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Friday, April 10, 2009

Austin Legislature is "Green" this year - Bluebonnets are Out!

Yesterday I was in Austin (1) covering the national hurricane convention and (2) speaking on behalf of our company in favor of the Green School bill HB3149.

Good news. The wildflowers are out and looked great. And there appears to be a lot of momentum in this legislature to pass some green legislation. I was impressed with the subcommittee holding hearings on HB 3149. They had ZERO negative comments and only one neutral. The rest were positive.

Being against green anyway these days is akin to being against God, Mom and Apple Pie. And for good reason. The less energy we use the better off our pocketbooks will be. Bluebonnets are great but saving money on utilities that all of us have to pay is even better.

My comments to the committee were focused on getting a "2-fer" - both energy savings AND security -- from explosions, hurricane-force winds, vandals and even hail. Another problem: Schools are used as emergency shelters but how can you "Shelter in Place" with glass flying all over the place from a wind-borne debris strike?

I discovered that Austin had a big hail storm a few weeks ago that took out windows left and right in the section of town it hit.

We have a considerable backlog of buildings to do already. And more in the pipeline. Hurricane season starts June 1. Few are prepared.

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