| 1 | 1 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . No. 4540 |
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| 2 | 2 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 3 | 3 | | ________________________________________ |
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| 4 | 4 | | HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES , April 16, 2024. |
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| 5 | 5 | | The committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy, to whom |
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| 6 | 6 | | was referred the petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 3154) of |
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| 7 | 7 | | Tackey Chan for legislation to establish a program within the Department |
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| 8 | 8 | | of Public Utilities to educate commercial building managers and operators |
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| 9 | 9 | | relative to energy efficiency, reports recommending that the |
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| 10 | 10 | | accompanying bill (House, No. 4540) ought to pass. |
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| 11 | 11 | | For the committee, |
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| 12 | 12 | | JEFFREY N. ROY. 1 of 2 |
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| 13 | 13 | | FILED ON: 4/5/2024 |
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| 14 | 14 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 4540 |
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| 15 | 15 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 16 | 16 | | _______________ |
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| 17 | 17 | | In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court |
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| 18 | 18 | | (2023-2024) |
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| 19 | 19 | | _______________ |
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| 20 | 20 | | An Act relative to energy efficiency education. |
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| 21 | 21 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority |
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| 22 | 22 | | of the same, as follows: |
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| 23 | 23 | | 1 SECTION 1.Subsection (b)(2) of section 21 of chapter 25 of the General Laws as |
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| 24 | 24 | | 2appearing in the 2020 Official Edition is hereby amended by inserting after the word “benefit.” |
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| 25 | 25 | | 3in line 70 the following words:- |
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| 26 | 26 | | 4 The plan must include programs for in-depth education and training to be offered |
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| 27 | 27 | | 5statewide to commercial building managers and operators, whether such buildings are privately |
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| 28 | 28 | | 6owned or owned by a non-profit organization, and the programs shall educate and train such |
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| 29 | 29 | | 7managers about how to economically achieve greater energy efficiency and reduced energy use, |
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| 30 | 30 | | 8whether such use is electricity, natural gas or heating oil, and may include, but not be limited to, |
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| 31 | 31 | | 9best energy use and efficiency practices, use of new technologies, use of metering, tracking, and |
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| 32 | 32 | | 10monitoring energy use, and economic analysis of reduced energy use. Such education and |
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| 33 | 33 | | 11training sessions may be offered both in person and on-line and shall include interactive teaching |
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| 34 | 34 | | 12methods, case studies, and subject matter experts. This required education and training |
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| 35 | 35 | | 13component of the plan shall consider using existing training programs offered by the Association |
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| 36 | 36 | | 14of Energy Engineers, the Building Operators Certificate Program, the Building Owners and 2 of 2 |
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| 37 | 37 | | 15Managers Institute, or other similar programs, and shall be approved by a five member advisory |
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| 38 | 38 | | 16committee made up of two building operators or building managers named by the Greater |
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| 39 | 39 | | 17Boston Real Estate Board, two members who are energy efficiency experts named jointly by the |
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| 40 | 40 | | 18electric and natural gas distribution companies and the Energy Efficiency Advisory Council, and |
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| 41 | 41 | | 19one member named jointly by the Greater Boston Real Estate Board and the Energy Efficiency |
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| 42 | 42 | | 20Advisory Council who shall be the chair. The companies shall every six months report to the |
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| 43 | 43 | | 21committee on the utilization of the education and training programs and attendee feedback on the |
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| 44 | 44 | | 22value of the programs. The cost of such training shall be split between the attendees and the |
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| 45 | 45 | | 23distribution companies, with the distribution companies using monies from energy efficiency |
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| 46 | 46 | | 24funding, and attendees at the education and training sessions who shall pay no more than 30 |
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| 47 | 47 | | 25percent of the costs. The plan shall include tuition reimbursement for education and training |
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| 48 | 48 | | 26programs for building operators and engineers that are approved by the committee, including but |
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| 49 | 49 | | 27not limited to energy efficiency programs offered by the Association of Energy Engineers, the |
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| 50 | 50 | | 28Building Operators Certificate Program, and the Building Owners and Managers Institute. |
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| 51 | 51 | | 29 SECTION 2. Section 1 shall take effect immediately and the education and training |
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| 52 | 52 | | 30sessions required in the plans that are required by section 1 shall begin to be offered no later than |
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| 53 | 53 | | 31September 1, 2025. |
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