With the 2024 election now in America’s rearview mirror, it’s normal for people to start looking forward to better understand what these results mean for our industry. To recap, Donald Trump will be moving back into the White House on Jan. 20, 2025, and he will be working with a Congress that is narrowly held by Republicans in both Congressional chambers.

At the state level, little has changed as neither party was successful in flipping any gubernatorial seats and only two legislative chambers across the United States (the Michigan and Minnesota House of Representatives) switched from Democratic control (or Democratic-Farmer-Labor, in the case of Minnesota) to Republican control. However, what was a relatively quiet election for state governments in 2024 will likely be answered with a very noisy policy session for some states beginning in 2025.

During the first Trump Administration from 2017 – 2021, we saw unprecedented amounts of state and local government activity related to energy efficiency and climate change. This was driven by concerns from many of these governments that they no longer had a partner in the White House to help them address these issues, causing them to act more aggressively and unpredictably.

As a result, we began to see all-electric new construction building policies and codes in dozens of municipalities, as well as in the states of Washington and New York. We also saw many states coalesce into the United States Climate Alliance, a bipartisan coalition of 22 states that was founded in 2017 with the stated goal of “securing America’s net-zero future by advancing state-led, high-impact climate action.” These states account for 55% of the U.S. population and 60% of the U.S. economy.

With a second Trump Administration now being formed and preparing to take office, it is likely that major policies impacting our industry will once again revert to state and local policymakers, while the federal government looks to address other priorities. As such, your advocacy and involvement will be more important than ever before, as it is more difficult for our industry to advocate and monitor hundreds of state and local governments than it is to do so for one federal government.

We are asking for your help. As always, if you hear of any relevant local or state policies that are being considered, please let us know about it at BWCGovReg@bradfordwhite.com. Also, please do not hesitate to use that same email address for any questions about manners impacting our industry in the 2025 calendar year. Additionally, Bradford White’s Government and Regulatory Affairs staff is always pleased to provide additional information and feedback about policy issues impacting our industry if you are looking to learn more about these matters.