HARDI Calls on House to Pass Improved Home Star Bill

HARDI sent this letter to all House of Representatives’ offices last night urging passage of an amended H.R. 5019, The Home Star Retrofit Act of 2010. Earlier this week HARDI had circulated throughout the House two significant concerns with the legislation which the association believe unnecessarily restricted contractor access to Home Star’s $6 billion in residential energy efficiency retrofit funding. HARDI was able to work with key members of Congress to get an amendment to the bill included in a package of amendments that will be voted on today along with the bill in its entirety. The primary amendment presented by Congresswoman Herseth-Sandlin of South Dakota will require the U.S. Department of Energy to review and approve alternative proposals to BPI Accreditation to enable qualified contractors to offer Gold Star, home performance retrofits. Should this important legislation pass the House today, the bill would move to the Senate where HARDI is confident it can continue to work with key stakeholders and legislators to iron out minor remaining concerns.