Select Committee on Climate Action 12/7/23

Thank you.

Good morning.

The November 29th, 2023 meeting of the 2023 Select Committee on Climate Action will come to order.

It is 9.34 a.m.

I'm Lisa Herbold, chair of the committee.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember Lewis.

Present.

Councilmember Mosqueda.

Present.

Councilmember Peterson.

Present.

Councilmember Strauss.

Vice Chair and Council President Juarez.

Vice Chair.

Yeah, I'm here.

Here.

Council members Morales, Nelson, and Swant are excused.

Five present.

Thank you so much.

On today's agenda, we will hear Council Bill 120718 to implement building emissions performance standards for large buildings in Seattle.

It's listed for discussion and possible vote.

We will now approve our agenda for our committee meeting.

If there is no objection, today's agenda will be adopted.

Hearing and seeing no objection, today's agenda is adopted.

At this time, we'll transition into public comment.

I'm going to moderate the public comment period in the following manner.

Each speaker will be given one minute to speak.

I will alternate between virtual and in-person public commenters.

I'll be starting with in-person public commenters.

For in-person public commenters, we ask that you step to the microphones when I call your name, and there are microphones on both sides of the room.

I will call on each speaker by name and in order they registered on the council's website and on the in-person sign-in form.

If you've not yet registered to speak, but you would like to do so, you can sign up before the end of the public comment session.

Once I call a speaker's name, if you're using the virtual option, you're going to hear a prompt.

And once you've heard that prompt, you need to press star six to unmute yourself.

We ask that you please begin speaking by stating your name in the item which you are addressing.

Speakers will hear a chime when 10 seconds are left of the allotted time.

When the speaker hears that chime, again, you've got 10 seconds left, we ask that you begin to wrap up your public comments.

If speakers do not end their public comments at the end of the allotted time, the speaker's mic will be muted after 10 seconds to allow us to hear from the next speaker.

Once you've completed public comment, we ask that you please disconnect from the line, but encourage you to continue following the meeting and do so by watching the Seattle channel or using the listening options that are listed on today's agenda.

We've got about 20 people signed up for public comment, about 16 virtual and four in person.

Again, I'm gonna start with the in-person speakers and then move to the virtual speakers.

So with that, we'll start with Nina Oliver, followed by Ruth Sawyer.

Good morning.

Is this the correct mic?

Okay.

Good morning and thank you to the council for providing the opportunity to give public comment on the building emissions performance standards.

My name is Nina Olivier.

I'm an executive board member of Seattle's Green New Deal Oversight Board as a climate resiliency and greenhouse gas reduction specialist.

I'd like to thank OSC for leading the way on BEPS and for involving the Green New Deal Oversight Board at every step in this process through continued conversations, updates and consultation.

The Green New Deal Oversight Board is tasked with providing guidance and support to city departments to eliminate carbon pollution by 2030 while centering climate and environmental justice priorities as we work together to advance the City of Seattle's Green New Deal.

BEPS is projected to reduce building emissions by 27% by 2050. This consensus legislation is an important step forward as it ensures substantive our climate goals while also taking the needs of our communities into account.

It's an important note that climate work is equity work, and there are reasonable and innovative ways for building owners to manage any costs and penalties, including through collaborative lease language.

And I think that's all my time.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Ruth Sawyer, and Ruth will be followed by Anthony, I believe it's Gavin.

Good morning, everyone.

My name is Ruth Sawyer.

I am speaking on behalf of the Washington State Sierra Club.

I spoke last week, so I'll just reiterate our support for the policy and on behalf of our tens of thousands of members in Washington State and our many thousands in Seattle who we've been speaking to about the policy.

We're excited to see this moving forward.

Thank you.

Next is Anthony Gevin, and Anthony will be followed by, I believe it's Tire, Bernard.

Hello, good morning, Lisa Herbold and Council.

My name is Anthony Gevin.

I am a journeyman 01 electrician.

and a member of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 46 here in Seattle, Washington here to urge the council about passing the BEPS.

As a member of 46, we have over 6,000 members.

We understand the policy and we're all about electrifying Seattle and getting the job done.

So we urge the council to pass that, thank you.

Next speaker is, I believe it's Tyr, but correct me if I'm wrong, Bernard.

Yeah, that's good.

Thank you.

I'm here on, usually I come to these meetings as a citizen, but I'm here more as a professional this time.

I do a lot of engineering work in the field with the clean building standard.

I have a lot of experience with that.

I want to say that I heavily support the passage of this act.

But at the same time, I urge to consider the details.

A lot of the actual work I do comes down to the very specific details and virtually every single compliance pathway with the Clean Building Standard.

These are the early people that are doing it ahead of time.

Every single one of them virtually has done the alternative compliance pathway and not done the actual pathway.

And it's all about cost.

It's all about measure lifetime.

It's all about performance factors, EUI for the clean building standard or equivalent carbon for this one.

But I highly recommend doing your due diligence as you create it to make it rig free.

It's easier to add things or it's easier to make it rigorous to begin with and take away things over time and give the office of sustainability a raise because they're going to be doing a lot of work because it's on them.

Thank you so much.

Moving over to the virtual speakers.

We'll hear first from Stephen Haggerty and after Stephen we'll hear from Joelle Robinson.

Hello I'm Stephen Haggerty Seattle resident supporting BEPS as written.

Thank you OC staff and for all the many building owners community members and organized labor that support and develop this BEPS policy and have also literally built and continue to build the physical and social fabric of our city.

That's a strong signal for our city's path.

We want to construct for the future, not only a city with green buildings and life-saving cooling, not only a city that sets the regional market pace for incentivizing electrification, but a city that glows with the hope of the future, a city we can take pride in.

And that path starts with passing BEPS today.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Joelle Robinson, and Joelle will be followed by Alice Lockhart.

Hi, this is Joelle Robinson.

I'm on staff at Climate Solutions and I'm here in strong support of the Seattle Building Emission Performance Standards as written.

This is a crucial climate policy and the first in Washington State to address greenhouse gas emissions from existing buildings.

On a personal note, I grew up in Whatcom County where my dad built our childhood home 53 years ago.

Two years ago, during the massive flood, they had over a foot of water in their house when it had rained a month's worth of rain in just two days.

They're in their mid and upper 80s, and my sisters and I were deeply distressed trying to get them rescued, calling 911 three times that day until they were eventually rescued by a fishing boat that came up onto their deck.

My parents had to sell their house and move, which took an emotional and financial toll.

So I am deeply grateful for this policy to help address the climate crisis.

And I want to thank the city, particularly the Office of Sustainability and Environment, for working tirelessly on this ordinance for the past few years, as well as to the mayor and especially Councilmember Herbold for your leadership.

I urge the council to take us across the finish line, setting an example for local governments across Washington and the country.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Alice Lockhart and Alice will be followed by Jasmine Chu.

Good morning committee.

I'm Alice Lockhart reiterating three 50 Seattle support for this policy.

