Dive brief:
- Voting along party lines, members of the Wisconsin Senate Rules Committee blocked a proposal to update the commercial building code which proponents said would reduce emissions, improve safety, save energy and lower insurance costs.
- Calling the proposed upgrade “arbitrary and capricious,” GOP lawmakers who voted against the proposal said an economic impact analysis failed to adequately determine whether the upgrade will increase costs for businesses and local governments.
- The update, which was recommended by the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services, would have brought the state in line with the International Code Council’s 2021 standards, including the International Energy Conservation Code.
Diving knowledge:
The proposal, Clearinghouse Rule 23-007in order to update the chapter SPS 361-366 of the state’s commercial building code for existing buildings to ensure that commercial codes are consistent with “dynamic and contemporary regional and national building and fire prevention practices and standards.” The proposed changes address administrative procedures, electrical systems, elevators, escalators, elevator devices, gas systems, boilers and pressure vessels, plumbing, historic building cleaning methods, and solar energy systems.
“There are a lot of variables that come into play” that make it difficult to attribute cost increases directly to the building code, said Michael Tierney, DSPS legislative liaison. he said at a July 18 hearing. Insurance costs for building owners could increase if the new code is not adopted, Tierney said.
Enacting codes that match the 2021 ICC standards could generate millions of dollars in savings, according to a economic impact analysis conducted by the Wisconsin Department of Administration. As part of that analysis, Polyisocyanurate Insulation Manufacturers Association President Justin Koscher pointed to the potential for up to 30 percent statewide energy savings, which would catalyze a cost savings of about $170 million by 2030. “Updating the codes would result in energy savings, monetary savings, more resilient towns and cities, more jobs and putting money back in consumers’ pockets,” Koscher said in the statement.
“Updating Wisconsin’s building code is critical to reducing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions associated with commercial building energy use,” said Eric Kanter, director of relations government officials from the environmental advocacy group Clean Wisconsin, in a statement presented July 18 to the Senate Housing Committee. , Rural and Forestry Affairs and the Housing and Real Estate Assembly Commission. Updating the code from the 2018 standards to the 2021 version of the IECC could lead to a reduction of 5.27 million metric tons of carbon dioxide and about 436 metric tons of methane emissions over the next 30 years, Kanter said. Wisconsin’s current code follows the 2015 standards. So aligning with the 2021 version could double those reductions, Kanter suggested.
During that hearing, opposition to the code update came from a coalition that includes the Wisconsin Builders Association, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the Wisconsin Realtors Association and NAIOP, which represents commercial and industrial real estate developers. The only verbal testimony opposing the code update came from the Associated Builders and Contractors of Wisconsin, a trade association representing non-union construction contractors.
The Senate Committee on Housing, Rural Affairs and Forestry recommended a rejection of the build code update in August
