by Shane Henson — February 22, 2013—The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International announced it has adopted a new policy position on tax reform, revised its existing position on energy benchmarking, and reaffirmed its position in opposition of mandated luminous egress path markings.
According to BOMA, it now supports voluntary benchmarking and encourages its members to benchmark their buildings at least annually using the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager platform, an interactive energy management tool that allows users to track and assess energy and water consumption across their entire portfolio of buildings. BOMA also encourages the use of other similar programs.
While BOMA opposes mandates for energy benchmarking, disclosure and labeling, it says it recognizes that many states and municipalities are implementing mandatory benchmarking and disclosure requirements. In recognition of such, BOMA supports the creation of a national model building energy performance program, based on the EPA ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager platform, to avoid a patchwork of differing regulations from location to location.
BOMA also supports increased funding for the Energy Information Administration (EIA) to enhance their research and depth of data in the Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey and for EPA ENERGY STAR. With increased federal funding, EPA ENERGY STAR may be able to provide more robust data to expand its one to 100 rating system to all commercial property types, says BOMA.
In regard to tax reform, BOMA International says it supports comprehensive tax reform policies that:
- Do not penalize capital investment in commercial real estate;
- Do not discriminate against real estate as an investment class;
- Do not retroactively tax imbedded investments;
- Revise depreciation schedules to more closely reflect market reality for building components;
- Treat leasehold improvements fairly as a permanent policy, allowing depreciation over no longer than a 15-year period;
- Maintain a low tax rate on capital gains; and
- Provide long-term certainty and stability.
BOMA’s Web site also lists the organization’s stated policy positions on a multitude of other federal legislative and regulatory issues.
