Maryland 2025 Regular Session

Maryland Senate Bill SB256 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1
2	2
3	3	EXPLANATION: CAPITALS INDICATE MAT TER ADDED TO EXISTIN G LAW.
4	4	[Brackets] indicate matter deleted from existing law.
5	5	sb0256
6	6
7	7	SENATE BILL 256
8	8	M3 5lr0289
9	9	(PRE–FILED) CF HB 49
10	10	By: Chair, Education, Energy, and the Environment Committee (By Request –
11	11	Departmental – Environment)
12	12	Requested: October 9, 2024
13	13	Introduced and read first time: January 8, 2025
14	14	Assigned to: Education, Energy, and the Environment
15	15
16	16	A BILL ENTITLED
17	17
18	18	AN ACT concerning 1
19	19
20	20	Environment – Building Energy Performance Standards – Compliance and 2
21	21	Reporting 3
22	22
23	23	FOR the purpose of altering an alternative compliance fee paid by certain owners of covered 4
24	24	buildings under certain circumstances to include the energy use attributable to the 5
25	25	building’s failure to meet certain energy targets; requiring certain regulations to 6
26	26	include a certain annual reporting fee to cover certain costs; requiring the 7
27	27	Department of the Environment to deposit alternative compliance fees into the 8
28	28	Maryland Strategic Energy Investment Fund; and generally relating to compliance 9
29	29	and reporting for Building Energy Performance Standards. 10
30	30
31	31	BY repealing and reacting, with amendments, 11
32	32	Article – Environment 12
33	33	Section 2–1602(c) 13
34	34	Annotated Code of Maryland 14
35	35	(2013 Replacement Volume and 2024 Supplement) 15
36	36
37	37	BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments, 16
38	38	Article – Environment 17
39	39	Section 2–1602(c) 18
40	40	Annotated Code of Maryland 19
41	41	(2013 Replacement Volume and 2024 Supplement) 20
42	42	(As enacted by Chapter 38 of the Acts of the General Assembly of 2022) 21
43	43
44	44	BY repealing and reenacting, without amendments, 22
45	45	Article – State Government 23
46	46	Section 9–20B–05(a) and (b) 24
47	47	Annotated Code of Maryland 25
48	48	(2021 Replacement Volume and 2024 Supplement) 26 2 SENATE BILL 256
49	49
50	50
51	51
52	52	BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments, 1
53	53	Article – State Government 2
54	54	Section 9–20B–05(e) 3
55	55	Annotated Code of Maryland 4
56	56	(2021 Replacement Volume and 2024 Supplement) 5
57	57
58	58	SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, 6
59	59	That the Laws of Maryland read as follows: 7
60	60
61	61	Article – Environment 8
62	62
63	63	2–1602. 9
64	64
65	65	(c) (1) On or before June 1, 2023, the Department shall adopt regulations to 10
66	66	implement this section. 11
67	67
68	68	(2) Regulations adopted under this section shall: 12
69	69
70	70	(i) Subject to items (ii) and (iii) of this paragraph, include energy 13
71	71	use intensity targets by building type; 14
72	72
73	73	(ii) As necessary, include special provisions or exceptions to account 15
74	74	for: 16
75	75
76	76	1. Building age; 17
77	77
78	78	2. Regional differences; 18
79	79
80	80	3. The unique needs of particular building or occupancy 19
81	81	types, including health care facilities, laboratories, assisted living and nursing facilities, 20
82	82	military buildings, critical infrastructure, and buildings used in life sciences as defined in 21
83	83	§ 3–201 of the Economic Development Article; and 22
84	84
85	85	4. The use of district energy systems and biofuels by covered 23
86	86	buildings; 24
87	87
88	88	(iii) Consider the needs of the owners of covered buildings who: 25
89	89
90	90	1. Are not responsible for the design, modification, fixtures, 26
91	91	or equipment of commercial tenants; 27
92	92
93	93	2. Do not have access to or control over building energy 28
94	94	systems that are used or controlled by commercial tenants; or 29
95	95
96	96	3. Own buildings occupied by commercial tenants who are 30
97	97	responsible for all maintenance of and repairs to the buildings; 31 SENATE BILL 256 3
98	98
99	99
100	100
101	101	(iv) Provide maximum flexibility to the owners of covered buildings 1
102	102	to comply with building energy performance standards; 2
103	103
104	104	(v) Subject to paragraph (3) of this subsection, include an alternative 3
105	105	compliance pathway allowing the owner of a covered building to pay a fee for [greenhouse]: 4
106	106
107	107	1. GREENHOUSE gas emissions attributable to the 5
108	108	building’s failure to meet direct greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets; and 6
109	109
110	110	2. ENERGY USE ATTRIBUTAB LE TO THE BUILDING ’S 7
111	111	FAILURE TO MEET ENER GY USE INTENSITY TAR GETS; 8
112	112
113	113	(vi) To the extent authorized by law, include financial incentives 9
114	114	recommended by the Building Energy Transition Implementation Task Force; AND 10
115	115
116	116	(VII) INCLUDE AN ANNUAL REP ORTING FEE TO COVER THE 11
117	117	ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS UNDER THIS SECTION . 12
118	118
119	119	(3) The Department may not set an alternative compliance fee that is less 13
120	120	than the social cost of greenhouse gases adopted by the Department or the U.S. 14
121	121	Environmental Protection Agency. 15
122	122
123	123	(4) THE DEPARTMENT SHALL DEPO SIT AN ALTERNATIVE 16
124	124	COMPLIANCE FEE COLLECTED UNDER THIS SUBSECTIO N INTO THE MARYLAND 17
125	125	STRATEGIC ENERGY INVESTMENT FUND UNDER § 9–20B–05 OF THE STATE 18
