Header image created by Justin Lindemann
By: Justin Lindemann & Vincent Potter, Policy Analysts
The legislative year is well underway, and many states are essentially looking at one of two very different pathways: 1) prohibiting bans on fossil fuel-building infrastructure, or 2) banning fossil fuel-building infrastructure. Though some still have bills in limbo, others have already enacted laws this session that are primarily in support of the former and not the latter. This wave of legislation is taking place as more and more communities contemplate electrification.
Starting with Berkeley, California, and expanding to around a dozen cities and counties by the end of 2019, natural gas connection bans in new construction have been contentious. Since then, many states and municipalities have considered banning new fossil fuel connections, and, in some cases, state legislatures have moved to prohibit fossil fuel bans ahead of municipal actions. The discussion was reignited in January 2023 thanks to a statement by the head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission that gas stoves provide a "hidden hazard" in kitchens with insufficient ventilation.
Since the beginning of the 2023 legislative session, 32 new bills have been introduced in 25 states and the US Senate. Of those bills, 23 would prohibit localities from banning fossil fuel connections or banning certain consumer choices (e.g. appliance selection) based on fuel and/or energy type used. Some states have competing bills, introduced by different sponsors, to either ban fossil fuel use or ban its prohibition. One bill, introduced in the Massachusetts House, would provide assistance for customers to explicitly transition from fossil fuel-powered to electric appliances.
Overview of 2023's Proposed Legislative Acts
Several states have proposed bills that would ban fossil fuel appliances or infrastructure statewide. Connecticut lawmakers proposed a bill that would include a ban on electric resistance appliances, as well as fossil fuel combustion, in the residential sector. This would require new residential construction or substantial remodels to adopt heat pump systems and induction cooking systems. Another two states have proposed legislation that would ban either gas appliances or general fossil fuel use in the building sector. Hawaiian legislators propose to ban the installation of gas appliances in new construction beginning in 2025. Maryland lawmakers would require buildings to meet their energy demands without fossil fuels by October 2025, with an extension for buildings over seven stories to October 2029.
Some state legislators have proposed different views of future fossil fuel use in buildings for their states. Oregon lawmakers present competing visions of the state's energy future, either favoring or preventing locality actions regarding fossil fuel use bans in buildings. House Bill 2713 would explicitly give cities and counties the authority to enact ordinances or other rules and regulations to ban fossil-fueled devices in buildings, the use of fossil fuels in buildings, or the installation of fossil infrastructure in new buildings. Conversely, Senate Bill 647 would prohibit local governments from adopting or enforcing regulations that prohibit natural gas use or installation in residential and commercial buildings.
New York Assembly Bill 920 and Senate Bill 562 would clarify the provisions of Chapter 106 from 2019, which prohibited the installation of fossil fuel use and infrastructure in new buildings after 2023 (extended to 2027 for buildings taller than seven stories). The bills allow fossil fuel infrastructure in buildings for emergency backup power or when the building use would require fossil fuel use for normal operations (e.g. restaurants, laboratories, hospitals, crematoria) but the fossil fuel infrastructure would be limited only to the portions of the building where strictly necessary. Reversing existing regulations, New York's Assembly Bill 3836 and Senate Bill 1270 would prohibit municipalities from creating rules which prohibit the connection or reconnection of utility services based on energy type, effectively banning fuel-specific restrictions imposed by municipalities.
The Michigan Legislature is considering two versions of natural gas ban prohibitions at the municipal level. Senate Bill 10 and House Bill 4036 would prevent local governments from adopting or enforcing policies that prohibit natural gas use or installation of natural gas infrastructure. Senate Bill 41 would amend the state building codes to prohibit furnaces, clothes dryers, and cooking appliances with a continuous pilot light. S.B. 41 also includes a provision that would prevent local governments from enacting or enforcing local prohibitions on gas appliances in commercial or residential buildings. It seems that Michigan legislators agree that municipalities should not act independently of state lawmakers with regard to building fossil fuel regulations.
Advances in Massachusetts
Besides having a base energy code, Massachusetts is one of three governmental entities in the country to adopt a stretch code – with the others being the state of New York and Santa Monica, California. A stretch code is a locally implemented code that is more aggressive in achieving higher energy savings than the base code. In Massachusetts, stretch code adoption is incentivized through the Green Communities Grant Program as one of the program's criteria. The grant program gives applicable communities access to financial assistance for clean, affordable, and resilient energy projects; and there are currently 290 green communities as of December 2022. The existence of a stretch code pairs itself with the legislature’s H.B. 3203 and S.B. 2105, which would create a thermal transition trust fund to help customers replace any gas appliances with electric, and upgrade electric service to enable renewable thermal infrastructure projects. According to both bills, priority would be given to low-and-moderate income customers. In addition to H.B. 3678 which promotes and protects the installation of renewable energy systems.
