By:  Puente                                                       H.B. No. 3084


A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to increasing the sustainability of the State's building infrastructure. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: SECTION 1. Texas Government Code, TITLE 4, is amended as follows: Sec. 447.004. Design Standards. (a) The state energy conservation office shall adopt and publish energy and water conservation design standards, under Chapter 2001, that all new state buildings and major renovation projects, including buildings and major renovation projects of state-supported institutions of higher education, are required to meet. The office shall define what constitutes a major renovation project under this section and shall review and update the standards biennially. (b) The standards must include performance and procedural standards for the maximum energy and water conservation allowed by the latest and most cost-effective technology that is consistent with the requirements of public health, safety, and economic resources. (c) The standards must be adopted in terms of energy and water consumption levels and must take into consideration the various classes of building uses and must allow for design flexibility. Procedural standards must be directed toward specific design and building practices that produce good thermal resistance and low infiltration and toward requiring practices in the design of mechanical and electrical systems that maximize energy and water efficiency. The procedural standards must concern, as applicable: (1) insulation; (2) lighting; (3) ventilation; (4) climate control; (5) water-conserving fixtures, appliances, and equipment or the substitution of non-water-using fixtures, appliances, and equipment; (6) water-conserving landscape irrigation equipment; (7) landscaping measures that reduce watering demands and capture and hold applied water and rainfall, including: (A) landscape contouring, including the use of berms, swales, and terraces; and (B) the use of soil amendments that increase the water-holding capacity of the soil, including compost; (8) rainwater harvesting equipment and equipment to make use of water collected as part of a storm-water system installed for water quality control; (9) equipment for recycling or reuse of water originating on the premises or from other sources, including treated municipal effluent; (10) equipment needed to capture water from nonconventional, alternate sources, including air conditioning condensate or graywater, for nonpotable uses; (11) metering equipment needed to segregate water use in order to identify water conservation opportunities or verify water savings; (12) special energy and water requirements of health-related facilities of higher education and state agencies; and (13) any other item that the center considers appropriate that is adopted under Chapter 2001. (d) In order to demonstrate compliance with the requirement to adopt and update the conservation design standards, each agency and institution of higher education shall submit a copy of its design and construction manuals to the office on request. (e) Prior to construction, agencies and institutions of higher education shall have the design architect and engineer on the project certify, through presentation of a detailed economic feasibility study and written evaluation to the appropriate authority having jurisdiction (AHJD), [agency or institution,] with a copy to the state energy conservation office, that all new building construction and major building renovation projects comply with the energy and water conservation design standards required under this section[.], and with the alternative energy evaluation requirements found under Texas Government Code, Title 10, Sec. 2166.401 and Sec. 2166.403. SECTION 2. Section 2166, Title 10, Texas Government Code is amended as follows: Sec. 2166.401. Evaluation of Energy, Architectural and Engineering Design Alternatives. (a) For each project for which a project analysis is prepared under Subchapter D and for which the construction, alteration, or repair involves installing or replacing all or part of an energy system, energy source, or energy-consuming equipment, or for which either architectural or engineering design choices will impact the energy consumption of the building, the commission or the private design professional retained by the commission shall prepare a written evaluation of energy and energy impacting architectural or engineering design alternatives for the project. (b) The evaluation must include information about the economic and environmental impact of various energy and architectural or engineering design alternatives, including an evaluation of economic and environmental costs both initially and over the life of the system, source, [or] equipment, or architectural or engineering design alternative. (c) The evaluation must identify the best energy and architectural and engineering design alternative for the project considering both economic and environmental costs and benefits. SECTION 3. Section 2166, Title 10, Texas Government Code is amended as follows: Sec. 2166.403. Alternative Energy and Architectural and Engineering Design. (a) This section applies to the construction of a new state building, including a building construction project otherwise exempt from this chapter under Section 2166.003. (b) During the planning phase of the proposed construction, the commission, or the governing body of the appropriate agency or institution that is undertaking a project otherwise exempt from this chapter under Section 2166.003, shall verify in an open meeting, through presentation of a detailed written evaluation the economic feasibility of incorporating into the building's design and proposed energy system alternative energy devices and architectural or engineering design measures [for] effecting space heating and cooling, water heating, electrical loads, and interior lighting. The detailed written evaluation shall be made available to the public at least 30 days in advance of the open meeting. The commission or governing body shall determine economic feasibility for each function by comparing the estimated cost of providing energy for all or part of the function using conventional architectural or engineering design practices and energy systems with the estimated cost of providing energy for the function using alternative architectural or engineering design practices and energy devices during the economic life of the building. (c) The Texas Comptroller's State Energy Conservation Office (SECO), or its successor, shall approve the methodology and any electronic software used by the commission or governing body, or any entity contracted by the commission or governing body, to make such a comparison and to determine economic feasibility under subsection (d) [(c)] (d) If the use of alternative energy devices and/or architectural design elements for a particular function is determined to be economically feasible under subsection (b), the commission or governing body shall include the use of alternative energy devices and/or architectural design elements for all or part of that function in the construction plans. ([d]) (e) In this section: (1) "Alternative energy" means a renewable energy resource. The term includes solar energy, geothermal energy, biomass energy, and wind energy. (2) "Alternative energy collector" means an assembly, structure, or design, including passive elements, used to absorb, concentrate, convert, reflect, or otherwise capture or redirect alternative energy for later use as thermal, mechanical, or electrical energy. (3) "Alternative energy device" means an alternative energy collector or alternative energy storage mechanism that collects, stores, or distributes alternative energy. (4) "Alternative energy storage mechanism" means equipment, components, or elements designed and used to store for later use alternative energy captured by an alternative energy collector in the form in which the energy will eventually be used or in an intermediate form. The term includes thermal, electrochemical, chemical, electrical, and mechanical storage mechanisms. (5) "Biomass energy" means energy that is created in living plants through photosynthesis. (6) "Solar energy" means energy from the sun that may be collected and converted into useful thermal, mechanical, or electrical energy. SECTION 4. Section 2166, Title 10, Texas Government Code is amended as follows: 2166.153. Contents of Project Analysis. (a) A project analysis consists of: (1) a complete description of the project and a justification of the project prepared by the using agency; (2) a detailed estimate of the amount of space needed to meet the needs of the using agency and to allow for realistic growth; (3) a description of the proposed project prepared by a design professional that: (A) includes schematic plans and outline specifications describing the type of construction and probable materials to be used; and (B) is sufficient to establish the general scope and quality of construction; (4) an estimate of the probable cost of construction; (5) a description of the proposed site of the project and an estimate of the cost of site preparation; (6) an overall estimate of the cost of the project including necessary funding for life-cycle costing, whole building integrated design, commissioning, and post occupancy building performance verification; (7) information prepared under Section 2166.451 about historic structures considered as alternatives to new construction; (8) an evaluation of energy alternatives as required by Section 2166.401, and Section 2166.403; and (9) other information required by the commission. (b) A project analysis may include two or more alternative proposals for meeting the using agency's space needs by: (1) new construction; (2) the acquisition and rehabilitation of an existing or historic structure; or (3) a combination of new and existing structures. (c) If any part of a project involves the construction or rehabilitation of a building that is to be used primarily as a parking garage or for office space for state government, the project analysis also must include: (1) a description of the amount and location of space in the building that can be made available for lease to private tenants under Subchapter E, Chapter 2165; or (2) a statement of the reason that lease of space in the building to private tenants is not feasible. (d) All estimates involved in the preparation of a project analysis shall be carefully and fully documented and incorporated into the project analysis. SECTION 5. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2003.