80R2254 PAM-D

By: Burnam H.B. No. 3338

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to building code standards for energy efficiency performance.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Sections 388.003(a), (b), (e), and (f), Health and Safety Code, are amended 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 May 1, 2006 [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 May 1, 2006 [2001], is adopted as the energy code for use in this state for all other residential, commercial, and industrial construction.

(e) Local amendments may not result in [less stringent] energy efficiency requirements in nonattainment areas and in affected counties that are less stringent, by 15 percent or more, than the annual energy baseline requirements established by [than] the energy efficiency chapter of the International Residential Code or International Energy Conservation Code as that chapter existed in those codes on May 1, 2003. Local amendments must comply with the National Appliance Energy Conservation Act of 1987 (42 U.S.C. Sections 6291-6309), as amended. The laboratory, at the request of a municipality or county, shall determine the relative impact of proposed local amendments to an energy code, including whether proposed amendments are substantially equal to or less stringent than the unamended code. For the purpose of establishing uniform requirements throughout a region, and on request of a council of governments, a county, or a municipality, the laboratory may recommend a climatically appropriate modification or a climate zone designation for a county or group of counties that is different from the climate zone designation in the unamended code. The laboratory shall:

(1) report its findings to the council, county, or municipality, including an estimate of any energy savings potential above the base code from local amendments; and

(2) annually submit a report to the commission:

(A) identifying the municipalities and counties whose codes are more stringent than the unamended code, and whose codes are equally stringent or less stringent than the unamended code; and

(B) quantifying energy savings and emissions reductions from this program.

(f) Each municipality, and each county that has established procedures under Subsection (d), shall periodically review and consider revisions made by the International Code Council to the International Energy Conservation Code and the energy efficiency chapter of the International Residential Code adopted after May 1, 2003 [2001].

SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only to construction that begins under a contract made on or after January 1, 2008, or that begins, in the absence of a contract, on or after that date. Construction that begins under a contract made before January 1, 2008, or that begins, in the absence of a contract, before that date is governed by the law in effect when the contract was made or the activity began, as appropriate, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2007.