This month the state of New York enacted the State Green Building Construction Act when Governor David A. Patterson signed the legislation, which was voted on this past June. This new law mandates that all new government-owned buildings and facilities must meet strict green building guidelines; this goes for major renovations as well. The state's Office of General Services (OGS) will be responsible for drafting new green building standards for these buildings.
The OGS has actually been active in green building construction over the past five years by adhering to LEED status for all of its projects. The office also has 31 LEED-accredited designers and assigns one to each of its new projects. Considering that many states and cities across the nation have already enacted similar legislation, including the country's largest 40 cities, this may seem like old news.
However, what is becoming quite clear is that going green is no longer a fringe or even partisan issue. The real story is how the vote for the New York State Green Building Construction Act went down. It was soundly bipartisan—the final vote in the Assembly was unanimous (139-0) and nearly unanimous in the New York State Senate (55-2).
Politics today is polarized, especially in the federal government. It is rare to see any kind of compromise, regardless of the purpose. So when you see this kind of vote in the New York State legislature, which is not immune to disfunction, a bigger picture begins to emerge. Politicians must find it difficult to go home and tell their families, "Sorry, I didn't vote for greener and healthier buildings today." This goes beyond politics and the status quo of "no." It means that the message of environmental sensitvity is breaking through at all levels of goverment. What were the two who didn't vote for this bill thinking?
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10/02/09 @ 15:07 
