The Department of Public Safety has announced a proposal to update the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code (MUBEC) on or around October 1, 2016 December 1, 2016 January 2017 TBD. Pending the results of the public hearing and final review processes, the state has proposed to adopt the 2015 IECC / ASHRAE 90.1-2013 for commercial buildings, as well as ASHRAE 62.1-2013, as mandatory codes under MUBEC. While the proposed update retains the current 2009 IECC for residential buildings, blower door testing with a limit of 5 ACH-50 (July 2017), increased wall insulation (January 2018), and mandatory whole house ventilation (July 2018) provisions would be phased into effect and ASHRAE 62.2-2013 would be adopted as a voluntary standard. UPDATE: As of June 7, 2017, all energy code updates have been removed from this proposal. A public hearing date is expected soon.
NEW: Two code rollback bills plus one additional energy code related bill were introduced this session:
- LD 1392 / HP 966 , originally filed as LR 308, would increase the minimum municipal population that triggers mandatory enforcement of MUBEC from 4,000 to 10,000 residents
- UPDATE: This bill is dead as of June 7, 2017.
- LR 1931 would allow municipalities to opt out of enforcing MUBEC
- LR 1456 would amend the laws governing the MUBEC