We read in Puget sound business journal that this vote is expected to be unanimous and we hope it is a yes vote is a vote for green union jobs, a vote for getting started on decarbonizing our largest buildings and a vote for the great concept of a committee for climate action.

We'd like to once more thank Chair Herbold, President Juarez, and staff for setting up this committee, and also to thank the people at OSE who have worked so hard on this legislation, Director Farrell, Sandra Malloy, Nicole Ballinger, Christine Bunch, and I'm sure others whom we've not had the pleasure of meeting.

Thanks so much for all your hard work on this legislation and your dedication to the work that is before you.

Building emissions performance standards are only as good as their implementation, and I know the implementation of ours will be great.

Again, committee, thanks in advance for that unanimous vote.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Jasmine Chiu, and Jasmine will be followed by Iris Antman.

Good morning, members of City Council.

Thank you again for your time and consideration with this proposed ordinance.

My name is Jasmine Chiu, and I work at RMI, and I support the America is All In Coalition.

I'm here to speak today about the building performance ordinance, and I was also here last week, so I'll try not to be too redundant.

But a building emissions performance standard is an extremely effective mechanism for making existing buildings simply better environments for everyone to live, work, and play in.

Emissions targets will help reduce building pollution, which is extremely critical, and deliver on energy savings.

To keep it short, this type of policy is a worthwhile measure to consider and implement.

Thank you so much, City Council, for your consideration and city staff for all the hard work in drafting this.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Iris Antman and Iris will be followed by David Mead.

Good morning.

My name is Iris Antman.

I'm a Seattle resident.

I'm here to speak in support of the building's emission performance standard as written.

Here in Seattle, we, along with the rest of the country and the world, are called upon to make big changes, maybe most importantly, switching from fossil fuels to clean renewable sources for energy needs.

The BEPS provides a way to make these changes in order to care for our health, environment, and our climate by mandating clean energy in large commercial and multifamily pre-existing buildings in order to help us meet our city's greenhouse gas reduction goals.

These standards were developed over years of discussion between building owners, climate groups, affordable housing providers, organized labor and policymakers.

They have been strengthened since the summer, incorporating community feedback to improve it.

It's time for us to take practical and pragmatic steps to address crisis.

I encourage you to pass the policy as written in order to reduce emissions, create good paying jobs and create a more sustainable future for our city.

Thank you so much.

DIRECTOR HAMPSON- Thank you.

Our next speaker is David Mead and David will be followed by Julia Buck.

DAVID MEAD Hi my name is David Mead.

I lead the regenerative design group at PE Engineers here in town.

And we do need to electrify existing buildings to meet our climate commitment.

And in order to do that all large buildings need to meet minimum pollution standards.

For too long we've treated the atmosphere as a dumping ground for air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

Fossil gases are burned every day in buildings all throughout the city, creating large sources of local pollution.

That standard is essential to stop that local atmospheric pollution.

It has a framework of compliance that helps ease building owners into compliance while still motivating positive change.

This will create new jobs in the community and workforce training on newer building technologies.

That will help building owners future-proof their assets, creating healthier buildings that will help retain occupants and lower energy use.

And I encourage you to pass it out.

Thank you.

DIRECTOR RIVERA- Thank you.

Our next speaker is Julia Buck and Julia will be followed by Alistair Jackson.

JULIA BUCK Good morning council.

My name is Julia Buck and I'm a homeowner and resident of District 6. I am calling to express my strong support of the building emissions performance standard legislation as written.

I recall during the heat wave of 2020 that there was a neighbor of mine who was hospitalized because of the extreme heat.

and a lack of air conditioning in her building is an important step toward getting air conditioning accessible for more people in their homes and in their businesses.

And it's common sense to take advantage of the Inflation Reduction Act's financial resources in order to fund this transition.

Thank you very much for bringing forward this important win-win legislation.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Alastair Jackson, followed by Justin Logan.

Good morning.

My name is Alastair Jackson, owner of O'Brien 360. We're a building performance consultant based in downtown Seattle.

Our expertise is helping affordable and market-rate residential property owners to develop and developers to improve the performance of their buildings.

The need to reduce emissions from our existing building stock is urgent, and the challenge is significant.

We have the expertise and the technology, and we've been deploying it in new buildings for more than a decade, but few are motivated to take on the challenge in existing buildings.

The real estate industry will quickly tell you it's not cost effective and kick the can down the road.

Our construction, HVAC, electrical and plumbing contractors are too busy building new buildings to develop the capacity to electrify existing buildings when there's no apparent demand.

This bill sends a market signal.

You're going to have to do this, so get ready.

City staff consulted with stakeholders and put together a program that's predictable so owners can plan ahead and vendors and contractors can see the market opportunity develop.

It's got meaningful penalties for laggards to keep it fair and accountable.

For most building owners, by the time they have to comply, the market will have evolved to serve the need competitively, creating new, resilient employment opportunities.

I urge the committee and the council to approve this legislation.

Thank you.

ELLIE WILSON- Thank you.

Our next speaker is Justin Logan and Justin will be followed by Zafir Guth.

JUSTIN LOGAN Good morning.

My name is Justin Logan and I live in D3.

I'm here today speaking in support of BIP.

We all understand the urgent need for climate action in the face of this intensifying climate crisis.

And given BIP's impact on reducing Seattle's greenhouse gas emissions we must pass this key bill.

Please pass BIP as written unanimously this year.

Finally I wanted to express my thanks to all the folks who came out this and last week in support of BIPs from climate activists labor and members of the community.

I wanted to thank all the people in city government from OSB to all the city council members who worked so hard in getting this to where it is.

Finally I want to thank all the council members who are planning to vote in favor of the bill and hopefully that's all of you.

Thanks so much for working to electrify Seattle.

DIRECTOR HAMPSON- Thank you.

Our next speaker is Arthur Guth followed by Dylan Plummer.

No.

OK, good morning.

My name is Sophia Guff.

I'm a resident of Seattle.

I believe it's important that Seattle leads the nation in reducing carbon emissions of buildings.

As we reduce those emissions, other cities will.

And together will take a big step in redirecting climate trend change.

That is why I support building performance standards 43 amps.

Thank you bye.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Dylan Plummer.

And Dylan will be followed by Steve Gelb.

DILLON PLUMMER, D.C.:

: Chair Herbold, President Suarez, and members of the Swyfe Committee on Climate Action, my name is Dylan Plummer, and I'm a senior field organizer at the Sierra Club.

I'm testifying to voice our support for the proposed building emissions performance standard as written.

The climate crisis is here, and we need elected officials at all levels of government to take action.

This policy is an opportunity for the city to do just that and reaffirm its commitment to climate action while providing a model for cities around the region and the country to do the same.

Based on analysis from OSE, the BEPS policy will create hundreds of new jobs annually.

Additionally, we'll have the co-benefit of reducing NOx pollution indoors and out associated with combustion of methane gas, as well as expanding access to life-saving cooling for tens of thousands of Seattle residents.

