Gas Appliance Bans by State: Where New Buildings Must Go Electric and Where Bans Are Prohibited (2026)

State gas law registry

Checked Checked in full for this edition; to be rechecked at least every three months and after major court rulings. Last checked 2026-11-02. Entries are neutral records of public data; each links to its source record.

Gas appliance bans by state: 27 states ban the bans, one state has its own

The national map is lopsided. Far more Americans live under a state law protecting gas hookups than under any state requirement to build all-electric.

Preemption law (also called an energy choice law): A state statute that stops cities, counties or other local bodies from banning or restricting a utility hookup, an energy source or, in some states, an appliance, based on the type of fuel. It does not require anyone to use gas.

All-electric law: A rule that bars fossil-fuel equipment (gas, propane or oil furnaces, boilers, water heaters, stoves) in new buildings. It does not reach existing buildings or the repair of existing equipment unless it says so.

We coded 27 states as having a preemption law on 2026-11-02, each from the statute, session law or enrolled bill on the legislature's own site (Tier 1). Arizona, Louisiana and Oklahoma acted first, in 2020. Texas (Utilities Code 181.903) and Florida (Fla. Stat. 366.032) are the largest by population.

Only New York has a statewide all-electric law, the All-Electric Buildings Act in Energy Law 11-104. That leaves 23 jurisdictions, including California, Washington, Massachusetts and DC, with neither kind of state law; several of them have local or regional rules covered below.

For a furnace and boiler business, the split means the legal risk to gas equipment sales sits in a small number of places, mainly New York, a handful of cities and the Bay Area air district, rather than across whole regions.

Every state and DC, with the law and how sure we are

Each row carries the citation, the year enacted, the date checked and a confidence field. 'Not found' rows are listed in excluded.md with what was searched.

Four preemption rows are coded 'interpretation needed': Georgia (coded from the Legislative Counsel's summary of Act 254 because the Georgia code is hosted by a private publisher), Alabama (enrolled bills opened, act numbers not confirmed on an official page), Indiana (iga.in.gov serves its texts only through JavaScript, so enactment rests on a bill tracker) and New Hampshire (two 2022 acts in the source note). Dropping all four lowers the population share from 48.1% to 40.8%.

Texas and Florida hold more people than every all-electric jurisdiction combined

Ranked by population, the preemption states are led by the two largest Sun Belt states.

Texas had 31.7 million residents and Florida 23.5 million in 2025 (Census Vintage 2025). Together they exceed New York's 20.0 million. The laws differ in reach: Texas bars restrictions on utility connections and infrastructure 'based on the type or source of energy', while North Carolina's 2023 law also bars local limits on the sale or installation of cooking, space-heating and water-heating appliances.

The wave of state laws peaked in 2021, when 15 legislatures acted

Most preemption laws arrived within two years of Berkeley's 2019 ordinance; only Nebraska and Maine have added one since the end of 2023.

Stateline counted 23 states with energy choice laws in May 2023, and the National Propane Gas Association called Maine the 28th in July 2025. Our count of 27 matches that trade figure only if Washington's 2024 initiative is added, and that initiative never took effect.

When does New York's gas ban start? It won in court, then waited on a 120-day clock

New York's law was scheduled for new low-rise buildings from 2025-12-31, was suspended by agreement in November 2025, and was upheld on appeal in June 2026.

The statute bars fossil-fuel equipment in new buildings of 7 stories or less, except commercial or industrial buildings larger than 100,000 square feet, on or after 2025-12-31, and in all new buildings after 2028-12-31 (Energy Law 11-104(6)). Existing buildings, repairs, additions and continued use of gas equipment are outside the law (11-104(7)). Exemptions include emergency backup power, manufactured homes, commercial kitchens, laboratories, car washes and laundromats.

