Grassroots Government Advocacy (GGAC)

Who We Are - The GGAC committee was created to allow Society and its local chapters to engage with elected and appointed officials at the State and Federal level to provide advocacy and support of sustainable practices, supportive legislation, and educational updates of tested and proven industry standards. Our goal is to inform decision-makers how their choices will ultimately impact sustainable built environments, our society, local industries, and forever shape the landscape of tomorrow through the policies, laws and regulations that are implemented today. We are not lobbyists, rather we are offering our remembers and our resources to serve as industry experts to provide information to the various government agencies when they have a defined need.

Our Government Outreach Day on March 12, the event was a huge success!  This was our sixth consecutive year to hold this event, formerly known as the Day on the Hill.  We had 11 people from the NEOK chapter attend this year. Four of those people were also first timers, which was great.

As a chapter, we met with 16 different legislators. During those meetings, we introduced them to who ASHRAE is as a society and how we could be a resource to them whenever relevant pieces of legislation cross their desk or came up for vote.  Overall, everyone was very receptive to us and appreciated now having ASHRAE as a resource.

One of the major topics we covered with each legislator was the current state of the Energy Code in Oklahoma.  As most of you know, Oklahoma has adopted six of the seven ICC codes for the 2015 year.  These six codes all move and update together as a group.  The seventh code that has not been adopted to move with the rest is the International Energy Conservation Code.  Currently Oklahoma is back at the 2006 IECC, because at one point it was not deemed a “building” code.  We spoke with each legislator about this and asked for their help in creating legislation that would move the IECC into the same group as the other six ICC code adoption cycles.  The vast majority of the legislators were not aware that our energy code was so outdated and seemed very eager to help us.  Several offered their assistance and knowledge in the process and offered to be a sponsor of the legislation and partner with their legal team and us to draft official language for next session.  That is a huge success!

To everyone who could not make it, but wanted to attend – we hope to have you along next year.It is a great time to visit the capitol and interact with your legislator.The whole governmental process seems smaller and more tangible knowing you can walk in a representative or senator’s office and sit down to chat with them.

Last updated: 05/6/19