On behalf of our members in Seattle and across the state and the nation, I urge the Council to pass this policy to reduce emissions, create green jobs, protect clean air, and continue to work for the just transition for the City of Seattle.

Thank you, Chair Herbold, for leading this effort, and thank you, members of the Council, for taking the time to consider this policy and hopefully voting yes on Tuesday.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Steve Gelb, and the next person listed after Steve is Chris Covert-Boulds.

Chris is showing as not present, but if after Steve speaks that changes, we'll hear from Chris.

All council members, I'm Steve Gale, Northwest Regional Director for the Emerald Cities Collaborative, and I'll be giving comment as a workforce representative on the Green New Deal Oversight Board.

I'd like to thank the Office of Sustainability and Environment for leading the way on the BEPS policy and for involving the Green New Deal Oversight Board in the development process through multiple briefings and conversations.

We support the passage of BEPS and the estimated 270 annual jobs it can create, increasing the demand for electricians and HVC workers, among others.

With your partnership, we can continue to support the transition of existing workers to clean energy jobs and provide expanded career paths for women and BIPOC community members and the expanded role of women and minority-owned businesses in Seattle's clean energy economy.

Together, we have already invested $1 million per year for pre-apprenticeship and job readiness programs and added a climate and workforce development advisor in the Office of Sustainability and Environment.

We urge passage of BEPS and continued work to transition to an equitable clean energy economy.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

So Chris Covert-Boulds, Keith Sanderson, and Jonathan Heller are all showing as not present.

So our next speaker that is showing present is Mark Vosler.

Following Mark is Karina Yebella.

She is also showing as not present.

So we're going to hear from Mark next.

And if any of the four people whose names I mentioned show up as present after hearing from Mark, we'll hear from them.

Go ahead, Mark.

Good morning.

Thank you, council members, for this opportunity to address you today.

My name is Mark Bossler, and I am past president of Washington's Physicians for Social Responsibility, representing over 5,000 health professionals statewide.

I am speaking in favor of passing the new building emissions performance standards as written.

As a practicing cardiologist, I'm extremely concerned about the health impacts of indoor and outdoor air pollution due to the burning of fossil fuel.

I have firsthand experience in my practice seeing patients whose heart conditions are exacerbated by poor air quality.

Indoor air pollution in buildings from heating and cooking with fossil gas aggravates asthma in children and heart disease and stroke in adults.

Furthermore, buildings in Washington dump more toxic NOx into the outdoor air than all fossil fuel electricity generation in our state.

The pollution from our buildings imposes an 6.2 billion annual health care costs in Washington.

I'm grateful for your efforts here.

I strongly encourage you to do something about the air pollution in our state and our city by passing the BEPF as written.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And the four individuals whose names I mentioned with their status showing is not present, their status is still not present.

So with Mark's comments, we will close public comment.

Thank you, everybody.

for taking time out of your day to talk about this very important bill before us.

And with that, we'll move into the items on the agenda.

Will the clerk please read in agenda item one?

Agenda item one, council bill 120718, an ordinance relating to regulating greenhouse gas emissions in larger existing non-residential and multifamily buildings.

Establishing and imposing greenhouse gas emissions intensity targets and reporting requirements, prescribing penalties, adding a new chapter 22.925 to the Seattle Municipal Code, amending sections 22.920.010020, 030, 120, 130, and 170, 22.930.010, 020, 040, 050, 120, and 140, and 22.930.180 of the Seattle Municipal Code, and repealing section 22.920.040 of the Seattle Municipal Code.

Thank you so much, Mr. Clerk.

Folks at the table, welcome.

Thanks for joining us.

I'm wondering if you could just do a quick round of introductions, and then I've got some opening remarks, and we'll pass it off to you.

Yolanda Ho, Council Central Staff.

Sandra Mallory, Office of Sustainability and Environment.

Madeline Costage, Seattle City Light.

Jessen Farrell, Director of Office of Sustainability and Environment.

Thank you all.

This is the second meeting of the 2023 Select Committee on Climate Action created by Council President Juarez to consider building emissions performance standards legislation proposed by Mayor Harrell.

Addressing greenhouse gas emissions is one of the greatest challenges of our time, locally, nationally, and internationally.

We know that at the international level, the 28th UN Climate Change Conference has been meeting since November 30th.

These conferences are the world's only multilateral decision-making forum on climate change, with almost complete membership of every country in the world.

And it's the place where countries come together to agree on ways to address the climate crisis, such as limiting global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius, global potential rise, helping vulnerable communities adapt to the effects of climate change and achieving net zero emissions by 2050. This work globally is very important, but we must absolutely act locally.

We are experiencing the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions more and more in Seattle.

Forest haze during the summer and autumn has become...

Forest fire haze has become normal.

We've had record...

heat of 108 degrees in 2021, and that was in the month of June, which would have been completely unthinkable not long ago.

Some of the discussion topics at the conference include health, a just transition, multi-level action.

But I want to highlight that for the first time, health has been a key focus of the conference with a health day.

Christy L. Ebby, a local person who's attending the conference, who's also a climate and health researcher at the University of Washington, called the fact that this has been explicitly linked to health as a watershed moment for her field.

This makes all the more timely the letter we received from Dr. Jeffrey Duchin, the health officer of Seattle-King County Public Health, urging support for this legislation.

Here in Seattle, with this legislation, today we have a chance to do our part with a building emissions performance standard developed by the Office of Sustainability and Environment.

Through two years of work, working with stakeholders and consulting deeply to get us to the point where we are today.

The policy is projected to reduce climate pollution from buildings by 27 percent by 2050, and it's one of the most impactful actions that we can take locally to reduce emissions, as buildings are one of the largest sources of pollution.

Of course, more work will need to be done nationally, internationally, and right here in Seattle.

But today we have the opportunity to take this decisive action.

Before proceeding and handing it off to our presenters, I'm wondering if the co-sponsors of this bill, I see we have with us Councilmember Mosqueda, who is one of the co-sponsors of the bill, whether or not you have any opening remarks before we pass it over.

I'm happy to save that, Madam Chair, till after the presenters, if that sounds OK.

Absolutely.

Thank you so much.

Thanks for the opportunity.

Absolutely.

Councilmember Strauss is also a co-sponsor, and we've been notified that he will be joining us shortly.

So with that, we'll turn it over first to Yolanda Ho of Council Central Staff to give us an overview of the bill.

Really appreciate your helpful analysis and memo on the legislation and your identification of an issue that we need to address.

All right, thank you, Chair.

All right, so I will provide a brief overview of a very complex proposal for the committee.

This morning, just to remind you all that last Wednesday, the committee received a briefing from the Office of Sustainability and Environment on Council Bill 120718 that would establish a new building performance standard for existing buildings over 20,000 square feet, also known as BEPS.

The intent of BEPS is to gradually eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from Seattle's largest buildings with the ultimate goal of having these buildings achieve net zero emissions by 2050, thereby supporting the city's goal of reaching net zero emissions in all sectors that same year.

