Texas Bill Regulating Energy Auditing Work Public comments accepted until March 26 hearing held in Austin   Texas, March 21, 2013 - Texas Senate's Committee on Business and Commerce held a hearing on Tuesday, March 19, 2013 on legislation that would regulate and narrowly restrict the definition of Energy Efficiency Professionals. Texas Senate Bill 617 and companion House Bill 1522 would require that energy auditors be licensed as HVAC contractors if they include HVAC equipment in their audit inspections, recommendations and reports.  The sponsoring Senator's office indicates virtually no objections have been raised to this legislation.  Minutes from yesterday's meeting may be found at the website for Senate Committee Meetings for Business and Commerce. Under the proposed legislation, state-licensed Energy Efficiency Professionals would be required to "obtain a certification through an applicable training and certification program accredited by a state or national regulating body". BPI certifications would not be recognized as an applicable HVAC certification program under the current wording of the legislation, effectively barring BPI certified professionals from conducting energy audits and developing scopes of work for energy upgrades that include HVAC measures, unless also licensed as an HVAC contractor. These bills have been developed with assistance by Texas HERO and ACCA Texas. To read the two bills, click on the hyperlinks below. Senate Bill SB 617 Sponsored by Senator John J. Carona: District 16 http://www.carona.senate.state.tx.us/ House Bill HB 1522 Sponsored by Representative Ryan Guillen (D) http://www.house.state.tx.us/members/member-page/?district=31 If you have comments or suggested language changes you would like to submit to this open, consensus-based process, the committee requests you submit them by CLOSE OF BUSINESS, Thursday, March 21, 2013 to: Kelsey Erickson: Kelsey.Erickson_SC@senate.state.tx.us or  Katy Johnson: Katy.Johnson@house.state.tx.us  The Texas Senate Committee on Business and Commerce will hold its next meeting next week to hear stakeholders express their views.  BPI certified professionals or others who may wish to educate bill sponsors about or encourage bill sponsors to accept verifiable skills associated with national standards and professional personnel certifications relying on rigorous written and practical field exams may wish to attend.  Texan BPI certified professionals may also wish to immediately contact their local House and Senate Bill sponsors (see links below) as well as their federal representatives to express their views. Senator Carona acknowledges "that language of the file version of the bill needs a little work, (and is) asking all stakeholders to work with committee staff in the coming week, that is week singular, to reserve any outstanding issues so that we can lay out a committee substitute for the next meeting". Public Hearing: Texas SB617 Senate Committee on Business and Commerce Tuesday, March 26 - 8:00 AM Central Texas Senate Capitol Extension  201 E. 14th St. Room E1.016 (Hearing Room) Austin, TX    Find your Texas House Representative Find your Texas State Senator Find your federal Texas Congress People Senators Representatives Members of the Committee on Business and Commerce (CBC Webpage) include: Sen. John Carona Sen. Larry Taylor Sen. Kevin Eltife Sen. Craig Estes Sen. Kelly Hancock Sen. Eddie Lucio, Jr. Sen. Leticia Van de Putte Sen. Kirk Watson Sen. John Whitmire    Sincerely,   Larry Zarker Chief Executive Officer Building Performance Institute, Inc. 107 Hermes Road, Suite 110 Malta, NY 12020 Phone: (877) 274-1274 Fax: (866) 777-1274 lzarker@bpi.org www.bpi.org    You are encouraged to: