42 U.S.C. § 8232 — Residential energy efficiency standards study
submitted 48 years ago by Pub. L. 95-619 to r/title-42-THE-PUBLIC-HEALTH-AND-WELFARE · 634 words · no verdicts yet
HUD must study whether the federal government should require all homes to meet energy efficiency standards. The study must weigh costs, benefits, and market effects, and HUD had to report its findings and recommendations to Congress within a year.
(a) General authority: The Secretary* of Housing and Urban Development must work with the Secretaries of Agriculture, the Treasury, Veterans Affairs, and Energy, plus other federal, state*, and local government representatives the Secretary chooses, to conduct a study. The study, done through contracts with the National Institute of Building Sciences, must figure out whether it is needed, feasible, and what problems would come from a mandatory federal rule requiring all residential dwelling units to meet applicable energy efficiency standards. The study must look at, among other things, requiring notice to buyers and rules against selling or trading properties that don't meet the standards.
(b) Specific factors: In doing the study, the Secretary must consider at least nine factors: (1) how much such a requirement would protect a buyer from not knowing a property's energy efficiency; (2) how much it would help the nation's energy conservation goals; (3) how it would affect the real estate, home building, and mortgage banking industries; (4) what penalties would be needed to make the requirement work, and what problems there would be enforcing them; (5) the likely impact on sellers and buyers, based on the government's experience with the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 and the Federal Disaster Protection Act of 1973; (6) the effect on the whole economy and on national security, compared to the effect on credit and housing markets; (7) the effect on the availability of credit for housing; (8) how much a mandatory requirement would temporarily shrink the number of homes available for sale, and how that would affect the price of the remaining eligible homes; and (9) the uncertainty during the time standards are being developed, and how that uncertainty could affect major home rehabilitation projects and voluntary energy conservation efforts.
(c) Comments and findings by Secretary of Energy: The study must include comments from the Secretary of Energy about the effect on the whole economy and national security, compared to the impact on credit and housing markets. It must also include two specific findings from the Secretary of Energy: (1) the energy cost savings the requirement would produce over the remaining useful life of existing residential buildings; and (2) the total cost, per barrel of oil equivalent, of getting those energy savings, calculated separately for each class of existing residential building.
(d) Report date: No later than one year after November 9, 1978, the Secretary had to report to both Houses of Congress on the study's findings, along with any recommendations for new legislation the Secretary thought should be enacted.
The Secretary* of Housing and Urban Development (hereinafter in this section referred to as the “Secretary”) shall, in coordination with the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, the Secretary of Energy, and such other representatives of Federal, State*, and local governments as the Secretary shall designate, conduct a study, utilizing the services of the National Institute of Building Sciences pursuant to appropriate contractual arrangements, for the purpose of determining the need for, the feasibility of, and the problems of requiring, by mandatory Federal action, that all residential dwelling units meet applicable energy efficient standards. The subjects to be examined shall include, but not be limited to, mandatory notification to purchasers, and policies to prohibit exchange or sale, of properties which do not conform to such standards.
In conducting such study, the Secretary shall consider at least the following factors—
the extent to which such requirement would protect a prospective purchaser from the uncertainty of not knowing the energy efficiency of the property he proposes to purchase;
the extent to which such requirement would contribute to the Nation’s energy conservation goals;
the extent to which such a requirement would affect the real estate, home building, and mortgage banking industries;
the sanctions which might be necessary to make such a requirement effective and the administrative impediments there might be to enforcement of such sanctions;
the possible impact on sellers and purchasers as a result of the implementation of mandatory Federal actions, taking into account the experience of the Federal Government in imposing mandatory requirements concerning the purchase and sale of real property as occurred under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974 [12 U.S.C. 2601 et seq.] and the Federal Disaster Protection Act of 1973;
an analysis of the effect of such a requirement on the economy as a whole and on the Nation’s security as compared to the impact on the credit and housing markets caused by such a requirement;
the effect of such a requirement on availability of credit in the housing industry;
the extent to which the imposition of mandatory Federal requirements would temporarily reduce the number of residential dwellings available for sale and the resulting effect of such mandatory actions on the price of those remaining dwelling units eligible for sale; and
the possible uncertainty, during the period of developing the standards, as to what standards might be imposed and any resulting effect on major housing rehabilitation efforts and voluntary efforts for energy conservation.
The Secretary shall incorporate into such study comments by the Secretary of Energy on the effects on the economy as a whole and on the Nation’s security which may result from the requirement described in subsection (a) as compared to the impact on the credit and housing markets likely to be caused by such a requirement. In addition, the Secretary shall incorporate into such study the following findings by the Secretary of Energy:
the savings in energy costs resulting from the requirement described in subsection (a) throughout the estimated remaining useful life of the existing residential buildings to which such requirement would apply; and
the total cost per barrel of oil equivalent, in obtaining the energy savings likely to result from such requirement, computed for each class of existing residential buildings to which such requirement would apply.
The Secretary shall report, no later than one year after November 9, 1978, to both Houses of the Congress with regard to the findings made as a result of such study along with any recommendations for legislative proposals which the Secretary determines should be enacted with respect to the subject of such study.
Source credit: (Pub. L. 95–619, title II, § 253, Nov. 9, 1978, 92 Stat. 3236; Pub. L. 102–54, § 13(q)(12), June 13, 1991, 105 Stat. 281.)
- 1978Enacted · Pub. L. 95-619 · 92 Stat. 3236
- 1991Amended · Pub. L. 102-54 · 105 Stat. 281
A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by Pub. L. 95-619 on 1978-11-09.
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