduct energy audits of and improvements to their heating and cooling system, windows, insulation or lighting. |
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| NAR Policy: |
The policy supports:
* Commercially reasonable and incentive-based approaches to reduce energy use and greenhouse gases;
* Solutions that are guided by market and smart-growth principles of protecting private property rights and maintaining real estate affordability and availability; and
* Educating property owners and consumers about the many benefits of energy efficiency.
It opposes:
* Requirements which impose undue economic burdens on property owners or managers;
* Triggering such requirements at the time when real property is sold; and
* Expanded application of existing laws/regulations that are not suited to address climate change. |
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| Legislative/Regulatory Status/Outlook: |
Last summer, the House of Representatives approved combined climate change and energy legislation (H.R. 2454) that would establish national building codes and energy labeling for new construction only. NAR worked with members of Congress to strip the labeling, energy audit and MLS provisions before the House voted on a bill. In the Senate, multiple committees have been working to report provisions which ultimately would be merged into (and voted on as) one bill.
To date, two of the six Senate committees have reported their pieces of a Senate omnibus energy bill. Each committee action represents one in a long series of steps that must be taken prior to full Senate consideration of the legislation. Last summer, the Energy and Natural Resources Committee reported the omnibus bill's energy provisions that are less prescriptive on building codes and energy information. The Environment and Public Works Committee recently reported the climate provisions which would be combined with the energy provisions. While the Senate bill is less prescriptive, the House bill would nevertheless exempt existing real estate from energy labeling and prohibit the EPA from moving forward with regulations to reduce carbon emissions from multi-family and commercial buildings.
In addition, Senators including John Kerry (D-MA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) have outlined principles and are working to develop a bipartisan consensus around the Senate response to the House energy legislation. As the legislative process continues to unfold and the Senate develops its alternative to the House bill, NAR will continue to work with members of Congress to maintain the real estate exclusions from energy labeling and any other bill provision that will have a direct impact on the real estate sector.
Meanwhile, Vice President Joe Biden recently announced a new "Recovery Through Retrofit" initiative that includes creation of "energy performance labels" and "national energy performance measures" for existing homes, despite the fact that the House bill exempted existing homes and buildings from energy labeling. NAR President Charles McMillan has requested a meeting to share our strong concerns about the stigmatizing effects of these labels on real estate at one of the most critical moments in the nation's economic recovery. |
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| Related Information: |
| In-Depth: the American Clean Energy and Security Act |
 Link to Thomas
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