The natural gas initiative Washington voters approved calls for erasing some of the state’s building codes but that might not happen when the measure takes effect next month.
Sponsors of Initiative 2066 contend that upon certification of the election results on Dec. 5, changes made to the energy code earlier this year will be unenforceable. Those changes offer builders permitting incentives for choosing electric heat pumps – which provide both heating and cooling in the same unit – instead of natural gas furnaces.
On Friday, the Building Industry Association of Washington pressed the state Building Code Council to avoid a legal challenge by making clear it would immediately ditch the rules and begin rewriting them. But the panel declined to do what the association asked as council members voiced concern about the consequences of moving too fast.
“We need to address it. I don’t think there’s an emergency,” said Roger Heeringa, a council member. “If we act before Dec. 5 we’re going to get sued. If we act after Dec. 5 we’re going to get sued. We need to figure out what’s the right thing for us to do.”
The council may meet at least once more before the election results are certified. Members said they want to talk with the panel’s attorneys to better understand the consequences of the measure’s passage.
“We’ve had an election. [Voters] have spoken,” Patrick Hanks, the Building Industry Association of Washington’s policy and research manager said at Friday’s meeting. “Our view is that the [codes] will be illegal to enforce.”
In a statement released after the meeting, BIAW Executive Vice President Greg Lane said the expectation is the council will “act swiftly to ensure energy codes reflect the will of voters and the law. If the Council fails to act, BIAW is prepared to pursue legal action to enforce full compliance with I-2066.”
An initiative foe applauded the council’s display of patience.
“It makes sense the council is taking time to deliberate, and we are glad they are not making hurried decisions that would have huge ramifications for energy efficiency and, therefore, home energy costs and pollution,” said Leah Missik, the Washington deputy policy director for Climate Solutions, a leading voice in the No on 2066 coalition.
Battle lines
Initiative 2066 targets the state’s combination of regulations and laws to move swiftly away from natural gas toward technology like electric heat pumps. It was passing with 51.7 percent of the statewide vote on Friday.
It would undo changes to the energy code approved by the state Building Code Council that went into effect in March.
It also would repeal provisions in a state law, House Bill 1589, intended to accelerate Puget Sound Energy’s transition away from natural gas. The measure, which is 21 pages long, requires utilities and local governments to provide natural gas to eligible customers. And it prevents approval of utility rate plans that end or restrict access to natural gas, or make it too costly.
Opponents contend Initiative 2066 will be invalidated by the courts because it violates a provision in the state constitution that limits the content of citizen initiatives to a single subject. They argue it deals with at least two different subjects – the law concerning future planning by Puget Sound Energy and the array of changes to the state energy code.
Lane has said the measure was carefully crafted with such a challenge in mind and that every section addresses protecting the choice to access and use natural gas.
In Friday’s meeting of the Building Code Council, members debated the merits of the measure and some disputed the need to rewrite the rules with its passage.
“We haven’t determined as a council that there is even a conflict,” said member Angela Haupt, a plan review supervisor for the city of Kirkland.
Kjell Anderson, chair of the technical advisory group that wrote the energy codes, argued the initiative’s premise that the regulations now incentivize electric heat pumps over natural gas is wrong.
“It is about energy efficiency. It is not about preference for gas or electricity,” he said. “I don’t see why 2066 would affect the energy code as we have it.”
Hanks said the voters’ pamphlet contains analyses by the Office of the Attorney General and Office of Financial Management that conclude the council will need to amend various energy and building codes that limit the use of natural gas.
If the council wants to keep the fate of the energy codes in its hands, it should immediately begin the emergency rulemaking process, he said.
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