BILL ANALYSIS
AB 828
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Senator S. Joseph Simitian, Chairman
2009-2010 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 828
AUTHOR: Lieu
AMENDED: May 21, 2009
FISCAL: Yes HEARING DATE: July 13, 2009
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Caroll
Mortensen
SUBJECT : "GREEN" BUILDING STANDARDS
SUMMARY :
Existing law :
1)Establishes the Building Standards Commission (BSC) within
the State and Consumer Services Agency.
2)Requires all state agencies that adopt or propose adoption
of any building standard under the California Building
Standards Code to submit the building standard to the
Commission for review and approval or adoption.
3)States that, if no state agency has authority or expertise
to propose green building standards applicable to a
particular occupancy, the BSC shall adopt, approve, codify,
update, and publish green building standards for those
occupancies.
4)Requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and
Development Commission (CEC) to prescribe building design
and construction standards as well as energy conservation
design standards that increase energy efficiency for new
residential and non-residential buildings.
5)Authorizes a local government to make changes or
modifications in building standards to provide for local
variances relating to local climatic, geological, or
topographical conditions, upon making certain findings and
filing those findings with the BSC.
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Executive Orders :
1)Establishes, pursuant to the Governor's Executive Order
S-20-04, The Green Building Initiative, and orders the state
to take specified actions, including: 1) Committing to
aggressive action to reduce state building electricity usage
by 20% in 2015, through cost-effective efficiency measures
and distributed generation technologies; and, 2) Siting,
constructing, and operating all new and renovated
state-owned facilities as LEED Silver, or higher certified
buildings. (The Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design Green Building Rating System, developed by the U.S.
Green Building Council .)
2)Establishes, pursuant to the Governor's Executive Order
S-3-05, a program that calls for a reduction of greenhouse
gas emissions to 2000 levels by 2010; to 1990 levels by
2020; and to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. The
Governor established the Climate Action Team, headed by the
Secretary for Environmental Protection, to implement global
warming emission reduction programs and to report on the
progress made toward meeting the statewide greenhouse gas
targets that were established in the order.
This bill:
1)Requires the BSC to seek input from, at a minimum, the
following state agencies in the development of proposed
green building standards:
The Department of General Services.
The California Integrated Waste Management Board.
The State Air Resources Board.
The Department of Water Resources.
The Department of Toxic Substances Control.
The State Department of Public Health.
The Department of Transportation.
The Office of the State Fire Marshal.
1)Specifies that if BSC or any other agency that proposes
green building standards receives input from another state
agency and the input is consistent with the agency's
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mandate, the commission or the receiving agency shall
consider and respond in writing to the input.
2)Specifies that BSC or any other agency that proposes green
building they shall also consult with representatives from
all of the following:
Environmental advocacy groups.
Interested local government and code enforcement
entities.
The building construction and design industry.
Interested public parties.
4)Requires that an agency that provides input regarding green
building standards, shall recommend to BSC or agency
proposing the standard whether the standard should be
voluntary or mandatory. Voluntary standards shall exceed
mandatory standards where such mandatory standards exist.
5)Requires green building standards adopted or approved by BSC
pursuant to this section shall, at a minimum, be inserted
into the relevant part of the California Building Standards
Code, where appropriate.
6)States that green building standards proposed or adopted
pursuant to this section shall be intended to protect the
public's health and safety, minimize the building's impact
on the environment through efficient use of natural
resources, promote occupant health, and reduce strain on the
local infrastructure while utilizing best available
technology and building practices. These building standards
include, but are not limited to, standards relating to site
planning, water efficiency, energy efficiency, materials and
resource efficiency, reduction of toxic chemicals, indoor
air quality, and environmental quality.
7)Authorizes CEC to develop, adopt, and submit to BSC
voluntary energy efficiency standards.
8)Specifies that the standards in #7 be considered green
building standards and shall exceed the mandatory standards
adopted by the CEC for purposes of energy conservation.
COMMENTS :
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1)Purpose of Bill . According to the author, this bill is
intended to strengthen the green building regime in
California by establishing a robust development process for
green building standards which incorporate best practices
and technical expertise from various state agencies.
