On June 28, 2024, IIBEC sent a letter to the Baltimore City Council concerning Council Bill 21-0160, which mandates that all new construction (commercial and residential) and additions must install a cool roof. An earlier version of the bill only applied to buildings partly financed with city funds, but just before the city council voted on passage it was amended to include all residential and commercial roofs. IIBEC does not have a position that supports or opposes cool roofs. Rather, the IIBEC Board of Directors on October 27, 2021, approved a policy statement on the issue that states that “the designer of record should consider the effect that a cool roof has on a building enclosure when making design decisions.”
The letter, signed by Brian Pallasch, executive vice president and CEO of IIBEC, and Justin Long, vice president of the IIBEC Mid-Atlantic Chapter, requested the “one-size-fits-all mandate … be modified to account for the complexities of modern building construction.” The letter also pointed out that the wording of Council Bill 21-0160, as adopted by the Baltimore City Council, creates a conflict between the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) and the International Building Code (IBC).
IIBEC hopes to work with council member Mark Conway, the author of the bill, to amend the law to reassert the primacy of the designer of record, and to bring the bill into harmony with the IECC and IBC.
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