(1) The secretary shall recognize the United States Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design green building rating system or two, three or four Green Globes under the Green Building Initiative's Green Globes green building rating system as high-performance building standards and the department shall use the standards in the administration of this article.

(2) The secretary may recognize other high-performance building standards, in addition to those under paragraph (1), that meet or exceed the standards outlined under paragraph (1).

(3) The department shall use only the recognized standards provided for in this section in the administration of this article.

(4) Prior to recognizing a high-performance building standard under paragraph (2), the secretary shall transmit notice to the Legislative Reference Bureau for publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin and on the department's publicly accessible Internet website 90 days prior to recognizing the new standard.

(1) A school entity that utilizes the high-performance building standards for a project under subsection (a) and satisfies the requirement under paragraph (2) shall receive a 10% increase above the amount calculated under section 2606-J.¹

(2) For a school entity to receive the reimbursement incentive for a project under paragraph (1), the school entity must provide the department with a projection showing a positive return on investment over the building's lifetime for utilizing the high-performance building standards when compared to regular construction practices.

(3) The department shall develop standards and a process, in coordination with the application process in section 2602-J,² for awarding an enhanced reimbursement for compliance with high-performance building standards.