House Environment Committee approves moratorium on changes to state energy-related building code

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The Rhode Island House Committee on Environment and Natural Resources voted unanimously March 27 to pass bill 5846, a measure that places a moratorium on changing the state's energy-related building code and sends the bill to the full House for consideration.

Committee Chairman Bennett opened the meeting and identified bill 5846 as "a bill by Representative Corfran, state building code." Representative Corfran moved to pass the bill; after brief discussion, the committee conducted a roll-call vote and reported the measure out to the House floor.

Supporters and committee members said the moratorium is intended to pause automatic adoption of updates tied to outside model codes while the Legislature considers whether to accept future changes. Representative Corfran explained that builders and "DVR" had been supportive because incorporating each new international change requires review by state agencies and can be time-consuming. The sponsor described the bill as "put[ting] a moratorium on changing the energy codes." (Paraphrase of sponsor's explanation.)

Some members said the pause reflects concern about ceding control to external model-code bodies. Representative Kislak said the arrangement of tying Rhode Island's law to an international standard creates a risk that the state could be forced to follow changes it cannot control; Kislak said that while the state can use external codes as persuasive authority, tying the law to them had created the need for this bill to "untie" the state code from those outside sources.

Representative Santucci told the committee she had heard from external technical contacts that "once they adopt their standards, the states have 90 days to approve that," and said the 2021 code had been "very, very difficult and more expensive," while the 2024 code, according to those contacts, "provides more choice and flexibility specific to Zone 5, which is where we are in New England." Santucci said that some in the building industry view the 2024 changes as more efficient and less costly in this climate zone.

Committee members also noted that environmental groups were part of the previous adoption agreement and that one witness who testified at the public hearing (identified in committee discussion as "Tina") had expressed concerns at that hearing. The sponsor and other members said the bill does not permanently prevent adoption of future changes; it places the burden on the Legislature to act if it wants to adopt a future update rather than allowing automatic incorporation.

After brief remarks the committee took a roll-call vote. All members present voted in favor and the chair announced that the bill "passes" and will go to the House floor for further consideration.

The committee did not set an effective date in the hearing; the bill passed committee and will advance through the normal legislative process on the House calendar.