Current law does not require the BSC to accept or consider
input from many other expert state agencies on the green
building standards. Traditionally, state agencies such as
CEC and the Department of Housing and Community Development
(HCD) adopt building standards and the BSC approves those
standards for publication. The BSC also adopts building
standards proposed by other state agencies and from the
national model codes for publication. In addition, CEC
currently adopts all mandatory energy efficiency standards
for buildings but does not have clear authority over
voluntary green building standards. This bill would provide
such authority.
2)What is "green" building ? With renewed emphasis on energy
and resource conservation and preserving the public and
environmental health, how buildings are designed and built
is changing to support those efforts. This is evident
through the efforts of the Administration with Executive
Orders requiring sustainable buildings and energy
conservation for state buildings and an increasing number of
local governments embracing green building. The terms
"green" and "sustainable" are used to describe these
buildings that are supposed to have a reduced environmental
and public health footprint. This green building movement
is growing rapidly and the general public has shown great
acceptance of it resulting in many more green buildings
being built. However, regulations or standards, as to what
a green or sustainable building is are not in place. It is
important to establish what a green building is to preserve
the integrity of the effort and ensure that they meet some
minimum criteria to be called "green". While frequently
used, there is no definition of the terms "green" building
or "green building standard" in state law. This bill does
not offer definitions, but states that green building
standards are intended to protect the public's health and
safety and minimize the buildings impact on the environment.
It would assist in policy development if these terms were
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defined and/or more descriptive terms such as "environmental
performance standards" were established to clarify the
differences between "green" and traditional building
standards.
3)Green Building Regulation Development . The BSC, the
Department of Housing and Community Development, the
Division of the State Architect and the Office of Statewide
Health and Planning and Development developed a set of
standards for California buildings that they refer to as
"green" building standards adopted in July 2008. Most of
the standards, especially with respect to non-residential
construction, are voluntary. The mandatory standards in
some cases reflect existing mandates. In other words, this
first round of proposed standards is not strong. The BSC
states they intend to start work on a more stringent set of
standards to be adopted in 2010. Staff for the BSC states
that the second round will include a greater number of
mandated building features. It should be noted that these
regulations do not contain any criteria or minimum
requirements that a building would have to meet to be called
"green". This is an issue that concerns many, including
Legislators as reflected in a letter to BSC on April 18,
2008, of misleading claims about green building. By not
establishing minimum requirements, buildings could be built
with one of the proposed voluntary "requirements" and could
be called a "green building" in accordance with California
standards. This eliminates the incentive for buildings that
comply with more stringent standards, like those in LEED or
other similar systems.
4)Amendment Needed . This bill requires that a green building
standard adopted or approved by BSC be inserted into the
relevant part of the Building Standards Code where
appropriate. This furthers the confusion between "green"
and the other building standards. Without definitions for
"green" and "green building standard" it should be made
clear that a "green building standard" that has been adopted
into the appropriate section of the code is no longer a
"green" standard.
5)Related Legislation .
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a) AB 2939 (Hancock) of 2008 authorizes a local entity to
implement stricter green building standards than Building
Standards Code This bill was vetoed with the following
message: "This bill would authorize local jurisdictions
to impose more restrictive modifications to the
California Green Building Standards Code for both
residential and non-residential building" and is "both
unnecessary and far reaching."
b) SB 1473 (Calderon) Chapter 719, Statutes of 2008
requires the Building Standards Commission, by July 1,
2011, to adopt and publish green building standards for
both residential and non-residential construction. It
also imposes a fee to be used to assist with the
development of building standards, included green
building standards.
c) AB 210 (Hayashi) specifies that local governments may
adopt changes or modifications to green building
standards in the Building Standards Code in the same
manner as they are authorized for other building
standards. This was heard by this Committee on July 6,
2009 and passed on a 7-0 vote.
SOURCE : Natural Resources Defense Council
Environmental Defense Fund
SUPPORT : American Council of Engineering Companies of
California
American Lung Association of California
California Building Industry Association
California Business Properties Association
California League of Conservation Voters
Environment California
Environmental Defense Fund
Natural Resources Defense Council
Planning and Conservation League
Sierra Club California
Stopwaste.org
U.S. Green Building Council, Northern
California
OPPOSITION : None on file
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