Arkansas Legislative Update

The Arkansas Legislature is in session! Here’s an update on the current slate of green bills up for debate:


HB1027 – The Sustainable Energy-Efficient Home Program. Referred to the Joint Committee on Energy.

HB 1036/1037 – Tax Credits and Exemptions for the Purchase of Renewable Resource Equipment. Referred to the House Committee on Revenue and Taxation.

HB 1043 – The Reusable Shopping Bag Act. Referred to the House Committee on Public Health, Welfare, and Labor.

HB 1050 – The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Financing Act. Referred to the Joint Committee on Energy.

The Arkansas SustainaBlawg will continue to track the progress of these bills. Stay tuned!

The “Sustainable Energy-Efficient Home Program”

Lets take a look at one piece of proposed sustainable legislation before the 88th Session of the Arkansas Legislature: the “Sustainable Energy-Efficient Home Program” (HB 1027).

This ambitious legislation would change the face of residential development in Arkansas.  If passed, it would require the Arkansas Energy Office to develop comprehensive energy-efficiency guidelines for new residential construction and for major renovations of existing homes. 

The key parts of Program are:

First, new construction and major home renovations shall be certified to at least 10% reduction below the baseline energy consumption determined in accordance with the Performance Rating Method of Appendix G of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Standard 90.1-2007.  The requirement would apply to all projects that had not entered the “schematic design phase” as of the effective date of the Program; and,

Second, in addition to the 10% reduction in energy consumption, new construction projects would also be required to “be designed and constructed” to use at least 20% less indoor water “than the indoor water use baseline calculated for the home after satisfying the fixture performance requirement, if any, under the Arkansas Plumbing Code.”  Outdoor water use must be at least 50% “of the water that would have been consumed otherwise.” 

The Program also requires the Arkansas Energy Office to develop and issue policies and technical guidelines to establish procedures and methods for compliance with the Program.

Like I said, this is an ambitious piece of sustainalaw.  The recognition that energy efficiency and sustainability in housing can be managed on a statewide basis is a step forward.  New home construction in Arkansas has been at best flat for the last 18 to 24 months, but the economy is loosening up and I expect that in 2011 folks are going to start building homes again, which makes the timing right. 

Something else that is innovative about the Program: while it recognizes that homes can be made more energy-efficient and sustainable if they are built according to a set of recognized standards, the Program runs counter to the current trend of relying on the USGBC’s LEED criteria.  This is a good thing, as it is well established that the LEED criteria was never intended to be a building code.

But the proposed legislation also contains some significant shortcomings.  First and foremost, HB 1027 contains no funding mechanism.  How, exactly, is the Arkansas Energy Office going to administer the Program, develop standards, technical guidelines, and performance criteria, and police compliance with the Program without any additional funding?  We all know the answer.

Another problem: the Program imposes a one-year monitoring requirement.  If after a year the home has failed to perform as required, the designer, homeowner, contractor, contract manager at risk, and commissioning agent shall investigate and determine the cause for the performance shortcomings and recommend corrections or modifications necessary for the home to meet the Program’s performance standards. 

This is necessary, as simply requiring a home to be built to conserve energy is no guarantee that the conservation will actually occur.  But the Program lacks a real enforcement mechanism.  The legislation does not actually require modifications to be made.  Nor does it assign financial responsibility (or, alternatively, give financial rewards) for bring the home into compliance.  Thus, while the language of HB 1027 says “mandatory,” the spirit and the reality of the bill is “comply if you can afford to and feel like complying.” 

And then there is a more esoteric problem: increases in energy efficiency are just as likely to result in increases as in decreases in energy use.  (For an interesting article on this point, read “The Efficiency Dilemma” in the December 20 and 27, 2010, issue of the New Yorker.)

These shortcomings could be fatal.  Thus, I can’t help but think that the Program, if passed in its current form, is poised to be little more than a paper tiger – unfunded, without adequate compliance and enforcement mechanism, and perhaps a bit off target.  After all, is HB 1027 a Program, or merely an aspirational statement?  It’s an important distinction.

The Arkansas Legislature opens for business this coming Tuesday, January 11, 2011.  Stay tuned.

Arkansas Legislative Update: Sustainability Bills Before the 2011 Arkansas Legislature

The 88th General Assembly of the Arkansas Legislature convenes on January 10, 2011.  While the dominant characteristic of the 2011 session is that it contains the largest incoming class of legislators in the State’s history, the 2011 Arkansas Legislature will also consider several pieces of legislation with the potential to significantly impact the Arkansas sustainasphere.

HB 1027: The Sustainable Energy-Efficient House Program.  This ambitious bill is designed to promote energy conservation in private residents.  It proposes to set green energy efficiency standards for all new residential construction, and for “major renovations” to existing homes.  The cornerstone requirement of the bill is that all new construction and major home construction shall be certified by the Arkansas Energy Office to show at least a ten percent reduction below the baseline energy consumption.

HB 1050: The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Financing Act.  This bill would allow electricity and natural gas providers to finance energy efficiency improvements to private residences and rental properties.  If it passes, residential consumers finance a wide variety of “energy efficiency and conservation measures” with a long-term, low-interest loan from their electricity or natural gas provider.  Eligible improvements include insulation systems, storm doors and windows, HVAC modification or replacement, and the installation of solar- and wind-powered systems.  Energy audits are also covered. Notably, consumers could arrange to repay loans received through an additional charge on their utilities bills, and repayment obligations stay with the improved property, not the consumer.

HB 1036 and 1037: Tax Exemptions and Credits for Purchases of “Renewable Resource Equipment."  This bill tandem would give make purchases of “renewable resource equipment” exempt from sales and use tax, and would give purchasers a tax credit of 20% of the purchase price against the purchaser’s income tax.  “Renewable Resource Equipment” is defined as “a system, component of a system, mechanism or series of mechanisms, support service, or a combination of these items that use a renewable resource as a source of energy or that offset or replace the consumption of a traditional energy source, including without limitation, electricity or natural gas.”

HB 1043: The Reusable Shopping Bag Act.  This bill would require most supermarkets and similar retailers to stop using plastic shopping bags.  See my previous post on this bill, "Will Arkansas Ban Plastic Shopping Bags" (December 6, 2010). 

Viewed together, it is difficult to consider these five pieces of proposed law as much of a sustainable legislative package.  But these bills are all in the very earliest stages of legislative gestation.  They are all flawed for various reasons, but they also all have the potential to drive interesting and significant innovation in the Arkansas sustainasphere.  I will be tracking these, and similar bills, as the legislative session progresses.  Stay tuned.