HARDI Stops Bay Area Air District from Invading Wholesaler Pricing and Customer Lists

On November 4th, 2026, HARDI Advocacy successfully defended wholesalers of HVACR and water heater equipment against invasive auditing of confidential business information and notice requirements. The Bay Area Air District (BAAD) adopted amendments to Rule 9-6 water heater NOx emission limitations that would have allowed the BAAD to access wholesalers’ confidential business information, such as prices and customer lists, without any limitations.

HARDI Advocacy identified the issue and worked to make sure changes were made to the BAAD’s proposed language to ensure no burdens or harm to wholesalers of water heater equipment.

How Would Rule 9- 6 Have Affected Wholesalers?

If Rule 9-6 was adopted as initially proposed, it would have allowed BAAD to audit any wholesaler of water heaters and access crucial confidential information, such as prices and customer lists. The original rulemaking language never included any data protections for audited information, meaning that, after auditing, there would have been no way of knowing how the pricing and customer lists would be used or possibly shared publicly. Luckily, HARDI spoke up for wholesalers, and wholesaler businesses were protected from this potential catastrophe. Learn more about the original proposed rule language here.

What Protections Did HARDI Advocacy Add to Rule 9-6 to Protect Wholesalers?

HARDI strongly advocated to protect wholesalers from burdensome BAAD changes under Rule 9-6, while still maintaining the exemption options for those select water heater sales. HARDI Advocacy got the following protections added to the Rule 9-6 amendments before adoption:

• HARDI protected wholesaler’s confidential business information: HARDI protected wholesale confidential business information by working with the BAAD to exempt all wholesale sales from being allowed to be audited under Rule 9-6.

• HARDI protected sales for installations outside of the BAAD: HARDI was able to add language that allows wholesalers in the BAAD to be permitted to hold non-compliant NOx emission equipment that can be sold outside the BAAD should the business choose to stock and sell for installation out of the district where NOx emission limitations are not present.

• HARDI protected wholesalers from NOx emitting water heater notice requirements: The BAAD tried to force wholesalers to provide a notice to any NOx emitting water heater that would be on display and visible to a customer. However, by explaining the potential confusion and impossibility of implementation for a wholesaler for this requirement, HARDI got wholesalers exempted from the notice requirements of Rule 9-6.

^{Todd Titus, HARDI 's Director of State Government Affairs, attended the BAAD meeting in San Francisco, CA, on November 4, 2026.}

What Do Wholesalers Need to Know about the Rule 9-6 Amendments?

Due to HARDI’s advocacy success, there are only positive adjustments to Rule 9-6 wholesalers should be aware of. First, under the adopted amendments to Rule 9-6, BAAD wholesalers have a one-year delay on water heaters zero NOx emission prohibition. Beginning January 1st, 2028, water heaters with heat capacity of less than 75,000 BTU/hr sold for installation within BAAD must be zero NOx emitting unless an exemption applies. The 75,000 to 2,000,000 BTU/hr water heaters also received a one-year delay until January 1st, 2033. Note, ultra-low NOx and the low NOx emission dates were not affected by the Rule 9-6 amendments, but the new exemptions do apply to these sales too.

Second, all wholesalers are exempt from the BAAD notice requirements and BAAD auditing wholesaler sales, even those sold under an exemption. And if BAAD does try to improperly audit your water heater sales, please let HARDI know. Thirdly, wholesalers should be aware of the available exemptions for contractors for noncompliant equipment.

What About BAAD’s Rule 9-4 Requirements for Furnaces?

On August 27th, 2026, HARDI attended a BAAD workshop, and based on the presentation and comments, HARDI expects Rule 9-4 amendments to be similar to the current Rule 9-6 draft language. BAAD is expected to develop exemptions for non-compliant furnaces for specific situations.

These exemptions will likely be based on financial, structural, or other impossibility for a heat pump installation for the consumer, which means the same protections HARDI worked to be added to Rule 9-6 against audits and notices should be included in Rule 9-4’s furnace amendments. Learn more about how Rule 9-4 is affected by Rule 9-6 amendments here.

Read the full Bay Area Air District press release here.

Questions?

If you have questions, contact HARDI’s Director of State Government Affairs, Todd Titus.

Stay up to date on the latest Government Affairs and Advocacy updates by subscribing yourself or your company's key contact for these issues. Get the latest Federal and State issues information impacting the HVACR industry.