BEPS has been developed to align with the state's clean building performance standard, which was signed into law in 2019. Both policies are performance-based, meaning that owners have flexibility to invest in upgrades that are appropriate for their buildings so long as they demonstrate they have achieved a specified target by the statutory deadline.

The key difference between the state standard and BEPS is that the state policy will reduce building energy use, which as a byproduct will help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but will not result in the complete elimination of these emissions as it would allow for the installation of systems that still rely on fossil fuels.

Development of this proposal was identified as a priority several years ago and builds on many years of related efforts to reduce building emissions and energy use, including the energy benchmarking program that has been in place for over a decade and the requirements of the building tune-ups program that has been in effect since 2019. Additionally, the Seattle Energy Code update in 2021 prohibited the use of fossil fuels for space and water heating in new commercial and multifamily buildings.

BEPS would impact over 4,000 buildings in Seattle.

About 1,900 of these are multifamily buildings, 1,600 are non-residential buildings, and 600 are buildings located on various campuses.

on to BEPS how BEPS would work very generally if you have more detailed questions OSC is here so it would use a greenhouse gas intensity target based on the building activity type to determine compliance the compliance timeline would be based on building gross floor area with the largest buildings required to begin reducing emissions first within each five year compliance interval These requirements would phase in over multiple compliance intervals and progressively become more stringent.

The first compliance interval of 2027 to 2030 would be limited to benchmarking verification and reporting requirements to ensure that the city has accurate performance data and building owners can plan for how they will meet the targets moving forward.

Subsequent compliance intervals would add the requirement that building owners meet the required targets.

By the 2041-2045 compliance interval, non-residential buildings are expected to achieve net zero emissions, and then the last compliance interval of 2046-2050, multifamily buildings will meet net zero emissions.

Once buildings have achieved net zero emissions, they will be required to maintain this in perpetuity.

The proposal offers flexibility to allow building owners to be in compliance, such as the option of making an alternative compliance payment in lieu of meeting targets in the 2031-2035 compliance interval, establishing alternative targets for buildings with unusually high emissions or other unique characteristics, or following an approved decarbonization compliance plan that would achieve either net zero emissions or low emissions target by 2041 to 2050. It also provides extensions for low income and naturally affordable housing, human service uses, and buildings experiencing financial distress or with high vacancy rates.

The city's intent is to maximize compliance to avoid penalizing building owners, particularly those that have fewer resources.

To that end, it will be providing support for these building owners, specifically since last year, OSC's Clean Building Accelerator Program has provided technical support and training to nonprofits and under-resourced building owners to help them comply with both the state program and BEPS, knowing that was coming forward.

Next year, OSC will be able to offer financial assistance for engineering design and capital investments to nonprofits and affordable housing buildings using 4.5 million of Jumpstart Green New Deal funds that were in the 2024 adopted budget.

OSC will also use revenues generated by the alternative compliance payments, fines and fees from BEPS, energy benchmarking, and building tune-up programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from buildings, prioritizing those that serve people with low or no incomes in communities that have historically been most harmed by racial, economic, and environmental injustice.

the city will also continue to seek federal and state funding sources to support building owners and in hopes of offering incentives to building owners that meet net zero emissions before they are required to do so and noting in terms of resources in this year and next year's adopted budget the council has added positions and jumpstart green new deal funds to ensure that the OSC and also Seattle IT, which was supporting a technology platform to help monitor compliance, our resource to successfully administer BEPS.

And finally, to provide public transparency about BEPS, OSC will begin reporting on available data beginning in 2026, and then provide more detailed reporting beginning in 2031. With that, that concludes my summary of the proposal.

Fantastic.

Thank you.

Before we move on to the next part of this discussion, which is a presentation from Seattle City Light to address some of the issues that came up in the last committee meeting, I want to take a pause and see if anybody has any questions from council.

not seeing any raised hands.

So we'll move over to the committee table.

Folks will remember that at the last committee, Councilmember Nelson, who's the chair of the committee that oversees City Light, asked about City Light's preparations for this legislation.

So I've invited City Light to appear with us today to speak to this issue.

City Light provided a super helpful summary of their work on this front that is linked to the agenda.

And I think as part of this discussion, I'd love it if the Office of Sustainability and Environment spoke to the engagement that you've had with City Light, and then City Light speak to the preparation for the implementation of this legislation.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Council Member Herbold.

And again, thank you to the committee.

Thank you to the mayor for your strong support of this legislation as we move forward to address the climate crisis in a way that meets the needs of our downtown, of our workers, of affordable housing.

So we're really...

continuing to look forward to this conversation.

And so just by way of introduction, I would like to thank Seattle City Light.

They've been a really important partner and are going to continue to be an important partner.

And we've been deeply engaged.

And Sandra is going to be talking about that engagement.

But I just want to take a moment to formally thank them for the depth of their engagement as we've moved through building this policy.

Great.

Thank you, Jessen.

And thank you again to all the council members for this setting up this committee.

So as council member Herbal noted, council member Nelson had posed a question about how City Light is prepared to support the building emissions performance standard.

This is a very common question that we hear from building owners and facility managers.

And it's a very important component of transitioning buildings to clean energy.

The BEPS legislation is designed to be fuel neutral, meaning we are regulating emissions, we are not regulating the energy source.

But given that much of the technology that is currently available to eliminate building-related emissions, is powered by electricity, such as heat pumps or induction stoves, then we can expect more all-electric buildings and increased electric demand, which is why Madeline is here to talk to us.

And so before I hand it over to Madeline, I'd also like to note that we have had great support and engagement from multiple city departments throughout the multi-year process.

Department of Neighborhoods helped with criteria for historic buildings.

Office of Housing advised on how to address unsubsidized low-rent housing.

SDCI worked with OSE and building owners on how BEPS will interplay with substantial alteration triggers.

So in addition to the appreciation we have for all of the external stakeholders who've been here today and throughout the process, I'd also like to take this moment to express our appreciation for staff across the many city departments who have provided their insight and expertise.

City Light in particular has been and will continue to be a key partner in implementing BEPS and you may notice that the fiscal note recognizes this role and calls out some dedicated staffing for actually both SDCI and Seattle City Light.

So during the policy development process, City Light appointed Madeleine as the lead liaison, and she has participated in our extensive technical advisory group.

We were consistently in touch with Madeleine and the electrification and strategic technologies division throughout.

And we've held joint OSC City Light input meetings with building owners in particular.

And then most fun, multiple conversations where we got to geek out about emissions factors.

And City Light has helped to fund the Clean Buildings Accelerator Program.

So I'll turn it over to Madeline to share more about how City Light will help us transition.

Great, thank you very much for inviting Seattle City Light to join you this morning.

I'm Madeline Kostich, I'm the Building Electrification Strategic Advisor at Seattle City Light, which means that I get to work with staff from across the utility, as well as our community partners and our implementation partners like the Office of Sustainability and Environment to ensure equitable and affordable building electrification.

