Legislation + Regulation

On October 23, 2024, two significant bills were introduced aimed at protecting New York City’s bird population. These initiatives are part of a legislative package known as “Flaco’s Laws,” named after Flaco the owl, who died after flying into a building window following his escape from the Central Park Zoo in 2023. Details of the [...]

  The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has issued a pre-publication Federal Register notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) pertaining to test procedures for general service lamps (GSLs) proposing several clarifications. Specifically, DOE proposes:  to clarify that GSLs must not be tested as colored lamps, GSLs that can operate at multiple correlated color temperatures (CCTs) be tested at [...]

  DOE previously provided guidance to general service lamp (GSL) manufacturers that the Department would not require certification in CCMS (the regulated product database) of GSL lamps that did not already require certification, until the effective date of new standards which come into effect July of 2028. DOE published a pre-publication final rule document, this week, withdrawing [...]

Many municipalities are instituting building performance standards (BPS) to drive emission reductions and energy efficiency in larger commercial buildings. New York City was one of the first municipalities in the nation to pass their BPS, known as Local Law 97 or LL97. LL97 requires the city to cut emissions 40 percent by 2030 and 80 [...]

A new law in Florida now prevents local governments from enacting or enforcing any ordinance or regulation involving EV charging stations. Senate Bill 1084 became effective July 1, 2024. Now, the authority to regulate EV chargers is exclusively held by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS). Orlando had an existing ordinance requiring [...]

  LEDVANCE has collected and summarized information about 14 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada, that either have passed mercury lamp bans or have other restrictions on mercury containing lamps. For each jurisdiction, the summary table provides relevant restrictions on general service lamps (GSL, screw-base CFLs, pin-base CFLs, and linear fluorescent lamps. The website [...]

By Robert Smith, Business Development Executive, Energy Network Services Inc. On June 19th, Environment and Climate Change Canada published the Regulations Amending the Products Containing Mercury Regulations: SOR/2024-109 in the Canada Gazette, Part II. These amendments will come into force on June 19th, 2025. These amendments will: Phase out between 2025 and 2030 the import, manufacture and [...]

On May 24, 2024, the FDA denied all Soft Lights Foundation petitions to regulate LED products, in a letter. According to The Soft Lights Foundation website, “The decision by the FDA to not regulate LED products and to not collaborate with any other federal agency illegally pushes regulation of LED products onto state and local governments.” As [...]

  Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed into law a bill including a “clean lighting” provision phasing out fluorescent tubes in favor of LEDs. Senate File 3345, authored by Senator Mitchell, and House File 3326, authored by Representative Hemmingsen-Jaeger, will end the sale of fluorescent lamps in Minnesota, effective in 2025 for screw- or bayonet-base compact [...]