Building Codes Assistance Project

On January 28, the United States House of Representatives passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (H.R. 1), which includes $3.4 billion in energy assistance grants for states that adopt and administer the national model building energy codes. The bill requires governors who want a share of the energy assistance grants to certify that their state, or the applicable units of local government that have authority to adopt building codes, will implement the following:

• A building energy code for residential buildings that meets or exceeds the most recently published International Energy Conservation Code (IECC);
• A building energy code for commercial buildings throughout
  the state that meets or exceeds the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2007; AND
• A plan to achieve compliance with their certified energy codes within eight years in at least 90% of new and renovated residential and commercial building space, including active training and enforcement programs and measurement of the rate of compliance each year.

H.R. 1 also includes other provisions regarding state regulatory authority over utilities and prioritizing the grants toward funding energy efficiency and renewable energy programs.

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For more details, view Section 7006 (the second-to-last of the bill) and the summary of H.R. 1 on the Thomas website of the Library of Congress.