Introduction of House Bill 5544

Simultaneously to the Senate’s AIM Act, the industry also supported the introduction of the American Innovation and Manufacturing Leadership Act (AIM Leadership Act), H.R. 5544, in the House of Representatives.

The Aim Leadership Act is legislation introduced by Congressman Paul Tonko on January 7, 2020. The bill is functionally the same, but slightly different from its Senate companion.

The AIM Leadership Act went through a subcommittee hearing on March 12, 2020, just before the impact of COVID-19 became evident and Congress shifted gears towards slowing the spread of the virus.

Senate negotiations and the House Subcommittee hearing showed promise of passage early in 2020, however, the onset of COVID-19 and the subsequent legislating of relief bills left a policy void on the HFC issue.

The lack of a finalized policy allowed states to continue their efforts to regulate HFCs. HARDI (Heating, Airconditioning, Refrigeration Distributors International) does not support a patchwork of state-by-state regulations on HFCs because this makes it harder ‘ if not impossible ‘ for distributors to conduct business across state lines.

If the AIM Act is not passed, consumers, contractors, wholesale distributors, and manufacturers will be forced to follow different sets of guidelines in some states and no guidelines in others.

Several states have pledged to regulate HFCs due to the lack of federal regulations. In that effort, most states attempting to regulate HFCs are developing their own laws and regulations based on EPA’s SNAP Rule 20 and Rule 21.

So far California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington have announced or started to regulate HFCs.

California is the only state to look beyond adopting SNAP Rules 20 and 21. Their overall goal is a 40% reduction in HFC emissions by 2030. This more ambitious commitment has led California to start drafting rules which will impact commercial refrigeration and air conditioning.

The California Air Resources Board plans to evaluate and possibly adopt proposed rules in December 2020. Current proposals would affect commercial refrigeration on January 1, 2022, and stationary air-conditioning on January 1, 2023.

HARDI is supporting an industry proposal to delay the air-conditioning effective date to 2025, however federal action is the best solution to continuing regulations of HFCs by states.

Potential Federal Solution

But there is some good news. The recent movement in the House and Senate bring hope to a federal solution. In September the House of Representatives passed a large energy bill containing the AIM Leadership Act.

After months of Senate negotiations, Senators Barrasso, Kennedy, and Carper have announced they have reached an agreement to advance the AIM Act as an amendment to the American Energy Innovation Act.

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