Tillis, Heinrich, Hudson, & Butterfield Legislation to Help American Consumers Heads to President’s Desk for Signature | Eastern NC Now

Press Release:

    WASHINGTON, D.C.     Yesterday, the House of Representatives unanimously passed the Ceiling Fan Energy Conservation Harmonization Act, bipartisan and bicameral legislation introduced by Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) in the Senate and Representatives Richard Hudson (R-NC-08) and G.K. Butterfield (D-NC- 01) in the House. The legislation which modifies the implementation of two upcoming regulations that would have passed on new costs to millions of American consumers if left unchanged unanimously passed the Senate in December 2017. The bill now heads to the President's desk to be signed into law after passing the House of Representatives.

    There are currently two efficiency requirement regulations on ceiling fans that will begin enforcement 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 legislation makes a simple change to streamline the enforcement of both regulations to the 2020 date, avoiding wasteful costs that could have been passed onto Americans families.

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

    "I'm pleased that Congress came together to unanimously pass our legislation that 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," said Senator Tillis. "I want to thank Representative Hudson for his work on this commonsense, bipartisan approach to addressing regulations, and I look forward to it being signed into law soon."

    "I'm pleased our bipartisan legislation to streamline efficiency requirement regulations passed the House and will now go to the president for his signature," said Senator Heinrich. "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. By modifying compliance with the standards, we can avoid passing along unnecessary costs associated with implementation to American families."

    "I am glad to see this bipartisan bill to streamline regulations on ceiling fans and save consumers money pass Congress," said Rep. Hudson. "Although this issue probably won't get too many headlines, it is one more example of how I am working to bring common sense to Washington and get government out of the way. I want to thank Senator Tillis for his leadership on this issue, and I'm glad to see our bill reach the finish line."

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