House GOP schedules Tuesday vote on Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act

The GOP-led House is scheduled to vote on the Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act on Tuesday.

According to an official summary of the legislation, the bill "modifies the process by which the Department of Energy (DOE) amends, revokes, or implements energy conservation standards for certain consumer products (other than automobiles), such as household appliances."

The bill would allow DOE to "grant a petition to revoke or amend energy conservation standards" under certain circumstances. The agency could revoke standards if it finds that they "result in additional costs to consumers," do not lead to "significant conservation of energy or water," are not "technologically feasible," or lead to an appliance "not being commercially available in the United States to all consumers."

Under the legislation, "new energy conservation standards must be technologically feasible and economically justified."

If the bill gets passed and signed into law, it would eliminate the "requirement under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act for DOE, within six years of issuing a final rule establishing or amending such standard, to issue a new proposed rule or publish a notice that the standard does not need to be amended." The agency instead would be able to "publish a notice of proposed rulemaking for prescribing a new or amended energy conservation standard for a consumer product at any time."

The legislation was proposed after the Biden Administration's Energy Department proposed a rule that would have led to a ban on the sale of about half of the gas stoves currently on the market.