II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1178
To provide for accurate energy appraisals in connection with residential
mortgage loans, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH27, 2025
Mr. B
ENNETintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred
to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
A BILL
To provide for accurate energy appraisals in connection with
residential mortgage loans, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Getting Renewable and 4
Energy Efficient Neighborhoods Appraisals Act of 2025’’ 5
or the ‘‘GREEN Appraisals Act of 2025’’. 6
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 Apr 02, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1178.IS S1178
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2
•S 1178 IS
SEC. 2. GETTING RENEWABLE AND ENERGY EFFICIENT 1
NEIGHBORHOODS ACCURATE ENERGY AP-2
PRAISALS. 3
(a) D
ISCLOSURE.—The head of each covered agency 4
shall require that any creditor to which an application for 5
a covered loan is made shall provide to the borrower, on 6
the same date that the creditor delivers or places in the 7
mail the disclosures described under section 8
1026.19(e)(1)(iii)(A) of title 12, Code of Federal Regula-9
tions, for such loan, a written disclosure that includes the 10
following: 11
(1) A statement that the prospective borrower 12
or current homeowner may provide an energy report, 13
or any information in such report, regarding the 14
property subject to the covered loan to the creditor 15
or to a qualified appraiser or other interested party 16
for consideration during a home appraisal or appli-17
cation for a covered loan. 18
(2) A statement that the prospective borrower 19
under the covered loan has the right to request an 20
energy report regarding the property subject to the 21
covered loan. 22
(3) A statement that, in developing an ap-23
praisal in connection with such covered loan— 24
(A) a qualified appraiser will take the in-25
formation in the report into consideration; and 26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 Apr 02, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1178.IS S1178
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3
•S 1178 IS
(B) the appraisers’ final opinion of the 1
value of the property may be higher, lower, or 2
no different than if the energy report had not 3
been available for the appraiser to review. 4
(4) A statement that, as with any other data 5
considered by the appraiser that affects the apprais-6
er’s opinion of the value of a property, consideration 7
of such data may help or hurt the ability of the pro-8
spective borrower to obtain a covered loan. 9
(b) R
EQUIREDANALYSIS.—In connection with a cov-10
ered loan, the creditor under such loan shall, in under-11
writing the loan, use the appraised value of the subject 12
property value as determined by a qualified appraiser. The 13
consideration of an energy report by the qualified ap-14
praiser may not be used as a basis to reject a home ap-15
praisal or application for a covered loan. 16
(c) C
ONSIDERATION OF ENERGYCHARACTERIS-17
TICS.—On and after March 1, 2026, the head of each cov-18
ered agency shall require, with respect to any covered loan 19
for a property for which an energy report is available, that 20
upon the prospective borrower’s consent the creditor shall 21
provide the appraiser with the energy report when the ap-22
praiser receives the assignment, and any underwriting or 23
verification systems used by the creditor shall accommo-24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 Apr 02, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1178.IS S1178
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4
•S 1178 IS
date any appraisal that takes the energy report into con-1
sideration. 2
(d) C
ONSIDERATION OF INFORMATION.—A qualified 3
appraiser to whom an energy report is provided in connec-4
tion with a covered loan shall take the information in such 5
report into consideration when developing an appraised 6
value of the property. In developing the appraised value 7
of the property, the qualified appraiser shall take into con-8
sideration— 9
(1) the energy efficiency characteristics of the 10
property for which the report was prepared, any re-11
newable energy related features of such property, es-12
timated energy savings for such property, the energy 13
consumption for such property relative to com-14
parable homes, or any one or more of such items; 15
(2) whether such characteristics of the property 16
are relevant to the market value of the property; and 17
(3) any additional information, as determined 18
by the relevant head of a covered agency. 19
(e) P
ORTABILITY.—Upon the request of a prospective 20
borrower under a covered loan, the creditor shall provide 21
a copy of an energy report with respect to the property, 22
at no cost, to the prospective borrower. 23
(f) G
UIDANCE.— 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 Apr 02, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1178.IS S1178
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5
•S 1178 IS
(1) IN GENERAL.—The heads of the covered 1
agencies, after consultation with the advisory com-2
mittee established pursuant to paragraph (2), shall 3
jointly prescribe guidance for creditors to implement 4
this section which— 5
(A) shall confirm the acceptance, by each 6
of the covered agencies, of all applicable ap-7
proaches to value utilized by appraisers to dem-8
onstrate market reaction to energy efficiency 9
and renewable energy; 10
(B) shall set forth procedures for consumer 11
disclosures, the preparation and sharing of en-12
ergy reports, and the provision of the reports to 13
qualified appraisers; and 14
(C) shall not provide for how an appraiser 15