On 2025-11-12 the state agreed in federal court to suspend the rules until 120 days after the Second Circuit ruled, longer if anyone petitioned the Supreme Court (NY Association of Towns summary). The Second Circuit upheld both the state law and New York City's Local Law 154 on 2026-06-30 and denied rehearing on 2026-08-26, which put the end of the suspension at 2026-10-28 absent a petition.

A search of the Supreme Court docket on 2026-11-02 for the parties' names returned no petition and no request for more time, and we found no Department of State notice reactivating the rules in the October 2026 State Register issues we read. We code New York's current status as 'interpretation needed' until either appears.

Most California cities that copied Berkeley have repealed or paused their rules

A 2024 appeals ruling against Berkeley and a 2026 federal lawsuit turned many local gas bans into dead letters, while courts outside the Ninth Circuit have upheld similar laws.

The Ninth Circuit held that EPCA preempts a local ban on gas piping in new buildings (California Restaurant Ass'n v. City of Berkeley, amended 2024-01-02). The Second Circuit reached the opposite result for New York in 2026, reasoning that a rule on the type of energy an appliance uses is not a rule on how much energy it uses. That split is the main reason the New York case is a Supreme Court candidate.

Outside courts, the federal government has pressed cities directly. The Justice Department sued Morgan Hill and Petaluma on 2026-01-05, dismissed the case on 2026-03-23 after both changed their rules, and sued Morris Township, New Jersey, in March 2026. Montgomery County, Maryland, won in federal district court on 2026-03-25, and its all-electric requirement takes effect by 2026-12-31 (Tier 3 report).

Which states are banning gas furnaces? In California it is air districts, not the state

No state law bans the sale of gas furnaces. The closest thing is a Bay Area emission standard that most gas furnaces cannot meet.

The Bay Area Air District's Rule 9-4 sets a zero-NOx standard for furnaces under 175,000 BTU/hr made after 2029-01-01, and the district states that it applies when a furnace is bought or replaced, not to working units. A board hearing on 2026-11-04 will consider moving the small water heater date under Rule 9-6 to 2028-01-01 and larger units to 2033; the furnace date is not in that proposal.

Southern California went the other way: South Coast AQMD's board voted 7 to 5 on 2025-06-06 not to adopt zero-emission furnace and water heater rules. The statewide CARB standard has not been proposed to its Board, according to CARB's FAQ updated 2026-07-13.

Washington voters tried to protect gas, and the state's top court threw the measure out

Initiative 2066 would have made Washington a preemption state. It never took effect.

Initiative 2066, approved in 2024, would have barred the state building code council and local governments from prohibiting or discouraging gas use. A King County Superior Court judge struck it down on 2025-03-21, and the Washington Supreme Court affirmed on 2026-09-17, holding it 'unconstitutional in its entirety' under the single-subject rule (No. 104240-0). We therefore code Washington as 'neither'.

No federal law bans gas furnaces, and federal agencies are pushing the other way

Federal rules set furnace efficiency minimums, and federal agencies in 2026 litigated against local gas bans.

No federal statute or rule bans gas furnaces or gas water heaters. DOE's efficiency standards for those products were challenged by gas groups as an effective ban on non-condensing units, and on 2026-06-08 the Supreme Court vacated the appeals court judgment upholding them and sent the case back (No. 25-879). A federal Energy Choice Act (H.R. 3699) cleared a House committee in December 2025 but is not law. Efficiency minimums and refrigerant rules are covered in our R-410A phase-out report; heat pump demand is in heat pump sales.

What the map means for a business that installs gas equipment

For most of the country, state law protects the gas hookup. The exposure is concentrated and dated.

• In the 27 preemption states, a city cannot ban the gas hookup; state law, not local politics, would have to change first.
• In New York, new low-rise construction is the exposed segment once the suspension ends; replacement work in existing buildings is outside the statute.
• In the Bay Area, replacement furnaces made after 2029-01-01 must meet the zero-NOx standard, which affects the replacement mix rather than new construction.
• Elsewhere, risk sits at the city or county level and has been shrinking in the Ninth Circuit since 2024.