So I'm going to share how the utility is preparing for decarbonization and electrification, including for the building emissions performance standard.

Maintaining a reliable grid is the core function of Seattle City Light, and it's also key to supporting electrification associated with decarbonization, including compliance with BEPS.

To gain important insights into how electrification could potentially impact the utility and our customers, we worked with industry-leading Electric Power Research Institute in 2022 to conduct an electrification assessment.

And this assessment looked at various electrification scenarios for buildings as well as transportation and industrial applications to see how it will impact our grid.

And the assessment indicated the places, the areas in the grid, as well as the times of the year and day where we need to focus our investments to ensure sufficient capacity.

And fortunately, we have several tools to manage this transition affordably and equitably and ensure the best outcome for the utility and for our customers.

For example, we're implementing our grid modernization roadmap, which includes projects and initiatives such as our demand response pilot.

We just wrapped up the distributed energy resources strategy, which is the utility strategy for how to integrate customer rooftop solar and customer battery storage as a grid asset.

And we are installing technologies that make our grid smarter like distribution automation.

We're also taking advantage of historic federal funding opportunities to support investments in electrification enabling solutions on the grid.

And we're continuing to invest in energy efficiency.

Energy efficiency continues to be a very valuable peak mitigation resource to ensure that the grid maintains its reliability and resiliency.

And we're currently conducting an additional study with the Electric Power Research Institute that specifically looks at the impacts of BEPS on the grid.

And so we have the benefit of knowing which buildings are going to need to comply and by when, and we have all the wonderful benchmarking data.

So we have a pretty good baseline of where buildings are today, and we can use the BEPS legislation to essentially estimate where and when grid impacts will be happening to model how buildings are going to electrify over time so that we can start planning for that today.

We're also using the electrification assessment as part of our long-term integrated resource planning.

So Seattle City Light has an integrated resource plan, like many utilities do, which outlines the utilities' long-term or 20-year strategy to supply reliable electricity to customers at reasonable cost and risk while protecting the environment and ensuring service equity.

And so the integrated resource plan relies on only new renewables, like solar and wind, as well as energy efficiency to meet future increases in electricity demand.

So City Light is of course committed to continuing to provide clean energy resources.

Additionally, Washington State passed the Clean Energy Transformation Act, which requires all electric utilities in Washington State to serve customers with energy from 100% renewable or non-emitting resources by 2045, and in their interim, to be greenhouse gas neutral by 2030. It is expected that City Light is going to meet or exceed these deadlines.

We've also been preparing for the effects of climate change on hydropower generation.

We have a climate change adaptation plan that identifies the actions that City Light is taking to address climate change impacts such as drought, heat waves, and flooding.

And so our integrated resource plan together with our climate change adaptation plan both are considering the impacts of climate change and electrification on long-term energy resource needs.

As many of the folks who spoke during the public comment today have noted, climate change is also impacting our customers directly, mostly in the form of hotter and smokier summers.

And that has actually been a primary driver of residential electrification as customers increasingly need and want space cooling.

And so to meet this growing customer demand, as well as the anticipated customer demand from regulations like the building emissions performance standard, City Light has been developing a building electrification strategy over the past two years.

So similarly to how we have a transportation electrification strategic investment plan, We have also been developing our building electrification strategy, which has been informed by extensive community engagement.

We're actually in the process of wrapping that up right now.

So we hope to have a publicly available document early next month, which we'll be happy to share with all of you.

And I'll give you a preview on the five strategic objectives that we've identified to support affordable and equitable customer electrification.

It's to increase access and awareness, build the workforce, offset electrification with efficiency, reduce upfront costs and strengthen grid resiliency.

So as this strategy moves into implementation, City Light will continue to collaborate with communities and partners to implement the actions that have been identified in the strategy, which will include a portfolio of programs and resources for customers and their contractors.

So City Light looks forward to continuing to partner with our customers and communities as they transition to healthy, high-performing, climate-friendly buildings.

And we also, of course, look forward to continuing to work with our implementing partners like the Office of Sustainability and Environment in implementing the building emissions performance standard.

Happy to take any questions.

Fantastic.

Thank you.

Yes, I really appreciate that.

Sorry, I was going to just...

Oh, ask if anybody had questions.

Madam President, absolutely.

I am vice chair here today.

You're the boss.

We put this little hand down.

Sometimes this little hand works and sometimes it doesn't.

First of all, thank you, Councilor Herbal, for being the chair and filling in the leadership here.

I really appreciate it.

It's a lot of work.

And Justin Farrell as well.

But Madeline, I'm glad you're here from the questions that council member Nelson raised last time we were here.

And This may seem a little esoteric, but I'm going to kind of have a preamble, and then I'll ask you the question.

We've been paying attention to the decarbonization and the electrification.

This city, I was looking at, and Yolanda, thank you for the great eight-page memo, the chronology of going way back to 1992 and what the city of Seattle has done, and then trying to catch up and work with the state and the laws that were passed under the Green New Deal.

how we implement these laws at Seattle City Light that I'm really glad that you said you talked to, you're working with DON and Office of Housing and SDCI.

One thing that I, it keeps coming up in different circles and I appreciate it when you made the statement that you wanna make our grid smarter for reliability and resiliency, et cetera.

There's gonna come a time that we're seeing that at some point, if we're gonna move to electrify, and decarbonize our city buildings and hopefully move up.

And I saw the date on Council Member Herbolt's, Chair Herbolt's technical amendment to increase the dates five years from the original dates.

What's gonna happen or how are we gonna address this?

And maybe there isn't an answer today, but when people are working hard to have a lot of these dams removed, which is your source of power and electricity and what that impact would be.

Now that may be, I think that's inevitable from what I'm understanding that there will be some of that and that will impact certainly the water that we provide, not only to our city, but to other cities, but the cost to the rate payers.

Has that been something that's on your radar?

Because if you pull a string here, you're going to have an effect over here.

And I think people are fooling themselves thinking that if we were all electric, but at the same time, we want all the dams removed to save the salmon.

There's gotta be some balance and some conversation about that.

And I'm wondering if that is something that Seattle City Light and leadership have thought about or thinking about.

In short, yes, and I'm happy to follow up with more additional information kind of in detail about how our relicensing work is on the dams.

But I can provide just a few comments on, you know, how hydropower has been an important affordable low-carbon resource that has provided a lot of flexibility as well to meet load when it's needed.

And just note that...

City Light does recognize that hydropower, like many energy resources, comes at a price, and that large hydropower dams, such as our Skagit project, would not be built today in the Northwest.

And so for those projects that are already built, we must focus on continuing to improve on our mitigation efforts while considering new technologies and other resource options to meet our customers' energy needs.

And so we are, of course, ongoing with many different partners in any of the dam relicensing projects, particularly tribes, in relation to the historical and cultural resources that are impacted by dams.

And as I did note earlier, for any additional electrical load that's coming on, we are only investing in new renewables like solar and wind power.

But in short, yes, we are integrating all of those considerations into our resource planning.

