81R12075 TRH-D
By: Farrar H.B. No. 4086
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to energy efficiency in newly constructed buildings.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 388.003, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by amending Subsections (a) and (b) and adding Subsection
(b-4) to read as follows:
(a) To achieve energy conservation in single-family
residential construction, the energy efficiency chapter of the
International Residential Code, as it existed on January 1, 2009
[May 1, 2001], is adopted as the energy code in this state for
single-family residential construction.
(b) To achieve energy conservation in all other
residential, commercial, and industrial construction, the
International Energy Conservation Code as it existed on January 1,
2009 [May 1, 2001], is adopted as the energy code for use in this
state for all other residential, commercial, and industrial
construction.
(b-4) The State Energy Conservation Office shall:
(1) not later than the 180th day before the date a new
edition of the International Residential Code or International
Energy Conservation Code is scheduled to be published, and in
cooperation with the laboratory, the Public Utility Commission of
Texas, and interested persons under Subsection (b-2), identify a
list of energy code improvements anticipated to be contained in the
new edition and develop market transformation programs to train
builders, architects, and tradesmen to meet the anticipated code
improvements; and
(2) identify additional energy efficiency measures,
technologies, and practices that have the potential to
significantly reduce energy use in buildings.
SECTION 2. Section 388.003(b-1), Health and Safety Code, as
added by Chapters 262 (S.B. 12) and 939 (H.B. 3693), Acts of the
80th Legislature, Regular Session, 2007, is reenacted and amended
to read as follows:
(b-1) If the State Energy Conservation Office determines,
based on written recommendations from the laboratory, that the
latest published edition of the International Residential Code
energy efficiency provisions or the latest published edition of the
International Energy Conservation Code will result in residential
or commercial energy efficiency and air quality that is equivalent
to or better than the energy efficiency and air quality achievable
under the editions adopted under Subsection (a) or (b), the office
shall [may] by rule adopt the equivalent or more stringent editions
and substitute them for the energy codes described by Subsection
(a) or (b). The rule, if adopted, shall establish an effective
date for the new energy codes but not earlier than nine months after
the date of adoption. The laboratory shall make its
recommendations not later than six months after publication of new
editions at the end of each three-year code development cycle of the
International Residential Code and the International Energy
Conservation Code.
SECTION 3. Section 39.905, Utilities Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (d-1) to read as follows:
(d-1) In addition to the market-transformation programs
described by Subsection (d), the commission shall establish, and
each utility shall implement, market-transformation incentive
programs that:
(1) encourage the use of new building technologies and
construction practices that are anticipated to be included in a new
edition of the International Residential Code or International
Energy Conservation Code;
(2) offer incentives for a building that exceeds by at
least 15 percent the energy conservation standards of the most
current edition of the International Residential Code or
International Energy Conservation Code;
(3) offer increased incentives for a building that
exceeds by at least 30 percent the energy conservation standards of
the most current edition of the International Residential Code or
International Energy Conservation Code; and
(4) encourage the testing of new building technologies
and construction practices that:
(A) have significant potential to reduce
building energy use by 50 percent or more within 10 years of the
date the incentive is given; and
(B) integrate renewable energy into building
designs.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.