126	126	GOVERNMENT ARTICLE. 19
127	127
128	128	SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That the Laws of Maryland read 20
129	129	as follows: 21
130	130
131	131	Article – Environment 22
132	132
133	133	2–1602. 23
134	134
135	135	(c) (1) On or before June 1, 2023, the Department shall adopt regulations to 24
136	136	implement this section. 25
137	137
138	138	(2) Regulations adopted under this section shall: 26
139	139
140	140	(i) Subject to items (ii) and (iii) of this paragraph, include energy 27
141	141	use intensity targets by building type; 28
142	142
143	143	(ii) As necessary, include special provisions or exceptions to account 29
144	144	for: 30
145	145	4 SENATE BILL 256
146	146
147	147
148	148	1. Building age; 1
149	149
150	150	2. Regional differences; 2
151	151
152	152	3. The unique needs of particular building or occupancy 3
153	153	types, including health care facilities, laboratories, assisted living and nursing facilities, 4
154	154	military buildings, critical infrastructure, and buildings used in life sciences as defined in 5
155	155	§ 3–201 of the Economic Development Article; and 6
156	156
157	157	4. The use of district energy systems and biofuels by covered 7
158	158	buildings; 8
159	159
160	160	(iii) Consider the needs of the owners of covered buildings who: 9
161	161
162	162	1. Are not responsible for the design, modification, fixtures, 10
163	163	or equipment of commercial tenants; 11
164	164
165	165	2. Do not have access to or control over building energy 12
166	166	systems that are used or controlled by commercial tenants; or 13
167	167
168	168	3. Own buildings occupied by commercial tenants who are 14
169	169	responsible for all maintenance of and repairs to the buildings; 15
170	170
171	171	(iv) Provide maximum flexibility to the owners of covered buildings 16
172	172	to comply with building energy performance standards; 17
173	173
174	174	(v) Subject to paragraph (3) of this subsection, include an alternative 18
175	175	compliance pathway allowing the owner of a covered building to pay a fee for [greenhouse]: 19
176	176
177	177	1. GREENHOUSE gas emissions attributable to the 20
178	178	building’s failure to meet direct greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets; and 21
179	179
180	180	2. ENERGY USE ATTRIBUTAB LE TO THE BUILDING ’S 22
181	181	FAILURE TO MEET ENER GY USE INTENSITY TARGETS ; 23
182	182
183	183	(vi) To the extent authorized by law, include financial incentives 24
184	184	recommended by the Building Energy Transition Implementation Task Force; AND 25
185	185
186	186	(VII) INCLUDE AN ANNUAL REP ORTING FEE TO COVER THE 26
187	187	ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS UNDER THIS SECTION. 27
188	188
189	189	(3) The Department may not set an alternative compliance fee that is less 28
190	190	than the social cost of greenhouse gases adopted by the Department or the U.S. 29
191	191	Environmental Protection Agency. 30
192	192	SENATE BILL 256 5
193	193
194	194
195	195	(4) THE DEPARTMENT SHALL DEPO SIT AN ALTERNATIVE 1
196	196	COMPLIAN CE FEE COLLECTED UNDER THIS SUBSECTIO N INTO THE MARYLAND 2
197	197	STRATEGIC ENERGY INVESTMENT FUND UNDER § 9–20B–05 OF THE STATE 3
198	198	GOVERNMENT ARTICLE. 4
199	199
200	200	SECTION 3. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That the Laws of Maryland read 5
201	201	as follows: 6
202	202
203	203	Article – State Government 7
204	204
205	205	9–20B–05. 8
206	206
207	207	(a) There is a Maryland Strategic Energy Investment Fund. 9
208	208
209	209	(b) The purpose of the Fund is to implement the Strategic Energy Investment 10
210	210	Program. 11
211	211
212	212	(e) The Fund consists of: 12
213	213
214	214	(1) all of the proceeds from the sale of allowances under § 2–1002(g) of the 13
215	215	Environment Article; 14
216	216
217	217	(2) money appropriated in the State budget to the Program; 15
218	218
219	219	(3) repayments and prepayments of principal and interest on loans made 16
220	220	from the Fund; 17
221	221
222	222	(4) interest and investment earnings on the Fund; 18
223	223
224	224	(5) compliance fees paid under § 7–705 of the Public Utilities Article; 19
225	225
226	226	(6) money received from any public or private source for the benefit of the 20
227	227	Fund; 21
228	228
229	229	(7) money transferred from the Public Service Commission under § 22
230	230	7–207.2(c)(3) of the Public Utilities Article; [and] 23
231	231
232	232	(8) money distributed under § 2–614.1 of the Tax – General Article; AND 24
233	233
234	234	(9) ALTERNATIVE COMPLIAN CE FEES PAID UNDER § 2–1602(C)(2)(V) 25
235	235	OF THE ENVIRONMENT ARTICLE. 26
236	236
237	237	SECTION 4. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That Section 2 of this Act shall take 27
238	238	effect on the taking effect of the termination provision specified in Section 17 of Chapter 38 28
239	239	of the Acts of the General Assembly of 2022. If that termination provision takes effect, 29
240	240	Section 1 of this Act, with no further action required by the General Assembly, shall be 30 6 SENATE BILL 256
241	241
242	242
243	243	abrogated and of no further force and effect. This Act may not be interpreted to have any 1
244	244	effect on that termination provision. 2
245	245
246	246	SECTION 5. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That , subject to the provisions of 3
247	247	Section 4 of this Act, this Act shall take effect October 1, 2025. 4