And I'm happy to follow up with additional details kind of more specifically about our individual hydro projects that are both owned and operated by City Light, as well as the ones that we have long term contracts with.

So a quick follow up, if I may, Madam Chair.

Absolutely.

I'll be fast.

Thank you.

Thank you for that.

And I know.

about the relicensing when Deborah was here, or Director Smith.

I get that.

I was actually expecting, I was hoping you'd just be a little bit more, not read from your notes, but kind of give us a just layman's terms of how we're, That has to be on the dashboard and what that's going to do if we're looking at the years that we're looking at to reduce our carbon footprint and be completely electric.

And maybe that's not all for today, but thank you for your answer.

Is Seattle City Light and this whole issue of going to complete electricity and water, are you working with other cities or talking to other cities like Tacoma City Light or Snohomish?

Yes, definitely.

So we have in many different areas, we work with regional coalitions with the different Puget Sound utilities.

We also are frequently in contact with even our investor-owned utilities like Puget Sound Energy on a variety of different topics.

Are you asking specifically in concern about the impacts of dams or just in general how we're all planning for electric?

No, in general, because I mean...

Director Farrell knows this because she was in the state legislator at Wright just in 2019, was it, when the state passed their, or was it 20?

I can't remember.

I wasn't in the legislature then.

When they passed the green, when the governor passed the Green New Deal for the state of Washington and then cities start following suit.

I was just wondering how long of what we're looking at with other cities who are moving towards what Seattle is doing, particularly today.

in doing, as you've been saying, the decarbonization and the electrification of cities, if there were just other cities that you were working with to learn more about how we're gonna move forward and do this, which I know is just a first step

Yeah, we work very closely, of course, with Tacoma Powers, Snohomish County Public Utility District, as well as, you know, Seattle City Light does provide electricity to additional areas outside of the city of Seattle, so partners in Shoreline, Burien, et cetera, is in their decarbonization plans as well.

And then we also do kind of regular...

I guess, benchmarking with other cities and the utilities that provide electricity to those cities, like Sacramento Municipal Utility District, et cetera, to kind of see what are some lessons learned that have happened in areas that might have experienced more electrification already and determining kind of what are the utilities doing to support that customer electrification.

Yeah, thank you.

You used the word that I was trying to think of.

I think I need some more coffee.

Lessons learned, which is Council Member Herbal has taught me that sentence.

Lessons learned.

Let's not reinvent the wheel.

Let's see what our sister cities are doing that are coming from the same water sources, the same watersheds.

We'll be dealing with the same issues of dam removal, hydropower.

So thank you for that.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Absolutely.

Great conversation and exactly why we asked Seattle City Light to join us today.

Are there any other comments or questions from council members before we move on?

All right, not seeing any.

Again, thank you to Seattle City Light for the work to prepare for this policy, as well as all the other departments mentioned.

It's great to see that kind of coordination in city government.

Director Farrell, before we start our parliamentary procedure, would you like to make some comments before we move forward?

And before I turn it over to you to do so, I want to thank you.

for the editorial that was fantastic that ran today or maybe yesterday with Patience Malaba and who else was it?

It was, oh, Katie Garrow.

So that was really, really helpful to explain sort of the breadth of how this legislation is going to, you know, really emphasize the, blue-green coalition that we're building and how that's going to create momentum, not just for implementation of this bill, but to allow us to take additional steps.

Great.

I will make just a few brief remarks, again, really to highlight how important leadership is in doing hard things like this legislation.

And again, just a huge thank you to the mayor for being a champion, to Council President Juarez for convening the first ever Select Committee on Climate.

This is really exciting.

And of course, Council Member Herbold for her staunch and dedicated championship of this bill.

And then of course, thank you to the many stakeholders that we've been deeply engaged with.

This is a rare moment of consensus legislation.

And of course, we didn't get there without a lot of deep listening to climate activists, to building owners, to labor unions, to affordable housing developers and providers, and of course, our partner departments, and a huge thank you to our rockstar staff at OSE.

So we're hoping that this legislation will pass as is, and again, we're just very grateful for the willingness of our community at large to engage on these really tough issues and get to yes.

So thank you very much.

Absolutely.

So, all right, the moment we have all been waiting for.

Just to orient us to what we're going to be doing here, we've read the legislation into the record.

We also have an amendment to the bill that corrects an error in the text.

But in order to move that amendment, we first need to move the main bill.

So with that, council members, I move the committee recommends adoption of Council Bill 120718. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you so much.

It's been moved and seconded to recommend confirmation of Council Bill 2007-18.

We can now move to consideration of Amendment 1. I move Amendment 1. Is there a second?

Second.

Second.

Thank you.

Vice Chair, I'll be doing the second.

Oh, excuse me.

Okay.

Thank you.

I got one job, and that's what I got to do.

It's been moved and seconded to adopt Amendment 1. Yolanda, can you please explain the amendment?

Sure.

Amendment 1, this would correct an error that was regarding when multifamily buildings that have been approved to use alternate greenhouse gas emission intensity targets, also known as GHGITs, would be required to meet net zero emissions.

The intent is for such buildings to meet net zero emissions during the 2046-2050 compliance period not the 2041-2045 compliance period that was written in the legislation.

So it's purely an error, and the legislation does not make any substantive changes.

Excellent.

Thank you so much, Londa.

And, you know, when we started this discussion about moving this forward in the Select Committee, You know typically central staff after a busy busy budget cycle has some downtime and We assured central staff that you know, this is there's this is a consensus piece of legislation This isn't gonna mean any extra work and you made me eat my hat Because without your careful review we wouldn't have found this error.

So thank you very much really appreciate it It's been moved and seconded to adopt amendment One, if there are no comments about Amendment 1 or questions, we'll call the roll on the adoption of Amendment 1.

Councilmember Lewis.

Yes.

Councilmember Mosqueda.

Aye.

Councilmember Peterson.

Yes.

Councilmember Stroud or Vice Chair and Council President Juarez.

Oh, I can't hear you.

Yeah, you're on mute.

Oh, did I miss that?

Let's hear it again.

Hang up on me.

I can call you.

Okay.

We're waiting on your vote.

Oh, second.

I'm sorry.

Yes.

I'm sorry.

I was trying to thank you so much.

Multitasking.

Yes.

Five.

Yes.

fantastic so the amendment has been adopted and the motion carries and we'll return now to the main motion which has been moved and seconded so we can move on to comments before voting on the bill I'm gonna make a few comments and then I'll open it up to other council members to do the same so as mentioned Throughout this short process on this side, but long process on the executive side, this legislation is about the future.

Some of the most moving comments that we've heard are from parents and grandparents about their children and grandchildren being their inspiration for supporting this legislation and being civically involved in its development.

I mentioned earlier that the international conference that's occurring right now, COP28, includes meetings on health, a just transition, and multi-level action.

Today, we can do our part for local action at our city government level.

This legislation is part of a just transition.

It will create an estimated 150 to 270 new annual jobs, green jobs that will promote electrification.

