I’m passing this along from our friends at the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA).  We’ve seen this proposal before, but it would be  tremendously beneficial  for designers of government owned green buildings if this legislation becomes law.

Yesterday, Senators Bingaman (D-NM) and Snowe (R-ME) introduced S. 3935, the Advanced Energy Tax Incentives Act.   This contains a number of incentives that have been advocated during the past two years, including Section 102 which increases the deduction from $1.80 to $3.00 (partial deduction increased to $1.00 per square foot per system) and modifies Section 179(D) to facilitate the ability of REITs (real estate investment trusts) to claim the deduction.

A summary of its provisions is available online at http://bingaman.senate.gov/policy/aetia_summ.pdf.

Here are the statements made yesterday:  “We must continue to ensure that the Tax Code contains well-designed incentives that will help us transition to an energy efficient economy,” explained Senator Bingaman.  “Our bill will significantly expand domestic clean energy manufacturing; help American businesses and families reduce their energy use and dependence on fossil fuels; and create thousands of jobs.  This is a common-sense, bipartisan proposal that deserves priority consideration.”

“For far too long our country’s energy strategy has prioritized the technologies of the past while our policy debate has languished in partisanship.  The world is moving ahead with bold action on innovative technologies and it is past time that we set a new course for how we use and think about energy,” said Senator Snowe.   “Energy efficiency has emerged as one of the most effective and expeditious initiatives that can be taken to preserve valuable resources for producers and consumers and I believe we can build upon the success of past tax credits with these critical energy efficiency tax incentives, which will spark innovation in our building and industrial sector and afford our constituents and businesses financial incentives to simultaneously reduce their energy bills and invest in our economy.  I appreciate working with Senator Bingaman on this comprehensive energy tax package and look forward to enacting these provisions into law.”

The 111th Congress is now in recess until November 15 when they will return for a week prior to Thanksgiving, and then Congress will return for a week in early December.    Whether energy tax legislation will be taken up remains to be determined.