shall consider information in an energy report. 16
(2) A
DVISORY COMMITTEE .—The heads of the 17
covered agencies shall jointly establish an advisory 18
committee of stakeholders to advise the heads of the 19
covered agencies in carrying out this section, which 20
shall consist of representatives of housing advocates, 21
energy efficiency and renewable energy organiza-22
tions, energy raters, home builders, architects, sin-23
gle-family mortgage creditors, consumer advocates, 24
appraisers, and other interested groups. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 Apr 02, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1178.IS S1178
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 6
•S 1178 IS
(3) SYSTEMS REQUIREMENTS .—Not later than 1
the expiration of the 2-year period beginning on the 2
date of the enactment of this Act, the heads of the 3
covered agencies shall jointly require a creditor origi-4
nating a covered loan for which an energy report is 5
prepared under this section to use origination and 6
underwriting systems that review, score, or rate ap-7
praisals in a manner consistent with the creditor 8
guidance issued pursuant to paragraph (1). 9
(g) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 10
(1) C
OVERED AGENCY .—The term ‘‘covered 11
agency’’ means— 12
(A) the Federal Housing Administration of 13
the Department of Housing and Urban Devel-14
opment; 15
(B) the Federal Housing Finance Agency, 16
to the extent that such Agency oversees and 17
regulates the enterprises, as such term is de-18
fined in section 1303 of the Federal Housing 19
Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness 20
Act of 1992 (12 U.S.C. 4502); except that any 21
requirement imposed by this section on such 22
Agency or the Director of such Agency shall be 23
treated as a requirement with respect to the 24
Federal National Mortgage Association and the 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 Apr 02, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1178.IS S1178
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 7
•S 1178 IS
Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, to 1
be imposed and enforced pursuant to the au-2
thority of such Director and Agency to super-3
vise and regulate such enterprises; 4
(C) the Government National Mortgage 5
Association; 6
(D) the Rural Housing Service of the De-7
partment of Agriculture; and 8
(E) the Department of Veterans Affairs. 9
(2) C
OVERED LOAN.—The term ‘‘covered loan’’ 10
means a residential mortgage loan (as such term is 11
defined in section 103 of the Truth in Lending Act 12
(15 U.S.C. 1602)) that is made, insured, purchased, 13
guaranteed, or securitized by a covered agency or in-14
tended to be purchased, guaranteed, or securitized 15
by a covered agency. 16
(3) C
REDITOR.—The term ‘‘creditor’’ has the 17
meaning given such term in section 103 of the 18
Truth in Lending Act (15 U.S.C. 1602). 19
(4) E
NERGY REPORT.—The term ‘‘energy re-20
port’’ means, with respect to a property, an analysis 21
that— 22
(A)(i) details the energy-related features in 23
the home; 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 Apr 02, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1178.IS S1178
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 8
•S 1178 IS
(ii) estimates the expected energy costs or 1
energy savings specific to the property, or both, 2
based on specific information about the prop-3
erty; or 4
(iii) complies with both clauses (i) and (ii); 5
(B) estimates the expected energy gen-6
erated from installed renewable energy features; 7
and 8
(C) is conducted— 9
(i) in accordance with the guidance 10
issued under this section; 11
(ii) in accordance with HERS by an 12
individual certified by the Residential En-13
ergy Service Network, unless the Secretary 14
finds that the use of HERS does not fur-15
ther the purposes of this section; 16
(iii) by the Department of Energy’s 17
Home Energy Score; or 18
(iv) by other methods approved by the 19
Secretary, in consultation with the Sec-20
retary of Energy and the advisory com-21
mittee established pursuant to subsection 22
(f)(2), for use under this section, which 23
shall include a quality assurance procedure 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 Apr 02, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1178.IS S1178
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 9
•S 1178 IS
approved by the Secretary, in consultation 1
with the Secretary of Energy. 2
(5) HERS.—The term ‘‘HERS’’ means the 3
Home Energy Rating System of the Residential En-4
ergy Service Network. 5
(6) Q
UALIFIED APPRAISER.—The term ‘‘quali-6
fied appraiser’’ means an appraiser who, with re-7
spect to the assignment to conduct an appraisal— 8
(A) is licensed, qualified, or certified to 9
conduct an appraisal in the State in which the 10
property is located; 11
(B) has completed a course of 7 or more 12
hours of continuing education on the consider-13
ation of energy reports in the appraisal process 14
that— 15
(i) includes case studies; 16
(ii) includes an examination, which 17
the appraiser has passed; and 18
(iii) was submitted to, and approved 19
by, the Appraiser Qualifications Board of 20
the Appraisal Foundation through its 21
Course Approval Program; and 22
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 Apr 02, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1178.IS S1178
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 10
•S 1178 IS
(C) is, at the time of agreeing to perform 1
the assignment, competent to perform the as-2
signment. 3
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:35 Apr 02, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1178.IS S1178
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS