S. 3178 — A bill to require the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and the Secretary of Agriculture to withdraw a final determination relating to energy efficiency standards for housing, and for other purposes.

This section directs the Secretaries of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Agriculture (USDA) to withdraw the final determination adopting energy efficiency standards for new construction in HUD- and USDA-financed housing programs (89 Fed. Reg. 33112), prohibits its implementation or enforcement using federal funds, and reverts standards for covered programs—including public and assisted housing, FHA-insured single-family and multifamily housing (excluding manufactured homes), USDA rural single-family housing, and HOPE VI revitalization projects—to pre-determination levels (i.e., 2006 International Energy Conservation Code, or ASHRAE Standard 90.1–2004 for multifamily high rises). It further (1) prohibits the Secretary of Veterans Affairs from implementing or enforcing substantially similar standards; (2) prohibits the Federal Housing Finance Agency from finalizing, implementing, or enforcing related determinations or rules for single- and multifamily housing; and (3) amends the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act to add, as a condition for not updating standards within one year of International Energy Conservation Code revisions, that at least 26 states have adopted a code or standard meeting or exceeding the revised version.