BILL REQ. #:  S-3954.3 

READ FIRST TIME 02/01/10.   

     AN ACT Relating to defining a green home and an energy efficient home; and adding a new section to chapter 19.27 RCW.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A new section is added to chapter 19.27 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) By July 1, 2011, the state building code council shall adopt rules to define green home and energy efficient home for group R-3 single-family and duplex residential units or group R-2 apartment houses, as defined in section 310 of the 2009 international building code, in conformity with chapter 34.05 RCW. The rules must be developed in collaboration with interested stakeholders including the department of commerce, the Washington State University extension energy office, the Washington association of realtors, and the building industry association of Washington. The state building code council shall develop rules that provide a definition for:
     (a) "Green home" that: (i) Requires certification by a local or national program using criteria for energy efficiency, indoor air quality, environmental responsibility, and resource efficiency; (ii) requires an evaluation by a multistakeholder group consisting of representatives from within the region or housing market area that must consider energy efficiency, indoor air quality, environmental responsibility, and resource efficiency criteria; and (iii) provides for varying levels of certified green homes; and
     (b) "Energy efficient home" that requires the home to use fifteen percent less energy than a similar building constructed to the most recent edition of the Washington state energy code.
     (2) The state building code council must:
     (a) Publish an appendix of the requirements for an energy efficient home for each revised edition of the Washington state energy code;
     (b) Provide energy efficient home compliance methods that are consistent with the mandatory sections of the Washington state energy code, including a method to show compliance using the prescriptive, the component performance, and the systems analysis approaches, and prescribe labels for an energy efficient home that are consistent with energy efficiency labeling required by the energy code; and
     (c) Review the rules every three years coinciding with the reviews and updates to the Washington state energy code. The rules must be revised to reflect changes in the energy code and meet the requirement that the energy efficient home use fifteen percent less energy than a similar building constructed to the revised edition of the energy code.
     (3) A local building department or a third-party inspector approved by a local building department may provide plan review and inspections for energy efficient homes. A local building department may establish reasonable fees that are consistent with any additional plan review and inspections services that are above and beyond the mandatory energy code inspections.