Buyers reviewing an HVAC company often ask how much revenue depends on gas equipment and where; this registry gives a dated answer by state. Owners preparing for that conversation can start at our guide to selling an HVAC business.

Counts and distributions

Download the calculations (CSV)

Key findings

1. 27 states have enacted laws that bar local governments from restricting gas service or energy sources, based on official texts checked 2026-11-02.^{[24][14][15][16][17][18][19]}
2. 15 of the 27 state preemption laws in this registry were enacted in 2021, the peak year; Maine's 2025 law (P.L. 2025, ch. 456) is the most recent.^[24][22]
3. The 27 preemption states had 164,233,225 residents on July 1, 2025, or 48.1% of the 341,784,857 people in the 50 states and DC.^[1]
4. New York, the only state with a statewide all-electric law, had 20,002,427 residents in 2025, or 5.9% of the US.^[1][2]
5. Texas (9.3% of US residents) and Florida (6.9%) are the two largest states that bar local gas bans, based on 2025 population.^[1][17][18]
6. New York's statute bars fossil-fuel equipment in new buildings of 7 stories or less, except commercial or industrial buildings over 100,000 square feet, and in all new buildings after 2028-12-31.^[2]
7. The Second Circuit held on 2026-06-30 that EPCA does not preempt New York's All-Electric Buildings Act or New York City's Local Law 154.^[3]
8. Under a 2025-11-12 stipulation, New York's rules stay suspended until 120 days after the Second Circuit decision unless a Supreme Court petition is filed, which pointed to 2026-10-28.^[25][26]
9. The Ninth Circuit held Berkeley's 2019 gas piping ban preempted in its amended 2024 opinion, and Los Angeles, Encinitas, Santa Cruz and San Luis Obispo later repealed or paused similar rules.^[4][6]
10. The Justice Department sued Morgan Hill and Petaluma on 2026-01-05 and dismissed the case on 2026-03-23 after both cities repealed or amended their rules.^[6][7][29]
11. The Bay Area Air District's zero-NOx standard covers furnaces under 175,000 BTU/hr made after 2029-01-01, and applies at replacement, not to working units.^[9]
12. South Coast AQMD's board voted 7 to 5 on 2025-06-06 not to adopt zero-emission rules for furnaces and water heaters.^[10]
13. The Washington Supreme Court struck down Initiative 2066, a 2024 measure that would have barred local and state restrictions on gas, on 2026-09-17.^[5][33]
14. 4 of the 27 preemption laws (Alabama, Maine, New Hampshire and North Carolina) also protect the choice of appliance or heating system, not only the utility hookup.^[21][22][24]

Executive summary

• 27 states had a law on 2026-11-02 that stops cities or counties from banning gas service, energy sources or, in 4 states, the appliances themselves.
• New York's All-Electric Buildings Act is the only statewide all-electric law; it covers new buildings of 7 stories or less first and all new buildings after 2028-12-31.
• The Second Circuit upheld New York's law on 2026-06-30, which splits with the Ninth Circuit's 2024 Berkeley ruling; New York agreed to keep enforcement suspended while a Supreme Court petition remains possible.
• 48.1% of US residents live in preemption states, 5.9% live in New York, and 46.1% live in the 23 jurisdictions with neither (Census 2025).
• California has no statewide gas ban; the Bay Area Air District's zero-NOx furnace standard applies to furnaces made after 2029-01-01, while South Coast AQMD rejected its version 7 to 5 in 2025.
• No federal law bans gas furnaces; federal action in 2026 went the other way, with the Justice Department suing cities over local gas bans.
• Washington's 2024 voter initiative to protect gas was struck down in its entirety on 2026-09-17, so Washington is not counted as a preemption state.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides, services and research

• Heat Pump Sales vs Gas Furnaces: US Shipments From 2009 to August 2026
• Home Heating Fuel by State: How US Homes Heat, and Where Electricity Took Over (2010 to 2025)
• How Many HVAC Companies Are There in the US? A State-by-State Count (2026)
• HVAC Apprenticeship by State: Registered Apprentices, Completions and Program Length (2026)
• All HVAC business research

Reproduce this analysis

Every figure comes from the files below. The scripts that pulled and computed them are kept with the report and can be re-run.