Massachusetts legislature has bills (H.B. 3203 and S.B. 2105) pending that would provide incentives and structures to ease the transition from natural gas in structures to district thermal energy and/or electric appliance usage. The bills would create a "Thermal Transition Trust Fund" to expedite customer replacement of gas appliances with electric and upgrade electric service to enable renewable thermal infrastructure projects. Funds could be used for electric appliances or for building electrical upgrades needed to support electrification. These proposed bills go beyond end-user incentives or restrictions for fossil fuel use and encourage large-scale change in the state's natural gas utility infrastructure. The bills would require gas companies to file plans to address aging or faulty gas infrastructure and include provisions that encourage the replacement of natural gas infrastructure with "utility-scale non-emitting thermal infrastructure" and, where feasible, zonal electrification projects.
The state also introduced the aforementioned H.B. 3678, towards the end of the month. The bill bans any zoning ordinance from prohibiting or unreasonably regulating the installation of renewable energy for a building's heating/cooling, electricity, and hot water -- unless done so to protect public health, safety, and welfare. The bill also allows a municipality to require a person or entity that is applying to renovate or build a new structure to include as part of the application a plan that uses renewables. The plan must also analyze the feasibility of installing renewables over fossil fuels. The bill does not ban fossil fuel usage outright but does promote and, for the most part, protect the build-out of alternative/renewable energy systems.
Overlaps Between Gas Use and Fossil Fuel Ban Restrictions
Image (above) of county-level data detailing the most used fuel type for heating (Source: Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance/U.S. Census Bureau)
As states determine whether to ban government entities from banning fossil fuel usage, among other legislative variations, data concerning fuel types used for heating and cooking shows a different story. Much of the Southeast and Northwest is currently in the process of protecting future fossil fuel hook-ups, but those regions utilize electricity at a much higher rate than any other region in the nation. States like Florida, Georgia, and Texas have introduced bills that, if enacted, would disallow government entities from banning fossil fuel appliances, even though most of the states’ communities don’t use them. As for states that have already enacted such legislation this year, Tennessee enacted a bill similar to those introduced by its aforementioned southern neighbors on March 14, 2023. While South Dakota enacted a bill banning local governments from prohibiting fossil fuel appliances on the same day as Tennessee. Then there are states like North Dakota and Idaho that passed legislation specifically prohibiting bans on utility services based on fuel type – including gas and propane. Idaho also delivered a bill to the Governor, which would ban any government entity from adopting energy-related requirements. Banning the adoption of such requirements would prohibit entities from either banning fossil fuels or mandating more renewables in buildings.
How do these bills line up against the opinions of the average American? Well, according to the most recent nationwide customer survey from the Smart Energy Customer Collaborative (SECC) in 2020, Americans are quite supportive of a transition to electricity for heating and cooking, among other uses. Approximately 68% of Americans are open to electric cooking, 62% are willing to switch from fossil-fuel-based heating to electric, and 70% are open to electric water heating. In addition, 78% are open to powering a number of other appliances, like yard tools, with electricity.
Looking Forward
Banning fossil fuel regulations from municipal authorities can prevent a piecemeal and confusing energy regulatory landscape for developers, manufacturers, and appliance retailers. Several states have enacted statewide regulations for the sale or use of fossil-fueled appliances and infrastructure connections or reconnections in new and existing buildings. New York and Massachusetts have bans in place and are fine-tuning their policy approaches to electrifying buildings. Michigan's proposed Senate Bill 41 focuses on state-led action and would strengthen building codes to limit fossil fuel combustion in buildings while preventing localities from enacting or enforcing fossil fuel use bans of their own.
Globally, there is widespread evidence that supports the actions of states like Massachusetts, Michigan, and New York. The Synthesis Report of the Sixth Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change detailed that "rapid and far-reaching transitions" are critical to reach “deep and sustained emissions reductions and secure a liveable and sustainable future for all.” This includes reductions in energy systems through "widespread electrification" and demand side management through energy efficiency improvements, among other actions. States can choose to limit local authorities in favor of state policies that curb fossil fuel use where feasible to maintain a uniform energy policy landscape within their borders. States can also choose to offer incentives and workforce training to streamline the reduction of fossil fuel use in the building sector.
Images (above from left to right) of an induction and gas stove top being used (Source: Conscious Design (left) & Callum Hill (right) on Unsplash)
Nevertheless, if states choose to block governmental action on the electrification front, incentives from elsewhere can still promote electrification. With the start of the 2023 tax year, several electrification incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) are now available, including an updated tax credit for heat pump water heaters – now at 30% of the cost, up to $2,000 annually. In addition, the IRA also offers consumer rebate programs, currently slated for availability in late 2023/early 2024. These programs are known as the Home Energy Performance-based, Whole House Rebates (HOMES) program and the High-Efficiency Electric Homes (HEEH) program. The HOMES program gives consumers a rebate based on the energy savings of whole-home retrofits and is available to multifamily units, single-family homes, and low-to-moderate income households. While the HEEH program provides low-to-moderate income communities with rebates for specific technology/equipment such as electric stoves/cooktops and heat pump clothes dryers, just to name a few.
In brief, as the multitude of bills moves through state legislative systems, consumer preferences and regional fuel usage illustrate an interest in electrification. Whether government entities are allowed to embrace or reject this is the current debate taking place across the country.
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