BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 576
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Date of Hearing: April 7, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONS
Susan Bonilla, Chair
AB 576
(Ting) - As Introduced February 24, 2015
SUBJECT: California Building Standards Commission: advisory
panels.
SUMMARY: Authorizes the California Building Standards
Commission (CBSC) to appoint individuals from the energy and
resource professions to join its building standards advisory
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panels.
EXISTING LAW
1)Establishes the CBSC within the Department of General
Services. (Health and Safety Code (HSC) §18901)
2)Requires state agencies to submit adopted or proposed building
standards to the CBSC for approval prior to codification. (HSC
§18930)
3)Requires that building standards be approved by the CBSC
before they are filed with the Secretary of State and codified
and prohibits the standards from being published in any other
title of the California Code of Regulations. (HSC §18938,
§18940)
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4)Requires that the Governor appoint the CBSC members from the
public, design professions, the building and construction
industry, local government building officials, fire and safety
officials, and labor, including at least one member who is
experienced and knowledgeable in building energy efficiency
standards and one member who is experienced and knowledgeable
in sustainable building, design, construction, and operation.
(HSC §18921)
5)Authorizes the CBSC to appoint individuals from the design
professions, the building and construction industry, the
affected general public, and interested governmental agencies,
to code advisory panels to advise the CBSC and its staff on
building standards. (HSC §18927)
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6)Requires the CBSC to solicit nominations for the plumbing,
electrical mechanical and energy (PEME) and green building
code advisory committees from specified energy and efficiency
professions, including: environmental/energy organizations;
local government water efficiency officials; environmental
organization representatives; and energy/building performance
specialists. (Title 24, California Code of Regulations (CCR) §
1-209)
7)Requires the CBSC to adopt and update green building
standards. (24 CCR § 1-203)
8)Requires the CBSC to submit code changes to one or more code
advisory committees specifically knowledgeable in the proposed
building standard. (24 CCR § 1-409)
THIS BILL
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1)Amends the California Building Standards Law to expressly
include energy and resource efficiency professions as one of
the professions CBSC may choose from when appointing people to
its advisory panels.
2)States that it is the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation to promote the creation of energy and resource
efficient homes in California.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown. This bill is keyed fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS
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1)Purpose. This bill is sponsored by the author. According to
the author, this bill "authorizes the CBSC to appoint energy
and resource efficiency professionals to the advisory panels
or committees, which would codify existing practices to
promote the use of energy and resource efficiency
professionals on these panels or committees and reinforce the
state's commitment to sustainable building standards."
Further, "[a]s the building code evolves to account for more
energy and resource efficiency measures, it is important to
ensure that the CBSC is able to draw upon the knowledge and
qualifications of experts in the field."
2)Background. The California Building Standards Law establishes
CBSC and the process for adopting state building standards
(HSC §18901-18949.31). First, state agencies propose building
standards for building types under their jurisdiction. Second,
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CBSC adopts, modifies, or rejects the standards. Third, CBSC
publishes the updated standards in the California Building
Standards Code every three years. CBSC publishes supplements
in intervening years (e.g. the California Green Building
Standards Code, or CALGreen).
The CBSC is made up of 11 members who represent the public,
building design professions, the building and construction
industry, local government building officials, fire and safety
officials, and labor, and must include at least one member who
is experienced and knowledgeable in building energy efficiency
standards and one member who is experienced and knowledgeable
in sustainable building, design, construction, and operation.
Advisory Panels. The statute authorizes CBSC to appoint an
advisory panel to advise CBSC and its staff on building
standards. It permits CBSC to appoint people from the design
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professions, the building and construction industry, the
affected general public, and interested governmental agencies.
Panel appointees must be knowledgeable and qualified in the
type of work relevant to the building standards in question.
While the statute does not discuss the composition of the
advisory panels, its regulations do. The State Building
Standards Code requires CBSC to establish six types of
standing code advisory committees: (1) accessibility; (2)
PEME; (3) building, fire, and other regulations; (4)
structural design/lateral forces; (5) health facilities; and
(6) green building (24 CCR § 1-209). For PEME and green
building, CBSC must solicit nominations for voting members
from energy and resource efficiency professions, such as
environmental organizations.
Differences between current law and this bill. While the current
building standards statute (HSC § 18927) does not specifically
include energy and resource efficiency professions as one of
the professions CBSC may choose from for its advisory panels,
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the current building standards regulations (24 CCR § 1-209)
require CBSC to choose from at least three professions
specific to energy and resource efficiency.
This bill would amend the HSC to include the energy and resource
efficiency professions in general as a group CBSC may choose
from.
Prior legislation. AB 2270 (Ting) of 2014 would have
authorized the CBSC to appoint individuals from the energy and
resource efficiency professions to appropriate advisory panels
that advise the CBSC and its staff with respect to building
standards. (STATUS: vetoed by Governor Brown because the CBSC
already appoints energy and resource professionals to the
panels)
AB 930 (Gordon), Chapter 399, Statutes of 2011, required that
at least one member of CBSC be a person who is experienced and
knowledgeable in sustainable building, design, construction,
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and operation.
AB 1058 (Laird) of 2007 would have required the Department of
Housing and Community Development and ultimately the CBSC to
adopt best practices and building standards related to green
building, and would have required the advisory panels to also
advise the CBSC with respect to green building standards.
(STATUS: This bill was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger
because the bill conflicted with the safety standards of the
time and he believed the standards should be left to the
regulatory process)
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
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None on file.
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by:Vincent Chee / B. & P. / (916) 319-3301
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