Data quality and exclusions

• Washington removed from the preemption count: Initiative 2066 was struck down on 2026-09-17 and never took effect (1 state).
• Indiana kept in the count with confidence 'interpretation needed': the enrolled act could not be opened on iga.in.gov, and enactment rests on a bill tracker showing Public Law 180 (1 state). The sensitivity figure drops it with Alabama, Georgia and New Hampshire.
• Tennessee coded from its 2022 Public Chapter 1100; a 2020 law reported by trade press was not verified and is not used for the year count.
• Puerto Rico and the Census region and division rows were dropped from the population file; the 51 jurisdiction rows sum exactly to the national total of 341,784,857.
• Local ordinances are a selected list of rules with a court case, federal suit, repeal or state authorization on record; we did not attempt a full count of local ordinances.

Methodology

Scope. We coded every state and DC on one question each: does a state law stop local governments from banning gas or energy sources (preemption), does a state law require new buildings to be all-electric, or neither. Building codes that favor heat pumps, utility planning rules and incentive programs are not counted as bans. Proposals, vetoed bills and voter measures struck down by courts are not counted.

Evidence. Each counted law was read on the legislature's or code publisher's official site, or an Internet Archive copy of that official page when the live site blocked automated requests, and saved in raw/src. Trade association and news counts (NPGA, Stateline) were used only to find candidate states and to cross-check the total. Court rulings come from the courts' opinions where available and from law firm or news reports (Tier 3) where the order itself was not opened; those rows say so.

Confidence. 'Clear text' means the operative language and the enactment were both read in official text. 'Interpretation needed' means one of the two rests on a summary, an enrolled bill without an act number, or a Tier 3 tracker (Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, New Hampshire and New York's current enforcement status). 'Not found' rows are listed in excluded.md.

Population. Shares use the Census Bureau's Vintage 2025 state totals (POPESTIMATE2025, file dated 2026-01-27) for the 50 states and DC; Puerto Rico is excluded. Derived figures are in derived_metrics.csv and are rebuilt by scripts/build.py.

Conflicts. Where sources gave different dates for the end of New York's suspension, we used the stipulation terms as summarized by the Association of Towns (120 days after the Second Circuit decision) and report the resulting date, 2026-10-28, as conditional.

Last update: 2026-11-02. The next full check is due by 2027-02-01 or after any Supreme Court filing in the New York case. Owners who want a valuation can use the form at /#valuation; it plays no part in this research.

This report presents published data with its limitations. It is not legal, financial or investment advice.

Sources, ranked by quality

Tier 1: primary and official sources (24)

