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(a) The department shall promulgate such regulations as are necessary to enforce this
section by January 1, 2023 . Effective July 1, 2026, the office of the state building code
commissioner will assume responsibility for promulgating the rules and regulations regarding the
green buildings advisory committee. The rules and regulations promulgated under title 220, chapter
70, subchapter 00, part 1 of the Rhode Island code of regulations will remain in full force and effect
and shall be enforced by the department of administration until such a time as the rules and
regulations are properly transferred to and promulgated by the office of the state building code
commissioner title within the Rhode Island code of regulations.
Those regulations shall include how the department will determine whether a project
qualifies for an exception from the LEED, LEED for Neighborhood Development, and SITES
certified or equivalent high-performance green building standard, and the green building standards
that may be imposed on projects that are granted exceptions.
(b) The department shall monitor and document ongoing operating savings that result from
major facility projects designed, constructed, and certified as meeting the LEED, LEED for
Neighborhood Development, and SITES certified standard annually publish a public report of
findings and recommended changes in policy. The report shall also include a description of projects
that were granted exceptions from the LEED, LEED for Neighborhood Development, and SITES
certified standard, the reasons for exception, and the lesser green building standards imposed.
26 (c) — (f) [Deleted by P.L. 2022, ch. 204, § 1 and P.L. 2022, ch. 205, § 1.]
(g) A green buildings advisory committee shall be created composed of nineteen (19)
members. The advisory committee shall have eleven (11) public members and eight (8) public
agency members. Five (5) of the public members shall be appointed by the governor; three (3) of
the public members shall be appointed by the president of the senate; and, three (3) of the public
members shall be appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives.
(1) The eleven (11) public members of the advisory committee shall be composed of nine
(9) representatives one from each of the following fields: architecture, engineering, landscape
architecture, energy, labor through the Rhode Island AFL-CIO, general construction contracting,
building product and building materials industries who are involved in, and have recognized
knowledge and accomplishment in their respective professions, of high-performance green
building standards, relating to the standards set forth in § 37-24-4; in addition to two (2) public
members, one representing an urban municipality from Providence, Cranston, Warwick,
Pawtucket, Woonsocket, or Newport, and one public member representing the other thirty-two (32)
municipalities in the state in order to ensure geographic diversity.
(2) The advisory committee shall have eight (8) public agency members representing
personnel from affected public agencies, and cities and towns, that oversee public works projects
and workforce development, who shall be appointed by the directors or chief executive officers of
the respective public agencies which shall include the department of administration; the department
of environmental management; the department of education; the department of transportation; the
department of labor and training; the office of the state building code commissioner; the Rhode
Island infrastructure bank, and the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns.
(3) The chairperson of the green buildings advisory committee shall be a public member
chosen by the green buildings advisory committee.
(4) Of the initial eleven (11) public members, six (6) shall serve three-year (3) terms and
five (5) shall have two-year (2) terms. Each appointing authority shall appoint two (2) public
members to three-year (3) terms with the remainder of the public member appointments serving
two-year terms. Thereafter, all public members shall be appointed to three-year (3) terms.
(h) The green buildings advisory committee shall:
(1) Make recommendations regarding an ongoing evaluation process of the green buildings
act to help the department and the executive climate change coordinating council implement this
chapter;
(2) Identify the needs, actions, and funding required to implement the requirements set
forth in this chapter, in achieving high-performance green building projects for our public
buildings, public structures, and our public real properties;
(3) Establish clear, measurable targets for implementing the standards, defined in this
chapter, for all public major facility projects including timeline, workforce needs, anticipated costs
and other measures identified by the green buildings advisory committee and required by chapter
6.2 of title 42 (“2021 act on climate”); and
(4) Identify ways to monitor and document ongoing operating savings and greenhouse gas
emission reductions that result from public major facility projects designed, constructed and
certified as meeting the LEED, LEED for Neighborhood Development, SITES certified standard,
Green Globes, Northeast Collaborative for High-Performance Schools Protocol, Version 1.1 or
above and annually publish a report to the general assembly and the executive climate change
coordinating council of findings and recommended changes in policy.
(i) All requests for proposals, requests for information, requests for bids, requests for
design/build, requests for construction managers, and any requests relating to obtaining the
professional services, pricing, and construction for major facility projects by a public agency for a
public facility, shall include the notice of the statutory requirements of this chapter (“the green
buildings act”).
(j) The green buildings advisory committee shall have no responsibility for, and shall not
develop requests for proposals, requests for information, requests for bids, requests for
design/build, requests for construction managers, and any requests relating to obtaining the
professional services, pricing, and construction for major facility projects by a public agency for a
public facility; and the green buildings advisory committee shall have no responsibility for, and
shall not select any vendors for any requests for proposals, requests for information, requests for
bids, requests for design/build, requests for construction managers, and any requests relating to
obtaining the professional services, pricing, and construction for major facility projects by a public
agency for a public facility. Nothing shall prohibit public members of the green buildings advisory
committee from responding to, and being involved with, any submittals of requests for proposals,
requests for information, requests for bids, requests for design/build, requests for construction
managers, and any requests relating to obtaining the professional services, pricing, and construction
for major facility projects by a public agency for a public facility.
(k) The department of administration shall commission a report to analyze the costs and/or
benefits of LEED certification compared to equivalent standards. This includes, but is not limited
to, the impact of obtaining formal LEED certification on project budget and timeline.
SECTION 2. Section 39-2.2-2 of the General Laws in Chapter 39-2.2 entitled "Rhode
Island Utility Fair Share Roadway Repair Act" is hereby amended to read as follows: