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Commission considers elevating building codes and benchmarking among top legislative priorities
Summary
Commissioners discussed which three legislative priorities to submit by August 1, including commercial benchmarking, virtual power plant measures and corporate climate disclosures; several members urged elevating building codes and building-performance standards given recent state activity.
The commission began narrowing its top three legislative priorities for the coming session. Chair Cindy Lewin reminded members the commission previously submitted three priorities and must refine them by August 1. The items under discussion included commercial benchmarking, policies to enable virtual power plant (VPP) activity and voluntary corporate climate disclosures.
Several members argued building codes and building-performance standards should be elevated this year. David said stronger codes produce larger emissions and economic benefits over building lifetimes; others noted the U.S. Department of Energy’s recent review of the 2024 International Energy Conservation Code and the political context in Richmond. Elizabeth recommended reframing VPP-related asks to reflect recent General Assembly action and to consider data-center energy surcharges as a potential funding source for distributed energy resources. Commissioners agreed to continue refining language and return with a finalized list in July.
