Amendment #30 to H4912

Clean Heating and Cooling for State-Financed Buildings

Mr. Vitolo of Brookline moves to amend the bill, as amended, by adding the following section:-

“SECTION XX. section 29 of said chapter 7C of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by adding the following subsection:-

(g) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, any funds expended by the Commonwealth for the purpose of new construction, repair, alteration, change of occupancy, or relocation, as defined in 780 CMR 34.00, of a structure for which an architect, engineer, or general contractor has not been hired as of the passage of this act, shall be subject to the following restrictions:--

(1) As used in this section the following words shall, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, have the following meanings:-

“Agency”, a commonwealth authority, including a quasi-public independent entity performing a public function that does not receive direct appropriations from the commonwealth, board, bureau, commission, department, division, executive office, institution, institution of higher education, the state secretary, the attorney general, the state treasurer, the state auditor, the administrative office of the trial courts, trial court departments, the supreme judicial court, the appeals court, the governor's office, lieutenant governor's office, the governor's council, the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, and the general court.

“Clean heating and cooling technology”, a technology or method to deliver heating or cooling to a structure utilizing renewable or highly efficient alternative sources, including, but not limited to, ground source heat pumps, air source heat pumps, and solar thermal technologies. Technologies shall not be excluded from this definition solely because the source of electricity used is or may be fossil fuel dependent.

(2) The executive office of administration and finance shall require the use of clean heating and cooling technology to provide heat and cooling for structures:

(i) that are owned or operated by the commonwealth or an agency;

(ii) for which a municipality, for profit or nonprofit corporation receives state tax credits of more than $100,000 for the purpose of subsidizing structure construction, repair, alteration, change of occupancy, or relocation, as defined in 780 CMR 34.00; or

(iii) for which a municipality, for profit or nonprofit corporation receives more than $100,000 in funding for the purpose of subsidizing structure construction, repair, alteration, change of occupancy, or relocation, as defined in 780 CMR 34.00, from an agency.

(3) Paragraph (2) shall not require the use of clean heating and cooling technology to provide heat or cooling for structures if:

(i) federal law would prohibit construction in such a manner;

(ii) utilizing clean heating and cooling technology would prevent federal funding in excess of $100,000 that would otherwise be expended for such a structure; or

(iii) the state leases a structure owned by a for profit or nonprofit corporation for a term of less than 10 years.

(4) Paragraph (2) shall not require clean heating and cooling technology to provide heat and cooling for a structure if the difference between the cost of installing clean heating and cooling technology to provide heat and cooling and the cost of a fossil fuel dependent heat and cooling delivery system is greater than 10 percent of the total construction cost of the structure. The executive office of administration and finance may promulgate rules and regulations to increase the allowable percentage difference.

(5) The restrictions prescribed in paragraph (2) shall not prevent the use of clean heating and cooling technology that utilize electricity to provide heat and cooling solely because the source of electricity is or may be fossil fuel dependent.

(6) The executive office of administration and finance may promulgate rules and regulations to create an exemption to the requirements prescribed in paragraph (2) if the requirement that a structure include clean heating and cooling technology to provide heat and cooling would render impossible a substantial purpose of the structure.”.

Additional co-sponsor(s) added to Amendment #30 to H4912

Clean Heating and Cooling for State-Financed Buildings