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4/8/2025
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House approves Cortvriend bill protecting state energy conservation codes
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STATE HOUSE – The House of Representatives today approved legislation sponsored by Rep. Terri Cortvriend to protect the state’s energy codes from any potential rollbacks pushed by the current federal administration.
Rhode Island was the first state in the nation to adopt the 2024 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) for new and renovated buildings, which is expected to reduce buildings’ energy usage by 8 to 12% and requires “electric readiness,” ensuring that building owners can easily add electric vehicle charging, solar, heat pumps and other technologies later on.
The legislation (2025-H 5486) would place a moratorium on changes to the state energy conservation code from the 2024 IECC until Jan. 1, 2030, unless they are approved by the General Assembly.
Rhode Island law requires that the state’s energy conservation codes meet or exceed the most recently published IECC, or achieve equivalent or greater energy savings. The IECC is developed by the International Code Council, which adopts an update every three years though a final vote of the nation’s building code enforcement officials at the federal, state and local levels.
There is significant concern among environmental advocates, the building trade and others that the current administration in Washington, along with like-minded state and local officials, could use their influence to roll back the significant advances in energy conservation included in the 2024 codes when the next set is released in 2027.
“The 2024 energy conservation codes were developed collaboratively and have been hailed as an excellent advancement by environmentalists and builders alike. They were a significant step forward over the previous codes, providing energy savings without adding costs,” said Representative Cortvriend (D-Dist. 72, Portsmouth, Middletown). “Given the efforts in Washington to slash, among other things, protections for the climate and environment, Rhode Island should take steps to protect our energy conservation codes from any meddling, so we continue to make gains toward our carbon reduction goals and resilience.”
She added that if, upon evaluation, the 2027 IECC is determined to be a step forward for energy conservation, the legislation allows it to be adopted in the same way the 2024 IECC was – through General Assembly approval.
The bill now goes to the Senate, where companion legislation (2025-S 0765) has been introduced by Sen. Victoria Gu (D-Dist. 38, Westerly, Charlestown, South Kingstown), who also sponsored the bill adopting the 2024 codes (2023-S 0855A).
For more information, contact:
Meredyth R. Whitty, Publicist
State House Room 20
Providence, RI 02903
(401) 222-1923
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