SB783

SB783 gives the State Energy Conservation Office explicit authority to amend building energy-code editions and requires a cost-and-housing analysis before changes to the single-family residential code. It also protects specified energy and conservation standards from a separate law restricting government regulation of building products. The bill became law without the governor’s signature May 20, 2025 and took effect September 1, 2025. It does not itself adopt a new code edition or set new insulation or equipment specifications. Final act; History.

For single-family residential construction, the office may amend an adopted or published edition of the International Residential Code’s energy-efficiency chapter. The existing limit of one adoption every six years now covers amendments too. Before an amendment or adoption, the office must measure the effect on housing attainability and quantify incremental construction costs and energy-use cost savings. For required products, minimum standards or requirements more stringent than the code in effect immediately before the change, that analysis must calculate the payback period. The act does not set a maximum permissible payback period. Section 2, subsections (a)–(a-2).

For other residential, commercial and industrial construction, the office may likewise amend an adopted or published edition of the International Energy Conservation Code. The new single-family analysis and six-year restriction are not extended to this separate category by SB783. Both code tracks retain the requirement that an adopted edition’s effective date be at least nine months after adoption, and retain the written laboratory findings used for adoption. The public-comment procedure now covers amendments as well as adoption and expressly includes public and private electric, gas and water utilities. Section 2; Existing code framework and laboratory findings.

The law adds three exceptions to Government Code Section 3000.002, which generally restricts government bans or stricter standards for building products covered by recent national model codes. The exceptions cover energy codes adopted by the office under the two code tracks, its energy-and-water conservation design standards, and high-performance building standards approved by university boards of regents under Education Code Section 55.115. These are specified exceptions, not a blanket exemption for every local building rule. Section 1; Underlying restriction.

The referenced conservation-design framework covers new state buildings and major renovations, including state-supported higher education. The university standard applies to qualifying revenue-bond-financed construction or renovations; the renovation thresholds are more than $2 million or, when below $2 million, more than half the facility’s value. SB783 protects these existing categories from the building-product restriction rather than creating them from scratch. State-building standards; University scope and thresholds.