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 AB 930 (GORDON) Page 3 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.