Virginia’s impactful legislation enacted in 2021 via HB2001 has now been updated! The 2021 law provided a strong update to Virginia’s prior statute for green public buildings by both updating the state government requirements and introducing an entirely new and innovative section for local governments. This new section took immediate effect for larger localities, while providing a two-year delay for the smaller ones. The current, state-wide applicability, with significant uptake among Virginia localities of all types and sizes, illuminated the need for clarification among some of its provisions to succeed more comprehensively.
To address these questions and resolve their ambiguities, Virginia’s building industry recently came together, with a focus on the local government section of the law. Virginia Energy Efficiently Council and U.S Green Building Council formed a task force, with SDC’s Sandra Leibowitz as a key member and with participation and input provided by others, met and vetted proposed language for recommendation to both the House and Senate legislators who would serve as sponsors for the update.
The resulting, identical, final versions of HB151 and SB245 passed their respective chambers in the recent 2024 General Assembly session, were enacted by Governor Glenn Youngkin earlier this week, and will take effect on July 1, 2024! Included among the changes are the following clarified, revised, or added provisions:
- Definitions for “appropriate resilience”, “commissioning”, and “major disruption”.
- Confirmation that k-12 schools are included in the bill’s requirements.
- Removal of reference to the “VEES” (Virginia Energy-Efficiency Standards) state government standard.
- Addition of an alternative certification pathway for buildings under 50,000 sf.
- Simplification of “ZEV” (Zero-Emission Vehicle) charging text.
- Addition of alternative energy modeling solution for buildings under 20,000 sf, yet ineligible for ENERGY STAR.
- Clarification of the role of onsite renewable energy and energy storage.
- Assignment of Virginia Energy to provide technical assistance and guidance to localities, if funding is available.
SDC applauds the actions taken by these industry professionals, their legislative sponsors, and Governor Youngkin, to develop and enact much-needed improvements to this important law for Virginia’s building industry. We stand ready to help our clients and business partners implement the new provisions in the coming months and years. Read the full HB151/SB245 text for further details.