Again, many thanks to OSC and the mayor for baking this into this recipe.

I'd like to also read an excerpt from the letter I mentioned earlier from Dr. Jeffrey Duchin, the health officer and King County Public Health.

And the letter was urging support for this legislation and lifting up the health implications.

Dr. Duchin writes, the American Public Health Association, American College of Physicians, American Academy of Pediatrics, National Medical Association, and many other medical, nursing, scientific, and public health organizations have recognized climate change as a health emergency.

while the World Health Organization has declared climate change is the single biggest health threat facing humanity.

It further states, communities that are suffering worse from pollution, often low-income communities of color, have higher risks of death from particle pollution, in part due to the historical impacts of redlining that have led communities of color to be pushed to live in buildings with greater exposure to air pollution.

The electrification of multifamily housing, libraries, offices, and other large buildings provides an opportunity to ensure both cooling and effective indoor air filtration, which are becoming more and more critical as we experience increasingly frequent climate-driven heat waves and wildfire smoke events.

In closing, I'd like to note that Council President opted to name this particular committee the 2023 Select Committee on Climate Change.

This implies that the committee could be convened in subsequent years.

So thank you for that, Madam President.

There has been lobbying over the years for the council to have a select committee on climate change.

because this issue touches so many of the departments in the city and thus makes a lot of sense to put it into a select committee joint portfolio.

The legislation itself is projected to get Seattle to 50% of the building emissions reductions needed to be carbon neutral in 2050. So again, this isn't the end of the story.

It's a significant chapter and one that we should absolutely celebrate.

And the vote that's happening at COP 28 could not be more timely to our actions here today.

So with that, I will open it up for Councilmember comments.

Councilmember Mosqueda?

Yeah.

Thank you very much, Madam President and excuse me, Madam Chair and Vice President.

me try that again thank you very much madam chair and vice chair um it's exciting to be here with you today and i want to just offer my thanks and appreciation as well uh really let me just restart with a thank you to director justin farrell uh thank you to her leadership and everyone within the office of sustainability and the environment this team has been in deep community engagement through the mayor's office and his leadership and interest in moving this forward We're here today.

We're here today because of the stakeholders who've been part of this process asking for this legislation to move forward from labor and climate, from housing advocates and building owners, from residents and those who are within our utilities as we heard from today.

Thank you for all who've been involved in the creation of this legislation in front of us.

I want to highlight a few key elements of the policy and really elevate that this is brought to us by folks who are not only on the front line of trying to address climate change, but are on the front line of experiencing the impacts of climate change as well.

The stakeholders and advocates who came together to find an effective and fair piece of legislation to advance forward is reflected in this legislation.

It is robust, it is thoughtful, it is thorough, it is impactful, and I believe that it is reflected in the fact that no amendments have been brought forward.

A few of the reasons that I'm excited to co-sponsor this legislation and enthusiastic that we're getting it over the finish line with this council include that it is beyond time, it is past time, it is absolutely the right time for us to act with urgency to make sure that building owners have an opportunity to create an opportunity to prepare for the transition for a just and clean economy and environment.

It is beyond time and is imperative for us to act with urgency on this impactful policies as this is expected to reduce Seattle's carbon emissions by at least 10%.

As you heard, the policy is flexible and equitable.

The city carefully considered how the challenges that might be faced in the future given under resource building owners and those owners serving on the frontline and and and fence line communities.

how we can include them in the creation of this policy.

They included nonprofits and small business owners, as well as housing advocates and low-income housing residents, and incorporated appropriate compliance pathways in this legislation.

The policy incorporates an on-ramp for affordable housing projects and included technical support and resources for affordable housing.

In this legislation, this complements much of what we have put forward in the Jumpstart Progressive Payroll Tax.

And thanks again to the Office of Sustainability and the Environment for leading on the implementation efforts for Jumpstart's Green New Deal funding.

In the 2023 and 2024 biannual budget, We advance funding for under resourced buildings and this policy today compliments the work that has been doing with those jumpstart dollars as we advance our support to support building owners and the residents and community who are surrounding our communities surrounding Seattle and working and living within those buildings.

The city heard from building owners and incorporated extensive pathways to address complexities for distinct building types and situations, and is providing the support needed to comply, including coaching and technical support, as well as $4.5 million in Green New Deal jumpstart funding for capital investments.

And this legislation represents one of the most important things the city can do to tackle our local climate crisis and climate emissions locally.

Again, I'm thankful to be a co-sponsor with Councilmember Herbold and Councilmember Strauss and with our colleagues here today as we advance this legislation and the work that we've already done on Jumpstart's Green New Deal investments.

We are going to be able to even further shore up the resilience of our local community workforce.

our community families, and this policy will strengthen the city's climate response and show local leadership on climate action.

So again, thank you to Council President Juarez, to Council Member Herbold for establishing this committee, for moving forward when others on the legislative branch appeared to be just throwing their hands up.

We worked in partnership with the department and the executive to move forward legislation that this council could act on this year without delay.

Thank you to the Office of Sustainability Environment again for your thorough process.

Again, I want to highlight over 125 stakeholder meetings, advisory group meetings, and webinars over the last year have been held to develop this legislation.

And to the stakeholders, the ones that I'm familiar with at least that have been involved in this process, I want to thank MLK Labor, members of the labor community, housing development consortium, affordable housing providers, climate activists who've been so instrumental in spurring local climate action in Seattle, 350 Seattle, Sierra Club, and many other local climate activists for pushing a just transition and resilient future for Seattle and our planet.

This is one of the biggest moves the city can make to tackle local emissions, and I'm honored to be able to vote for it and act with urgency today.

Thank you, Council.

um chair herbold and all our committee uh colleagues who are interested in advancing this now thank you thank you so much council member mosqueda um council member strauss has joined us and you are joining us in a very very timely moment we are about to vote on the main motion uh the amendment to the legislation having passed and we're giving our closing remarks.

So council member Strauss as a co-sponsor, just wanna check if you have remarks, if you wanna get your thoughts together, I can turn it over to council president and co-chair Juarez.

She's got her hand up, but just wanted to pause as you are a sponsor.

Okay, we'll hear from council president and co-chair of this committee Juarez.

Thank you.

The old saying, age before beauty.

So thank you for that, Madam Chair.

As I shared a little bit, I apologize for my thoughts being a little bit scattered.

But before I start, I really want to thank Yolanda.

Yolanda, your memo was phenomenal.

I'm really going to miss your work.

It's always detailed and thoughtful and intelligent and thorough.

And it was, thank you so much.

And I also want to thank Sandra for her summary and fiscal note.

It I love the wonkiness in there, but I appreciate that you took the time to go to, at least for me, to understand it.

And reading that in conjunction with Yolanda's just was very complimentary on the summary and fiscal note and the central staff memo that Yolanda put together for all of us to completely digest.

I'll be honest with you, Director Farrell, I did not read your whole director's report, but I did try to read the executive section.

