S 3032Energy Efficiency

Health and Safety - State Building Code

This bill mandates the adoption of 2024 energy building standards and freezes any changes to them until 2031.

Held for study

Population
Affected

Introduced Mar 5, 2026Committee Senate Housing & Municipal Government

Plain-English Summary

This legislation amends the Rhode Island State Building Code regarding energy conservation standards. It specifically blocks the adoption of the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) and mandates the adoption of the 2024 IECC within three months of its publication. Additionally, the bill establishes a moratorium preventing the state from adopting or enforcing any changes to the energy conservation code that differ from the 2024 IECC until January 1, 2031. Exceptions to this freeze are allowed only if approved by the General Assembly and the Governor. The bill also requires compliance with electric readiness provisions.

For younger readers

This law changes the rules for how buildings are built to help save energy. Instead of using an older set of rules from 2021, the state will wait for the new 2024 rules to come out and use those. Once the state starts using the 2024 rules, the government is not allowed to change them again until the year 2031. This means that for several years, builders will have the same instructions to follow without worrying about the rules changing, unless the state leaders decide to make a special exception.

Who & Where It Applies

Impacted groups

Construction CompaniesReal Estate DevelopersArchitectsHomeownersCommercial Property Owners

Impacted communities

All

Constitutional & Fiscal Check

None Likely

Estimated cost

None

Estimated revenue

None

Bill Analysis

Both viewpoints

For Progressives

Mandates the adoption of the 2024 International Energy Conservation Code, ensuring that Rhode Island buildings meet modern efficiency standards which helps reduce overall energy consumption and carbon emissions.
Requires the code to meet or exceed electric readiness provisions, which facilitates the transition away from fossil fuels and supports the infrastructure needed for green technology in homes and businesses.
Directs the building code committee to develop a plan achieving 90% compliance with new codes, ensuring that environmental standards are not just written but actively enforced and followed.
Implements a long-term moratorium until 2031 that prevents the state from adopting stricter energy standards during that period, potentially hindering Rhode Island's ability to respond quickly to the climate crisis with more aggressive regulations.
Removes the authority of the expert-led building code committee to improve standards during the freeze, requiring legislative approval for updates which introduces political hurdles to necessary environmental reforms.
Explicitly rejects the 2021 IECC, which could leave a regulatory gap or delay efficiency improvements if the release of the 2024 code is delayed or legally challenged.

For Conservatives

Establishes a moratorium on code changes until 2031, providing significant regulatory certainty and stability for construction businesses and developers who struggle with constantly shifting rules.
Checks the power of an unelected administrative committee by preventing them from unilaterally imposing new or stricter mandates on the housing market without the approval of elected officials.
Blocks the adoption of the 2021 IECC, preventing immediate compliance costs associated with that specific iteration of the code.
Mandates "electric readiness," which can be viewed as the government forcing the market toward electrification and limiting consumer choice regarding the use of natural gas or other fuel sources.
Automatically binds Rhode Island law to international standards (IECC) created by external organizations, effectively outsourcing state legislative sovereignty on building practices.
Requires the adoption of the 2024 code within a very short three-month window of its release, potentially burdening businesses with a rushed implementation timeline.

Votes

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Full Bill Text

Changes to existing Rhode Island law · 7 additions · 1 deletion

SECTION 1. Section 23-27.3-100.1.5.4 of the General Laws in Chapter 23-27.3 entitled "State Building Code" is hereby amended to read as follows: 23-27.3-100.1.5.4. State energy conservation code.

(a) The state building code standards committee (“committee”) shall adopt an energy conservation code that shall be based on appropriate nationally and internationally recognized models, and shall promulgate and administer the energy conservation code. The energy conservation code shall contain provisions pertaining to, but not limited to, the construction of buildings, the use of renewable energy resources in buildings, the efficient use of energy within buildings, and the orientation of buildings on their sites. The state energy conservation code shall at a minimum:

(1) For residential or commercial buildings, meet or exceed the most recently published International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), or achieve equivalent or greater energy savings. The state building code standards committee shall revise the state energy conservation code to comply with this requirement within one year of any update to the International Energy Conservation Code; provided, however, that the 2021 IECC published by the International Code Council shall not be adopted and the 2024 IECC published by the International Code Council shall be adopted within (3) three months of its release.; and further, provided, that a moratorium on changes to the state energy conservation code from the 2024 IECC shall be in effect until January 1, 2031, during which period the state building code standards committee shall not adopt, and the state building office shall not enforce, any changes to the state energy conservation code that deviate from the 2024 IECC, unless otherwise approved by the general assembly and made effective by the governor.

(2) Within one year of the release of the 2024 International Energy Conservation Code, the state building code standards committee shall revise the state energy conservation code to meet or exceed the 2024 International Energy Conservation Code’s electric readiness provisions.

(b) No later than six (6) months after the adoption of the building code(s) described in subsection (a) of this section, the state building code standards committee shall develop a plan to achieve compliance with the building code(s) described in subsection (a) of this section in at least ninety percent (90%) of new and renovated residential and commercial building space in the state. Such plan shall include active training and enforcement programs and measurement of the rate of compliance each year.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.