Two years ago, the Howard County Council asked what it would take to “decarbonize” its building codes with a ban on gas furnaces, cooking ranges and other fossil fuel-powered features in new construction.

The answer, which has implications for Howard’s goal to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2045, turned out to be more complicated than elected leaders anticipated, thanks to legal challenges to similar efforts in Maryland and other states. The litigation also comes at a time when President Donald Trump is rolling back national climate initiatives.

The council is preparing to vote July 7 on a watered-down list of building code amendments that would curb some emissions in new construction, but falls short of the ambitious electrification initiatives that some advocates and elected leaders have pursued for years.

“We need legislation that delivers real, enforceable change, not symbolic wins that risk getting tied up in court,” said Councilwoman Christiana Rigby in a statement.

Rigby is co-sponsoring the amendments along with three other council Democrats — Liz Walsh, Deb Jung and Opel Jones. Together they enjoy a clear majority on the five-person council.

The amendments would require developers to incorporate features that eventually could support electric and solar energy systems as well as electric vehicles. One amendment requires that new commercial buildings earn a minimum number of credits based on energy efficiency across all fuel types.

Sponsors made sure the measures include severability clauses allowing other parts of the building code to remain in effect in the event of a legal challenge.

Clean-building standards have come under scrutiny elsewhere, including Colorado and California.

In Maryland, a coalition of business and labor groups are suing Montgomery County for its law requiring the county executive to issue all-electric building standards for new construction by the end of 2026. County officials had promoted the 2022 law as the state’s first comprehensive building decarbonization legislation.

Some plaintiffs in the Montgomery County complaint joined similar coalitions suing Washington, D.C., over its decarbonization efforts, and later Maryland for a regulation that sought to reduce carbon emissions from large buildings.

The Maryland Building Industry Association, which lobbies for about 1,000 companies across the state, is a plaintiff in all three lawsuits. CEO Lori Graf said she had not reviewed Howard County’s draft amendments, but the group’s position is that energy-related changes should be market-driven.

“Consumers should have a say in how they build their houses and what goes in their houses,” Graf said. “We want them to be energy-efficient, of course, but in a timeline that makes sense.”

Graf said she’s concerned the state is moving toward electrification faster than its infrastructure can accommodate.

As Howard County Council members search for the path of least resistance, the grassroots group HoCo Climate Action regularly packs the council’s public meetings wearing neon green shirts. For years, the volunteers have testified, published letters in local news outlets and collected signatures in support of decarbonization efforts.

Advocates were there in 2023 when the council first directed the Department of Inspections, Licenses, and Permits to research what it would take to decarbonize the building codes.

The department published a report in spring 2024 describing a phased-in approach with exemptions for some commercial buildings such as manufacturing facilities, crematories, life science facilities, breweries and distilleries, and farming and agricultural structures, as well as facilities regulated by the Maryland Public Service Commission.

Still, County Executive Calvin Ball stopped short of recommending decarbonizing the building codes this spring when it came time for elected leaders to consider updates.

“The County is aware of the legal challenges faced by other jurisdictions that have adopted more stringent building code requirements and the potential that similar language could be challenged if adopted here,” county spokeswoman Safa Hira said in a statement.

The move frustrated advocates like Doug Siglin, a retired nonprofit executive and volunteer with HoCo Climate Action.

“Frankly, it’s just practical politics,” he said. “If Council can pass something that demonstrably discourages [the use of] fossil fuels for heating and hot water, then I think we’ll be satisfied for this three-year cycle.”

Walsh, the council chair, revived the conversation this summer with a renewed sense of urgency.

“We’ve basically run through two years and didn’t file one tiny thing,” she said.

At a June 23 work session, Walsh implored her colleagues to take action.

“What’s happened is nothing in a time when, at every moment, you can turn on the news and see the calamity that befalls this planet because of a failure to act,” Walsh said at the beginning of the meeting.

Walsh, Jung and Rigby invited representatives from the Rocky Mountain Institute, which aims to improve the nation’s energy practices, to attend the work session. Nonprofit representatives floated 10 actions that local officials could take while legal challenges to decarbonization play out elsewhere.

The three councilwomen singled out several options labeled “easy.” A few days later, the amendments were filed.

Banner reporter Adam Willis contributed to this article.