BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 576 Page 1 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 AB 576 Page 2 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) AB 576 Page 3 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) AB 576 Page 4 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 AB 576 Page 5 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 AB 576 Page 6 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, AB 576 Page 7 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 AB 576 Page 8 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, AB 576 Page 9 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, AB 576 Page 10 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 AB 576 Page 11 None on file. Opposition None on file. Analysis Prepared by:Vincent Chee / B. & P. / (916) 319-3301 AB 576 Page 12