Wisconsin enforces the 2021 IECC commercial

Record of adoption

In force since

Sep 1, 2025

Legal citation

Wis. Admin. Code ch. SPS 363 (within chs. SPS 361-366, Clearinghouse Rule CR 23-007)

Adopted by

Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS)

Second reading

Agreed Oct 18, 2026

Applies

Statewide

Also called

SPS 363, Commercial energy code

SPS 361.05(2) names the 2021 IECC, incorporated by reference into the Commercial Building Code (chs. SPS 361 to 366) effective Sep 1, 2025 (CR 23-007). DSPS’s commercial buildings page says ASHRAE 90.1-2019 may be used when 2021 IECC section C401.2.2 is applied. Plans submitted from Nov 1, 2025, must meet the new code. Some trackers still list the 2015 IECC, which no longer applies.

How Wisconsin adopts the IECC commercial

• Agency rule
• The legislature reviews the rules and can block them

The commercial energy chapter (SPS 363) was updated inside the same DSPS commercial building code rule as the IBC, so it followed the same path: JCRAR’s September 2023 indefinite objection, the Jul 8, 2025, Supreme Court ruling, and the Sep 1, 2025, effective date.

Cycle. Moves with the commercial building code, and the code it replaced was described by a commenter quoted in the CR 23-007 analysis as based on the 2015 IECC and ASHRAE 90.1-2013.

Laws, rulings, and other actions

1. Mar 23, 2026Legislation
   2025 Senate Bill 4752025-26 regular session

   Senate companion to AB 450 with the same relating-to line on applicability of the commercial building code to certain buildings.

   Failed Mar 23, 2026 (failed to pass pursuant to Senate Joint Resolution 1; committee recommended passage Nov 7, 2025)

   docs.legis.wisconsin.gov (opens in a new tab)
2. Feb 12, 2026Legislation
   2025 Enrolled Joint Resolution 13 (introduced as 2025 Assembly Joint Resolution 133)

   Proposed constitutional amendment (new art. IV, s. 35) letting the full Legislature suspend agency rules, in whole or part, by a joint resolution adopted by a majority of all members elected to each house.

   Pending: first consideration passed the Assembly Feb 12, 2026, and the Senate Feb 18, 2026; second consideration by the 2027 Legislature and a statewide vote would follow, and no ballot date is set

   legis.wisconsin.gov (opens in a new tab)
3. Dec 5, 2025Legislation
   2025 Assembly Bill 4502025-26 regular session

   Would have kept the commercial building code rules in effect on Aug 1, 2025 (the 2015-based code) applicable to plans submitted no later than Apr 1, 2026.

   Vetoed Dec 5, 2025 (passed Assembly Oct 7, 2025; Senate concurred Nov 18, 2025, 20-13; presented to Governor Dec 4, 2025)

   docs.legis.wisconsin.gov (opens in a new tab)
4. Sep 16, 2025Other action
   DSPS extends the commercial building code plan-submission grace period

   DSPS moved the date from which all submitted plans must meet the new 2021-based code from Oct 1, 2025, to Nov 1, 2025, while the code itself was published and effective Sep 1, 2025.

5. Jul 8, 2025Court ruling
   Evers v. Marklein, 2025 WI 36 (Wisconsin Supreme Court)

   Held the statutes letting JCRAR indefinitely object to proposed rules and suspend promulgated rules facially unconstitutional because they lack bicameralism and presentment, which cleared the stalled commercial building code update.

6. Aug 9, 2017Legislation
   2017 Senate Bill 15 / 2017 Wisconsin Act 57 (rulemaking reforms, REINS-type provisions)

   Requires an economic impact analysis for proposed rules and makes an agency stop work on a rule with $10,000,000 or more in implementation and compliance costs over any two-year period unless a bill authorizing it is enacted.

   Enacted Aug 9, 2017, published Aug 10, 2017

   docs.legis.wisconsin.gov (opens in a new tab)
7. UndatedOther action
   JCRAR indefinite objection to the commercial building code rule (chs. SPS 361-366), September 2023

   The Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules objected indefinitely in September 2023, which kept the 2021-based commercial building code from taking effect until the 2025 court ruling.

How it was checked

Verified

Two separate readings of the state’s own record agree, and the passage is on file word for word.

Read twice: a second, blind reading of the state’s record agreed with the first on Oct 18, 2026.

The state’s record was last read on Oct 18, 2026, from four source pages.

Evidence 6 sources

Sources for the record itself come first, the state’s own records ahead of others. A label marks a source about something else, such as an exception. A source marked secondary is not the state’s own record.

• “(2) Iecc. The International Energy Conservation Code® – 2021, subject to the modifications specified in chs. SPS 361 to 366 is incorporated by reference into chs. SPS 361 to 366.”

• “CR 23-007: am. Register August 2025 No. 836, eff. 9-1-25.”

• “DSPS has developed Commercial Building Code inserts for the 2021 IBC, IECC, IMC, IFGC, and IEBC.”

  “Within COMcheck, a user is required to choose the code option of "2021 IECC”

• “2021 IECC section C401.2.2 is applied”

  “ASHRAE 90.1-2019”

  “90.1 (2019) Standard”

• About the note

Tracker cross-checks

Code adoption trackers are a cross-check. They are not Wisconsin’s own record.

• DOE’s energycodes.govCross-checkDoes not agree with the record

  Commercial: 2021 IECC and ASHRAE 90.1-2019, mandatory statewide, effective 11/01/2025 (edition matches DSPS; the date matches DSPS’s plan-submission date, not the rule’s Sep 1, 2025, effective date)

  energycodes.gov (opens in a new tab)Read Oct 17, 2026

Related pages

• See Wisconsin’s IECC commercial on the map
• IECC commercial adoption in every state
• All six codes in Wisconsin

Other codes in Wisconsin

• NEC2023 NECVerified
• IBC2021 IBCVerified
• IRCState’s own codeVerified
• IFCAnother model codeVerified
• IECC residential2009 IECCVerified