• [1] U.S. Census Bureau. Vintage 2025 state population totals (NST-EST2025-ALLDATA, file dated 2026-01-27). July 1, 2025. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [2] New York State Senate. N.Y. Energy Law 11-104 (Internet Archive copy of the official page). Current law. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [3] U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Ass'n of Contracting Plumbers of the City of New York v. City of New York, Nos. 25-977, 25-2041 (opinion, copy). June 30, 2026. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [4] U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. California Restaurant Ass'n v. City of Berkeley, No. 21-16278 (amended opinion). January 2, 2024. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [5] Supreme Court of the State of Washington. Climate Solutions v. State of Washington, No. 104240-0. September 17, 2026. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [6] U.S. Department of Justice. Justice Department Sues California Cities Over Natural Gas Bans (press release and complaint). January 2026. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [7] U.S. Department of Justice. Notice of voluntary dismissal, United States v. City of Morgan Hill, No. 5:26-cv-00056-BLF (RECAP copy). March 23, 2026. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [8] U.S. Department of Justice. Justice Department Sues New Jersey Township Over Natural Gas Ban. April 1, 2026. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [9] Bay Area Air Quality Management District. Rules 9-4 and 9-6 Building Appliances (rule development page) and Myths vs. Facts sheet (Oct. 2026). 2023 to 2026. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [10] South Coast Air Quality Management District. Proposed Amended Rule 1111 and Proposed Amended Rule 1121. June 6, 2025. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [11] California Air Resources Board. Clean Space and Water Heaters FAQ (updated July 13, 2026). 2026. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [12] Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources. Municipal Fossil Fuel Free Building Demonstration Project (Internet Archive copy). 2022 to 2025. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [13] Supreme Court of the United States. Docket No. 25-879, American Gas Association v. Department of Energy; docket search for the New York case parties. 2026. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [14] Arizona Legislature. Arizona Laws 2020, ch. 3 (HB 2686). 2020. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [15] Louisiana State Legislature. La. R.S. 40:1730.21.1 and SB 492 (2020) bill record. 2020. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [16] Oklahoma Legislature. Oklahoma Statutes Title 11 (11 O.S. 14-107). 2020. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [17] Texas Legislature. Texas HB 17 (87th Leg.) enrolled text and history. 2021. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [18] Florida Legislature. Fla. Stat. 366.032. 2021 to 2025. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [19] Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Rev. Code 4933.41 (Internet Archive copy). 2021. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [20] Georgia General Assembly, Office of Legislative Counsel. Summary of General Statutes Enacted, 2021 (Act 254, HB 150; O.C.G.A. 46-1-6). 2021. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [21] North Carolina General Assembly. N.C.G.S. 153A-145.11 and S.L. 2023-58 (Internet Archive copies). 2023. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [22] Maine Legislature. P.L. 2025, ch. 456 (LD 556), 30-A M.R.S. 3015. 2025. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [23] Nebraska Legislature. Neb. Rev. Stat. 13-407 (Internet Archive copy). 2024. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [24] State legislatures (URL per row in registry.csv). State statute and session-law texts for the other preemption states (AL, AR, IA, ID, KS, KY, MO, MS, MT, ND, NH, SD, TN, UT, WV, WY). 2021 to 2024. Accessed 2026-11-02.

Tier 2: trade bodies, market research, company data (1)

• [25] Association of Towns of the State of New York. Update for Town Officials: Delay of the All-Electric Buildings Act (Nov. 2025). November 2025. Accessed 2026-11-02.

Tier 3: journalism and expert commentary (10)

• [26] Barclay Damon LLP. Petition for Rehearing Denied by Second Circuit for New York City and State Bans on Gas Appliances in New Buildings. 2026. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [27] K&L Gates LLP. Natural Gas Bans: From New York to Washington, Courts Shift the Landscape on Legality of State and Local Gas Bans. April 7, 2025. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [28] Bloomberg Law. Maryland County's All-Electric Building Mandate Upheld by Judge. March 25, 2026. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [29] E&E News. DOJ drops lawsuits after 2 California cities repeal gas appliance bans. March 24, 2026. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [30] National Propane Gas Association. Maine protects energy choice. July 2025. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [31] Facilities Dive. House bill barring state, local gas appliance bans clears hurdle. December 5, 2025. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [32] Stateline. New York to ban fossil fuels in new buildings. 23 states have forbidden such bans. (Internet Archive copy). May 3, 2023. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [33] Washington State Standard. WA high court tosses natural gas measure approved by voters (Internet Archive copy). September 17, 2026. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [34] California Restaurant Association. California Restaurant Association and Berkeley Settle Gas Ban Lawsuit. 2024. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [35] FastDemocracy (bill tracker). Indiana HB 1191 (2021) bill record. 2021. Accessed 2026-11-02.