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| 4 | 4 | | |
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| 5 | 5 | | 2025 -- S 0631 |
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| 7 | 7 | | LC002239 |
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| 8 | 8 | | ======== |
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| 9 | 9 | | S T A T E O F R H O D E I S L A N D |
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| 10 | 10 | | IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 11 | 11 | | JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2025 |
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| 12 | 12 | | ____________ |
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| 13 | 13 | | |
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| 14 | 14 | | A N A C T |
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| 15 | 15 | | RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY -- STATE BUILDING CODE |
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| 16 | 16 | | Introduced By: Senators Gu, and Bissaillon |
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| 17 | 17 | | Date Introduced: March 07, 2025 |
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| 18 | 18 | | Referred To: Senate Commerce |
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| 19 | 19 | | |
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| 20 | 20 | | |
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| 21 | 21 | | It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: |
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| 22 | 22 | | SECTION 1. Section 23-27.3-100.1.5.4 of the General Laws in Chapter 23-27.3 entitled 1 |
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| 23 | 23 | | "State Building Code" is hereby amended to read as follows: 2 |
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| 24 | 24 | | 23-27.3-100.1.5.4. State energy conservation code. 3 |
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| 25 | 25 | | (a) The state building code standards committee (“committee”) shall adopt an energy 4 |
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| 26 | 26 | | conservation code that shall be based on appropriate nationally and internationally recognized 5 |
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| 27 | 27 | | models, and shall promulgate and administer the energy conservation code. The energy 6 |
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| 28 | 28 | | conservation code shall contain provisions pertaining to, but not limited to, the construction of 7 |
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| 29 | 29 | | buildings, the use of renewable energy resources in buildings, the efficient use of energy within 8 |
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| 30 | 30 | | buildings, and the orientation of buildings on their sites. The state energy conservation code shall 9 |
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| 31 | 31 | | at a minimum: 10 |
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| 32 | 32 | | (1) For residential or commercial buildings, meet or exceed the most recently published 11 |
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| 33 | 33 | | International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), or achieve equivalent or greater energy savings. 12 |
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| 34 | 34 | | The state building code standards committee shall revise the state energy conservation code to 13 |
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| 35 | 35 | | comply with this requirement within one year of any update to the International Energy 14 |
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| 36 | 36 | | Conservation Code; provided, however, that the 2021 IECC published by the International Code 15 |
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| 37 | 37 | | Council shall not be adopted and the 2024 IECC published by the International Code Council shall 16 |
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| 38 | 38 | | be adopted within (3) three months of its release; and provided further that, future versions of the 17 |
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| 39 | 39 | | IECC published by the International Code Council between 2025-2029 shall only be adopted by 18 |
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| 40 | 40 | | the state building code standards committee upon a state department of business regulation 19 |
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| 41 | 41 | | |
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| 42 | 42 | | |
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| 43 | 43 | | LC002239 - Page 2 of 3 |
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| 44 | 44 | | determination, in conjunction with the state building code standards committee, that the particular 1 |
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| 45 | 45 | | version of the IECC is more energy efficient that the version then in use in the state. The department 2 |
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| 46 | 46 | | of business regulation shall make the determination within three (3) months of the release of any 3 |
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| 47 | 47 | | update to the IECC between 2025-2029. 4 |
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| 48 | 48 | | (2) Within one year of the release of the 2024 International Energy Conservation Code, the 5 |
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| 49 | 49 | | state building code standards committee shall revise the state energy conservation code to meet or 6 |
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| 50 | 50 | | exceed the 2024 International Energy Conservation Code’s electric readiness provisions. 7 |
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| 51 | 51 | | (b) No later than six (6) months after the adoption of the building code(s) described in 8 |
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| 52 | 52 | | subsection (a) of this section, the state building code standards committee shall develop a plan to 9 |
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| 53 | 53 | | achieve compliance with the building code(s) described in subsection (a) of this section in at least 10 |
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| 54 | 54 | | ninety percent (90%) of new and renovated residential and commercial building space in the state. 11 |
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| 55 | 55 | | Such plan shall include active training and enforcement programs and measurement of the rate of 12 |
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| 56 | 56 | | compliance each year. 13 |
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| 57 | 57 | | SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage. 14 |
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| 58 | 58 | | ======== |
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| 59 | 59 | | LC002239 |
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| 60 | 60 | | ======== |
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| 61 | 61 | | |
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| 62 | 62 | | |
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| 63 | 63 | | LC002239 - Page 3 of 3 |
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| 64 | 64 | | EXPLANATION |
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| 65 | 65 | | BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL |
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| 66 | 66 | | OF |
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| 67 | 67 | | A N A C T |
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| 68 | 68 | | RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY -- STATE BUILDING CODE |
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| 69 | 69 | | *** |
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| 70 | 70 | | This act would establish a moratorium on changes to the state energy conservation code 1 |
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| 71 | 71 | | from the 2024 International Energy Conservation Code until January 1, 2030, unless approved by 2 |
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| 72 | 72 | | the legislature and made effective by the governor. 3 |
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| 73 | 73 | | This act would take effect upon passage. 4 |
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| 74 | 74 | | ======== |
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| 75 | 75 | | LC002239 |
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