BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 849
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 849 (Gatto)
As Amended May 26, 2011
Majority vote
HOUSING 7-0 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 9-0
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|Ayes:|Torres, Atkins, Bradford, |Ayes:|Smyth, Alejo, Bradford, |
| |Cedillo, Hueso, Jeffries, | |Campos, Davis, Gordon, |
| |Miller | |Hueso, Knight, Norby |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Repeals the authority of a city, county, or other
local agency to adopt building standards that prohibit entirely
the use of graywater systems and requires that an ordinance
enacted regarding graywater standards that are different than
statewide standards must include the local climatic, geological,
or topographical necessitating the difference. Specifically,
this bill :
1)Authorizes a city, county, or other local agency to adopt,
after a public hearing and enactment of an ordinance or
resolution, building standards that are different than the
graywater building standards adopted by the Department of
Housing and Community Development (HCD) and published in the
California Building Standards Code.
2)Requires the ordinance to include the local climatic,
geological, or topographical conditions that necessitate
building standards that are different than the graywater
building standards adopted by HCD.
3)Repeals the authority of a city, county, or other local agency
to adopt building standards that prohibit entirely the use of
graywater, or building standards that are more restrictive.
4)Includes intent language.
FISCAL EFFECT : None
COMMENTS : The California Building Standards Law establishes the
California Building Standards Commission (CBSC) and the process
for adopting state building standards. Statewide building
AB 849
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standards are intended to provide uniformity in building across
the state. There are a few exemptions, which allow a local
governing body, city or county to modify state building
standards. A local governing body, city, or county can adopt an
ordinance or a resolution in a public meeting that finds that a
local building standard must be modified from the state building
standard because of local climatic, geological, or topographical
conditions and file that ordinance with the CBSC. The CBSC
reviews the findings of the ordinance to determine if the local
governing body followed the correct procedure.
Water provided to homes and businesses meets national primary
drinking water standards. However, many of the applications for
water use in urban environments (e.g., flushing toilets,
cleaning, firefighting, irrigation, etc.) do not pose the same
types of exposure as direct ingestion of drinking water.
Recovering graywater provides an opportunity to utilize an
alternative water source for non-potable applications, thereby
preserving water resources for other applications while
decreasing the amount of energy used to treat both drinking
water and wastewater and to convey water from sources to users
and back to treatment facilities.
SB 1258 (Lowenthal), Chapter 72, Statutes of 2008, requires HCD
to adopt building standards for graywater systems for
residential indoor and outdoor use. HCD conducted an extensive
outreach and public participation process to develop the
proposed standards, and the CBSC adopted these standards on July
30, 2009. SB 518 (Lowenthal), Chapter 622, Statutes of 2010,
requires the CBSC to adopt, as specified, non-residential
building standards for graywater systems for indoor and outdoor
use.
In the case of graywater systems local governing bodies, cities
and counties can expressly deny entirely the use of a graywater
system or adopt standards that are more restrictive than the
building standards adopted by HCD and published by the CBSC.
This bill would eliminate a local government's authority to do
so. A local government could adopt an ordinance that is more
restrictive than the statewide standards developed by HCD if
they make findings that such a modification or change is
necessary because of local climatic, geological, or
topographical conditions.
Purpose of this bill: According to the author, "despite the
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Legislature setting state-wide standards to regulate graywater
in California, Health & Safety Code Section 18941.7 allows local
governments to apply stricter regulations to graywater or to ban
graywater altogether. This makes following standards difficult
for both builders and private land owners who wish to utilize
graywater as a means of water conservation in residential and
commercial developments. In some cases, locals living in areas
where graywater is banned have either resorted to using black
water to water their lawns or use home-made graywater systems
that are unregulated and do not necessarily meet state graywater
standards. Local governments should not be able to opt out of a
baseline standard for graywater as a means of water
conservation."
Analysis Prepared by : Lisa Engel / H. & C.D. / (916) 319-2085
FN: 0000813