Watching Out for You: A Recap of the ALA’s Public Policy Committee Involvement in 2023

Thanks to the vigilance of ALA’s Public Policy Committee, lighting and ceiling fan manufacturers, as well as lighting showrooms, are able to breathe a sigh of relief now that some of the government’s proposed actions have been mitigated by the association’s involvement, spearheaded by Clark Linstone, chair of the committee.

For those less familiar with how government rulings happen, Congress enacted a law in 1975 that directed the Department of Energy (DOE) to establish energy-efficiency standards for certain appliances and commercial equipment. Congress has also enacted subsequent laws amending the original law. The recent changes now require DOE to review existing standards for covered products at least once every six years and to set standards at levels that achieve the maximum improvement in energy efficiency that is “technically feasible and economically justified.” 

In short, each rulemaking takes about three years to complete and usually consists of several phases. At each phase, a notice is published in the Federal Register and all supporting documents and comments are made available in the rulemaking docket on regulations.gov. After each of the notices, there is a public comment period and, during that period, there is usually a public meeting or webinar.

ALA also has a designated full-time employee who is well-versed in regulatory and legislative matters, Michael Weems, Vice President of Public Policy. Unless they have someone on staff with this type of specialized understanding who can do continuous monitoring, lighting manufacturers and showrooms will likely be unaware of any proposed rulemaking affecting their businesses until it is too late to make their voices heard.

Over the past 20+ years, ALA has been proactive in serving as an industry watchdog for the benefit of the residential lighting community and has been instrumental in helping to modify proposed regulatory activity as well as legislation that could negatively affect business.  

The year 2023 saw a significant number of government proposals that would have impacted the residential lighting and ceiling fan communities and might have gone unnoticed if not for ALA.

Your Ceiling Fan Business
On June 22, 2023, a proposed rule regarding energy conservation standards for ceiling fans was announced. 

In the proposal, the government opined that DC-powered ceiling fans would be more efficient than the more commonly used AC-powered ceiling fans currently in the marketplace. Noting that a ruling that would prohibit the availability of AC-powered ceiling fans, which is an affordable choice to supplement air conditioning in warmer months for many Americans, ALA’s Ceiling Fan Task Force, a subgroup of the Public Policy, took action. 

According to Weems, “Manufacturers met for nearly two months, reviewing the proposal and developing a consensus industry response. In the end, the industry was well-represented and the points put forward highlight the need to protect consumers in low-, middle-, and fixed-income levels.”  This proposed rulemaking is still in process and has not yet been finalized.

Your Downlight Business 
Downlights have played a significant role for companies that serve the new home construction/builder and remodeling industries, and with the sunsetting of much of the lighting-related specifications of the EPA ENERGY STAR® program, which enjoys high consumer recognition, ALA collaborated with manufacturers, colleagues at NEMA, and the ENERGY STAR program staff to establish a new specification, specifically for downlights. Weems explains, “The need for the specification came after ENERGY STAR announced the sunsetting of the specifications for lamps and luminaires — an initiative for which ALA advocated. The development of the new downlight specification was a multi-month collaborative effort to stave off a potential race to the bottom in the downlight category.” That new specification went into effect on Nov. 16, 2023.

Your Distribution Channel
Shipping and trucking challenges didn’t end with the pandemic. ALA’s Public Policy Committee has been monitoring several issues that could have negatively impacted the supply chain, particularly for products coming through and out of California, which is a major transportation hub for goods nationwide. The Committee was concerned about legislation in the California State Assembly regarding tonnage (weight) and fuel-efficiency requirements on California truckers. 

“Without concessions in the underlying bill, prices would have increased downstream along the supply chain all the way to the consumer,” Weems notes. The Committee partnered with the California Trucking Association on the issue.

Through ALA’s membership in the Americans for Free Trade (AFT) coalition, ALA was a participant in the dialogue to renegotiate the West Coast Longshoremen labor contract, which was resolved and ratified in 2023.

ALA’s Public Policy Committee also vigilantly oversees the actions or inactions of the U.S. Trade Representative regarding Section 301 tariffs. 

Through AFT, ALA continues to urge the Biden Administration to finalize and publish the required 4-year review of the Section 301 tariffs. “The thought here is that if the four-year review is truthful, it will show that the tariffs are hurting Americans, adding to inflation concerns, and contributing to greater financial instability,” Weems states.

Furthermore, on Oct. 27, 2023, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment gave notice of several proposed amendments to the Proposition 65 warning regulations. ALA partnered with the California Chamber of Commerce to oppose this latest proposal, which involved amending the label content requirements for short-form warnings. The proposal seeks to require the listing of certain chemicals that are known to the State of California to cause cancer or reproductive harm, similar to the existing requirements for the clear and reasonable warnings. “The goal is to eliminate prophylactic warning,” Weems says. “Unfortunately, the amended warnings will not do a better job of warning consumers. In the end, only manufacturers and retailers will suffer.”

For 2024, the ALA Public Policy Committee will continue to monitor these issues as well as keep a close eye on any new proposals that could impact the residential lighting community.