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On May 20, APGA submitted comments to the Department of Energy (DOE) in response to its request for information (RFI) on Resilient and Efficient Codes Implementation (RECI). Through the comments, APGA urged DOE to develop any proposed funding opportunities in a fuel neutral manner, which would help provide necessary flexibility to communities across the country with differing needs, resources, and budgets.

The bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) was passed in November 2021 and appropriated $255 million over the next five years for DOE to make available to eligible entities (i.e., relevant state agencies) – or organizational partnerships that include an eligible entity – through a competitive bid process. As explained in the RFI, “[t]he overall goal is to provide support to States that will ‘enable sustained cost-effective implementation of updated building energy codes.’” APGA worked closely with other stakeholders to maintain as much fuel neutrality in the IIJA as possible. Accordingly, it was important for APGA to weigh in on this RFI to urge DOE not to favor one fuel source over another in any associated funding opportunity announcement. APGA’s comments also offered feedback on the importance of states partnering with communities, suggestions on how to ensure disadvantaged communities could take advantage of any funding, and recommended rankings, such as prioritizing lowest cost for consumers for the amount of energy saved and/or carbon reduced.

A copy of the comments is available here.

For questions regarding this article, please contact Renée Lani of APGA staff by phone at 202-464-0836 or by email at rlani@apga.org.