But two huge thank yous.

First of all, to...

MADAM CHAIR HERBOLT, WHO I WAS LOOKING AT OUR NOTES BACK IN THE FALL, AND DIRECTOR FERRELL, MY NOTES WITH YOU BACK IN JULY AND AUGUST, AND REALLY STEPPING UP, COUNCILMEMBER HERBOLT, AND TAKING THIS, AND THIS HAS BEEN UNDER YOUR STEAM.

I WAS VERY PROUD TO WORK WITH YOU SHOULDER TO SHOULDER AND OF COURSE WITH DIRECTOR FERRELL TO MOVE THIS FORWARD.

AND LIKE I SAID, I WAS LOOKING AT THE CHRONOLOGY OF THIS GOING BACK TO 1992. 2000, 2011, 2019, 2020, 2021. We did the Seattle Energy Code right up until 2023 with the SEPA analysis and, of course, on Director Farrell's report.

So as the chair was saying, at some point, you know, you got to quit being outraged and angry and, you know, just being reactive and actually put ink to paper and do something.

And that's what we're doing today.

And we could not have done that without the leadership of Council Member Herbold and Justin Farrell.

And I really appreciate that, say representative, but Director Farrell, I also appreciated the work that you did in the state legislature regarding this well before AOC screamed out about the New Deal, the Green New Deal.

This was something that I know that was near and dear to your heart, at least when I had conversations with you back in, I think, 2015 or 16. So I wanna thank you for that.

You probably don't even remember those conversations, but I remember that when I was running for office the first time.

So I wanna thank you for that.

JoAnne Hanrahan, I will be supporting all of this, I know there's more to come and i'm I didn't mean to like be to to um I just wanted to let.

JoAnne Hanrahan, Madeline know I didn't want to be like put you on the spot, but I just wanted to raise the issue that we are going to have to deal with.

JoAnne Hanrahan, When we do go to electrification with Seattle city light in our neighboring cities about the potential of damn removal and what that's going to do to our grid in our energy and costs.

but I'm sure that's on everybody's mind.

And so with that, I also want to thank Council Member Herbold and Council Member Strauss for stepping up and co-sponsoring this.

And we should have this in front of full council and I will be supporting it then as well.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Council President Juarez.

It was a lot of fun strategizing with you and OSC and the mayor's office when we saw that there was a narrow window of time that we could act in.

So that was really fun and it will be a strong memory of my time here at the council.

Thank you.

Any other comments before we call the vote?

Just making sure that the other co-sponsor of this legislation does not want to offer a comment.

Not hearing any.

I will just offer some closing comments per our usual standard of giving a lot of thanks.

But first, I want to just again note that this is a critical step forward.

There's so much more to do.

As noted in the director's report, the BEPS policy in combination with city and state policies gets Seattle about halfway towards net zero.

The remaining cumulative emissions will need to be obtained from future policies that address non-residential and multifamily buildings smaller than 20,000 square feet and the single-family sector beyond those that will already be addressed by the existing residential heating oil conversion program, the Seattle Clean Heat Program.

I look forward to next year's council working collaboratively collaboratively with the Seattle Blue Green Coalition and building owners who have made this legislation possible and using the momentum and partnership created by this policy to take those critical next steps.

My closing thank yous, of course, to the Office of Sustainability for your year's work on this policy, which is just a number of policies that you have worked on.

Thank you to the director, the OSC Director Farrell and Sandra Mallory and others from OSC.

Thank you as well to, of course, Mayor Harrell for proposing this legislation and Krista Valles of the Mayor's Office for your collaborative work.

um to develop the proposal thank you of course to my council colleagues for agreeing to meet after budget when it again is usually a downtime before the holidays but um you know i just i'm so gratified that everybody agreed given this was a consensus piece of legislation to um to push through and get this done this year and again thank you to yolanda ho of council central staff and central staff director Mr. Handy, for your work on this.

And, of course, thank you to everyone who's testified on behalf of this legislation or attended the many, many stakeholder meetings that led to its development.

Council Member Strauss, take us out.

Thank you, Chair, and apologies for stealing the last word here.

I'm here with Council Member Morales representing the City of Seattle at the Association of Washington Cities, stepping out from the conference to vote on this incredibly important legislation.

And we are just very excited to vote.

And I see Council Member Morales joining the meeting right now as well.

Fantastic, thank you.

Did I hear you correctly that Council Member Morales is going to be joining us as well?

She is joining us as we speak.

Okay.

Let's see.

We'll just take a pause for the cause then because we want everybody who wants to vote on this to vote on it.

Well, this is kind of historic.

We've never taken a pause in a way.

This is actually very exciting, Council Member Herbal.

I think, you know, I think everybody wants a piece of this.

So, and I facilitate that if I can.

Where's cancer for a mosquito when we need her?

Oh, right.

Our great.

I hear.

Come on, girl.

Where's the kiddos?

Come on.

Let's have some more.

Thanks to give.

Oh, I thought you wanted me to like bust out a pun or a joke.

My daughter's good at that these days.

She's been holding court with her.

Little joke.

She's telling jokes.

That's a fun stage of development.

The expression of a sense of humor.

Just for IT, I know that Council Member Morales is in the waiting room.

There she is.

Let her in.

Nothing to say.

Thank you all.

Absolutely.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Strauss.

I appreciate your letting us know that Council Member Morales is on her way.

And Council Member Morales, welcome.

We are about to- Thank you.

Absolutely.

We're about to call the vote.

But just don't want to, if there are additional comments to be made, happy to hear them.

No, I appreciate the opportunity to be here and we can proceed.

Thank you very much.

Absolutely.

Thank you so much.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Lewis.

Yes.

Council Member Morales.

Yes.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Aye.

Council Member Peterson.

Yes.

Council Member Strauss.

Yes.

Vice Chair and Council President Juarez.

I was going to abstain, but yes.

Chair Herbold.

Yes.

Seven yes.

Fantastic.

The motion carries, it's adopted with the unanimous support and it moves on to the city council meeting on the December 12th city council meeting, the last one of the year.

So that is really exciting.

And just the last word, again, council rules for select committees allow for consideration of legislation at the next council meeting.

So we're gonna do that and really appreciate everybody's time here today.

And with that, this is the final meeting of the 2023 Select Committee on Climate Action.

Before we adjourn, just checking to make sure there are no additional comments.

Councilman Mosqueda, is that a joke?

Are you joking?

I'm just delayed on my thank yous.

Again, I want to thank you for hosting this.

And because this might be the last committee meeting where I get to thank you as a chair of this committee and vice chair, being the council president, thank you both for your leadership on this.

And it's been wonderful to work with you.

I'm excited that this is getting moved to full council on the 12th.

And I know we have one more land use committee meeting.

I think Councilman Rostros left, but...

I will see the rescue and land use tomorrow, but thanks again for all your work throughout the years.

Thank you.

All right.

Thanks so much.

The time is 10 51 AM and we are adjourned.

Thank you.

Thank you.