BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó






           SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE       BILL NO: ab 930
          SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN              AUTHOR:  gordon
                                                         VERSION: 6/14/11
          Analysis by:  Mark Stivers                     FISCAL:  yes
          Hearing date:  June 21, 2011



          SUBJECT:

          California Building Standards Commission membership

          DESCRIPTION:

          This bill requires that at least one of the public members of 
          the California Building Standards Commission be experienced and 
          knowledgeable in sustainable building, design, construction, and 
          operation.

          ANALYSIS:

          The California Building Standards Law establishes the California 
          Building Standards Commission (BSC) and the process for adopting 
          state building standards.  Under this process, relevant state 
          agencies propose amendments to model building codes, which the 
          BSC must then adopt, modify, or reject.  For example, the 
          Department of Housing and Community Development is the relevant 
          state agency for residential building standards.  The Office of 
          Statewide Health Planning and Development is responsible for 
          hospitals and clinics, and the Division of the State Architect 
          is the relevant agency for schools and emergency service 
          buildings.  Current law requires BSC to publish the California 
          Building Code in its entirety once every three years.  At the 
          midpoint between each code adoption cycle, the law also requires 
          BSC to consider building standard updates proposed by state 
          agencies and to publish supplements to the code as necessary.

          Under current law, the BSC is comprised of 11 members.  The 
          Secretary of State and Consumer Services Agency sits as an 
          ex-oficio member, and the governor appoints the remaining ten 
          members subject to Senate confirmation.  Members serve without 
          compensation for staggered four-year terms.  The governor must 
          select his or her appointees in accordance with the following:

           Four members from specified professions and industries 
            concerned with building construction, including an architect; 




          AB 930 (GORDON)                                        Page 2

                                                                       


            a mechanical, electrical, or fire protection engineer; a 
            structural engineer; and a licensed contractor.
           Three members from among the general public, at least one of 
            whom shall be a person with physical disabilities.
           One member from organized labor in the building trades.
           One member who is a local building official.
           One member who is a local fire official.

          In addition to these professional affiliations or personal 
          characteristics, current law requires that the BSC maintain 
          certain types of experience.  The governor must ensure that at 
          least one member of the BSC is experienced and knowledgeable in 
          barrier free architecture and sensitive to disabled access 
          issues and that at least one member of the BSC is experienced 
          and knowledgeable in building energy efficiency standards.

           This bill  adds an additional experience mandate by requiring 
          that at least one member of the BSC representing the general 
          public be experienced and knowledgeable in sustainable building, 
          design, construction, and operation.
          
          COMMENTS:

           1.Purpose of the bill  .  According to the sponsor, the BSC needs 
            resident expertise in sustainable design given green 
            building's critical role in the emerging California economy 
            and the associated benefits of energy efficiency, 
            environmental health, and job growth.  The BSC's recent 
            implementation of the California Green Building Standards Code 
            makes the need for members of the BSC to have experience in 
            sustainable building, design, construction, and operation more 
            important than ever before.  The author adds that while 
            current law prescribes various dedicated sectors from which 
            members of the BSC shall come, not one of the 11 members must 
            be experienced and knowledgeable in sustainable building, 
            design, construction, and operation.

           2.Status of California green building standards  .  In July 2008 
            the BSC adopted the first set of green building standards for 
            California.  Many of the standards, especially with respect to 
            non-residential construction, were voluntary.  In January 
            2010, the BSC adopted the 2010 California Green Building 
            Standards Code, known as the CALGreen Code, which contains a 
            greater number of mandated building features, including:

                 Indoor air standards that will improve air quality and 




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               limit volatile organic compounds, formaldehyde, and 
               moisture; 
                 A 20 percent reduction in indoor water use; 
                 A 50 percent reduction in construction waste; 
                 Occupant recycling, maintenance and operation 
               information; and 
                 A comprehensive appendix that contains measures local 
               government may use to go beyond the mandatory code minimum 
               in a uniform statewide manner. 

            The 2010 CALGreen Code took effect on January 1, 2011.

           1.Experience requirement as an advocacy tool  .  Both current 
            law's BSC experience requirements and this bill's requirement 
            for a public member to have experience in green building are 
            vague.  The law nowhere defines what constitutes experience.  
            Arguably, any person who has been involved with the 
            development of a building in the recent past has some 
            experience with these topics, even if they oppose the current 
            standards.  As a result, the bill is not likely to give 
            proponents a legal tool to challenge an appointee who looks 
            disfavorably on green building standards, but it will likely 
            give proponents an advocacy tool to push a governor to appoint 
            a strong green building advocate or to influence the Senate 
            confirmation process.

           2.Amendment requests  .  A coalition of building industry 
            organizations and rural counties points out that current law 
            requires one member of the BSC to have experience in energy 
            efficiency standards and states that energy efficiency was the 
            green building of the 1970s when the Legislature enacted this 
            provision.  Because the concept of green building has expanded 
            significantly since that time, the coalition suggests that it 
            may be more appropriate to expand the current energy 
            efficiency expertise requirement to include green building 
            than to create a new and separate expertise requirement.

            The California Municipal Utilities Association suggests that 
            the author define "sustainable" to eliminate possible 
            confusion about the range of expertise the appointee must 
            possess.
          
          Assembly Votes:
               Floor:    62-13
               Appr: 12-5
               B&P:    9-0




          AB 930 (GORDON)                                        Page 4

                                                                       



          POSITIONS:  (Communicated to the Committee before noon on 
          Wednesday,  
                     June 15, 2011)

               SUPPORT:  United States Green Building Council California 
                           Advisory Committee (sponsor)
                         Build It Green
                         California Municipal Utilities Association
                         Sierra Club California
                         StopWaste.Org

               OPPOSED:  None received.