Building industry advocates aren’t discouraged despite a Thurston County Superior Court judge recently rejecting their lawsuit to force the state to implement a voter-approved initiative protecting natural gas utilities in new construction. 

Rather, the Building Industry Association of Washington sees the ruling as showing another pathway to ensure Washington’s State Building Codes Council update energy-related building codes. 

“Thurston County Superior Court Judge John Skinder acknowledged BIAW’s building code council (SBCC) lawsuit should put the council 'on notice' at a hearing Friday morning,” the association wrote in a release. “While Skinder ultimately dismissed the lawsuit, BIAW will be filing a new suit against the SBCC, based upon the court’s ruling this week.” 

Initiative 2066 protecting natural gas as an energy source went into effect on Dec. 5 following certification of the November general election. But BIAW says government agencies at the state and local level are refusing to comply and filed its lawsuit on Dec. 6. The state filed a motion of dismissal, which Skinder granted. 

However, Skinder said in his ruling that it was the pathway that the organization chose to file its suit—using the Uniform Declaratory Judgment Act—that led to dismissal. Skinder agreed with what the state argued—that the lawsuit should be pursued under the Administrative Procedure Act. 

“The court’s dismissal is not a substantive win for the SBCC, nor is it a referendum on I-2066 or a validation of the SBCC’s inaction on energy code amendments,” said BIAW Vice President and general counsel Ashli Penner in a release. “We will continue to put pressure on the SBCC in our APA lawsuit with the goal of changing the existing energy code to comply with I-2066.”