Tillis & Heinrich Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Help American Consumers by Simplifying Product Regulations | Eastern North Carolina Now

Press Release:

    WASHINGTON, D.C.     Today, Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) introduced the Ceiling Fan Energy Conservation Harmonization Act, a commonsense bill that simplifies the implementation of two upcoming regulations that could pass on new costs to millions of American consumers if left unchanged. Companion legislation has been introduced in the House by Congressmen Richard Hudson (R-NC-08) and G.K. Butterfield (D-NC-01).

    There are currently two regulations on efficiency requirements for ceiling fans that will be enforced one year apart from each other: light bulbs in January 2019 and motors in January 2020. These misaligned dates could create a significant problem for the industry when multiplied over thousands of stores, supply chain lead times, redundant employee work hours, and the transition of inventory.

    The separate timing of the regulations could result in wasted time and cost tens of millions of dollars in total resources, including duplicative labor, labeling, testing, and reversing and replacing product models. This would ultimately harm affordability and availability for American consumers. The Tillis-Heinrich legislation makes a simple change to streamline the enforcement of both regulations to the 2020 date, avoiding wasteful costs that could be passed onto Americans families.

    The residential ceiling fan market is roughly $1.8 billion, with 15 million units moved annually.

    "Our legislation represents a commonsense and bipartisan approach to addressing regulations, and recognizes that implementation can sometimes have an unintentionally negative impact on hardworking American families," said Senator Tillis. "Our legislation makes one simple change to upcoming regulations that will help save millions of American consumers from a price increase on a product they need and depend on."

    "Energy efficiency standards for ceiling fans and other appliances are a proven way to help consumers save money on their utility bills, while also lowering emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants," said Senator Heinrich. "This bipartisan legislation is a smart approach to streamline compliance with the standards and avoid passing along unnecessary costs associated with implementation to American families."

• Contact: Daniel Keylin
•     daniel_keylin@tillis.senate.gov