- New Proposed DOE Gas Furnace Efficiency Standards. This week the U.S. Department of Energy announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) for Non-Weatherized Gas Furnaces and Mobile Home Gas Furnaces. A public meeting will be held March 26th in Washington D.C. to explain the proposed rulemaking and take comments from the public. PHCC Vice President of Technical and Code Services, Chuck White, will attend this meeting and provide comments on the NOPR from the contractor perspective. As proposed, the standard would establish 92% AFUE as the minimum efficiency level for these covered appliances. This NOPR, effectively a replacement for the vacated Regional Standards Gas Furnace Efficiency Requirements, would establish this efficiency level nationwide. Projected implementation of this standard would be sometime in 2021. For more information on the NOPR, click here.
- The House is Set to Vote on an Important PHCC Supported Bill…This Morning! PHCC National mobilized its national grassroots network system this week to encourage PHCC members to write their respective Member of Congress on HR. 636 that will restore small business expensing and strike the exemption of air conditioning or heating equipment from the qualified investments eligible for Section 179 expensing. If you’ve not done so yet, please use the PHCC automated letter writing system to encourage your Member of Congress to vote YES on HR 636.
- Small Business Legislative Council Holds Annual Meeting. This week PHCC National participated in an important meeting of the Small Business Legislative Council (SBLC). SBLC is critical to PHCC’s ability to promote small business interests on Capitol Hill and with federal agencies. The three hour meeting focused on what we can expect with regard to a comprehensive tax reform plan, immigration, infrastructure construction and tax extenders in the 114th Congress.