ASHRAE Government Affairs Mission Statement:
To establish ASHRAE as a leading source for expertise in the built environment and a resource for policy-makers in the development of legislation and regulations affecting the public, the HVAC&R community, and the engineering profession.
To learn more: https://www.ashrae.org/about/government-affairs
Each ASHRAE year (July 1 – June 30), our Cleveland Chapter establishes a Government Affairs Committee (GAC) chairperson. It is also a goal to have two or three additional committee members. The focus of the committee is to engage and interface with local and state government and building code officials. This can be accomplished by visits to council meetings, individual meetings with government officials, visiting our State Legislature, or providing guidance on a HVAC&R topic by writing a letter or explaining an ASHRAE Standard to a government official.
Each year the Cleveland chapter GAC establishes a list of goals known as Management by Objective (MBO) goals. These help to drive our local chapter involvement with government agencies and policy makers. Examples of previous MBOs have been: establish a database of local code officials, host building code officials at a chapter meeting, or publish GAC activities in our local newsletter.
On a larger perspective, the ASHRAE Society level GAC issues a bi-weekly update known as the Government Affairs Update (GAU) (https://www.ashrae.org/about/government-affairs/government-affairs-updates). The GAU is a resource for ASHRAE members, as well as those interested in the built environment, to stay informed about actions across all levels of government concerning the HVAC&R community, the engineering profession, and sustainable and resilient development.
The bimonthly update from ASHRAE’s Government Affairs department also highlights ASHRAE member involvement with the government.
If you or your ASHRAE chapter would like to highlight a specific issue or participation in local meetings with government officials in a future GAU, please share those stories at (GovAffairs@ashrae.org.)
If you would like to assist with our Cleveland Chapter GAC efforts, please contact our current GAC Chair.
If you have activities with government officials, please provide this information to our Cleveland Chapter GAC Chair.