Clean Buildings (E3SHB 1257)
On May 7, 2019, Governor Inslee signed into law House Bill 1257, commonly referred to as the Clean Buildings bill. The objective of this legislation is to lower costs and pollution from fossil fuel consumption in the state’s existing building stock, especially large commercial buildings.
The law requires that Commerce develop and implement an energy performance standard for these buildings and provide incentives to encourage efficiency improvements.
Commerce will use a staged approach to implement the state energy performance standard for covered commercial buildings.
Staged Approach Timeline:
- Develop rules by November 2020
- From 2021 to 2026, the standard will be used for a voluntary efficiency incentive program.
- In 2026, the standard will be implemented as a mandatory requirement.
Clean Buildings standards will apply to large non-residential buildings greater than 50,000 square feet in floor area. Large multi-family residential buildings will be eligible for the incentive program, but are not covered by the mandatory standard.
More information is available on the Clean Buildings webpage.