Summary

Stops several federal agencies from adopting or enforcing a recent rule that raised energy-efficiency standards for new HUD‑ and USDA‑financed housing, and restores prior (pre‑rule) standards for covered programs. Also bars the VA from taking similar actions, prevents the FHFA Director from finalizing or enforcing any new energy‑efficiency rules for single‑ or multifamily housing, and adds a statutory requirement that at least 26 states must have adopted an equivalent or stronger energy code before a revised federal standard is treated as reflecting state standards.

Key Points

• Directs HUD and USDA to withdraw and not implement or fund enforcement of a recent final determination raising energy-efficiency standards for federally financed housing.
• Restores the energy-efficiency standards that applied before the withdrawn determination for covered HUD and USDA programs.
• Prohibits the Department of Veterans Affairs from implementing or enforcing any substantially similar determination.
• Prohibits the FHFA Director from finalizing, implementing, or enforcing any rule relating to energy-efficiency standards for single- and multifamily housing.
• Amends federal law to require at least 26 states to have adopted an equal or stronger energy code before a revised federal standard can be treated as met by state standards.
• Does not appropriate new funds or create new funding streams; it blocks enforcement and implementation of a specific regulatory change.
• Shifts the practical threshold for federal adoption of higher standards toward widespread state adoption.
• Primarily changes regulatory authority and statutory criteria rather than creating new programs.

Categories & Tags