On July 25, the District Court for the Northern District of New York in Mulhern Gas Co. v. Mosely ruled that New York has the power to enact the All-Electric Building Act (AEBA). The decision clears the way for the AEBA to take effect in 2026, making New York the first state to require (most) new buildings to be all electric.
The AEBA was passed by the New York Legislature and signed into law by Governor Hochul back in 2023. Under the AEBA, new single-family homes, commercial and industrial buildings up to 100,000 square feet, and new residential constructions with seven stories or fewer are required to be electrified by January 1, 2026. The requirements are to be extended to almost all new buildings by 2029, with exceptions in place for laboratories, crematoriums, restaurants, and large buildings whose grids are not ready to accommodate high, all-electric heating costs.
Soon after the AEBA’s passage, a group of plaintiffs comprised of gas companies, trade groups, and labor unions sued New York State, arguing the AEBA’s restriction of fossil fuel equipment is preempted by the Environmental Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) because the new laws could “indirectly regulate energy use through a prohibition on fossil fuel equipment, which necessarily means that the energy use of any fossil fuel equipment will be zero.” Plaintiffs also cited the Ninth Circuit’s (CA) 2024 decision in California Restaurant Assoc. v. City of Berkeley, where the court found that the EPCA preempted a city ordinance prohibiting the installation of natural gas infrastructure in newly constructed buildings. In response, the state argued the plaintiffs conflated the EPCA’s purpose of ensuring uniform energy concertation standards in the design and manufacture of covered equipment with the availability of certain types of fuel to use that equipment.
The Mosely Court ultimately agreed with the state and rejected the plaintiffs’ arguments that the EPCA concerns energy use generally, thus determining that the EPCA does not preempt the prohibition on fossil fuel equipment in new buildings under the AEBA. This decision follows the Southern Distrct of New York’s March 2025 decision in Ass’n of Contracting Plumbers of the City of New York v. City of New York where the court determined that the EPCA did not preempt a similar NYC law (Local Law 154) that prohibits fossil fuels in newly constructed residential buildings, as the NYC law did not concern the energy use of a covered product.
Buildings currently account for more than 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in New York – the stated aim of the AEPA is to reduce the state’s overall emissions. Opponents of the AEPA, however, argue that the AEBA will increase project costs, which will then be shifted to the consumer. In response to these criticisms, the New York State Public Service Commission authorized approximately $1 billion per year over the next five years to support energy efficiency and building electrification to “ensure that low-to-moderate income households have access to clean energy solutions.” The state also claims that electrification laws will lower energy costs in the long run. Still, opposition to the new rules under the AEBA remains. This month, several organizations sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi requesting that the Department of Justice (DOJ) block the AEBA from going into effect. Additionally, the Ass’n of Contracting Plumbers of the City of New York matter has been appealed to the Second Circuit. If successfully appealed, New York City’s Local Law 154 will be deemed unenforceable. The Mosley decision is also likely to be appealed.
For now, New York is in the clear to mandate electrification. In the days after the Mosley decision, the New York State Fire Prevention and Building Code Council, in observation of its statutory duty, amended the state’s Building and Energy Codes to comply with the mandates of the AEPA. “All-electric” laws are now the law of the land in New York.
It is unclear whether other states will immediately follow New York’s lead. California, for example, recently halted electrification building code updates – the state’s housing crisis bill, signed into law by Governor Newsom this summer, freezes updates to state and local building codes for the next six years. Lawsuits challenging gas bans on the city level also continue to spread throughout the country, resulting in conflicting decisions and uncertainty.
