BILL NUMBER: AB 2472	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Huffman

                        FEBRUARY 19, 2010

   An act to add Section 18941.8 to the Health and Safety Code,
relating to building standards.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2472, as introduced, Huffman. Building standards: experimental
permit program.
   The California Building Standards Law provides for the adoption of
building standards by state agencies by requiring all state agencies
that adopt or propose adoption of any building standard to submit
the building standard to the California Building Standards Commission
for approval and adoption. Existing law requires that all building
standards shall be administered and enforced and, whenever
practicable, written on a performance basis consistent with state and
nationally recognized standards for building construction.
   Existing law authorizes a city or county to make changes or
modifications in the requirements contained in the provisions
published in the California Building Standards Code and other
specified regulations, including, but not limited to, changes or
modifications to green building standards.
   This bill would, notwithstanding existing law, authorize a city,
county, or city and county to adopt an experimental permit program
that exempts an unspecified number of buildings from the California
Building Standards Code in order to facilitate innovation of
environmentally sustainable building materials, methods, and designs.
The bill would impose certain reporting requirements on the city,
county, or city and county relating to the scope, designs,
modifications, and performance measures of the permit program and the
permits issued.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 18941.8 is added to the Health and Safety Code,
to read:
   18941.8.  (a) Notwithstanding Section 18941, a city, county, or
city and county may adopt an experimental permit program that exempts
up to ____ buildings from the California Building Standards Code, in
order to facilitate innovation of environmentally sustainable
building materials, methods, and designs.
   (b) A city, county, or city and county that adopts an experimental
permit program pursuant to this section shall report to the
Department of Housing and Community Development and the commission on
both of the following:
   (1) No later than six months after adoption of the experimental
permit program, the local jurisdiction shall report on the scope and
requirements of the program and the types of permits to be issued.
   (2) Five years after the adoption of the experimental permit
program, the local jurisdiction shall report on the types of permits
issued, the number of each type of permit issued, an assessment of
the program's success, and recommendations for future revisions to
the experimental permit program.
   (c) A city, county, or city and county that adopts an experimental
permit program shall require that upon resale of a property where an
experimental permit has been issued, that the seller notify the
buyer in writing of the building designs and modifications approved
under the experimental permit program for that property.
   (d) A city, county, or city and county that adopts an experimental
permit program shall require the property owners to measure and
record performance data of the innovative features covered under the
experimental permit.