BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 828|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 828
Author: Lieu (D), et al
Amended: 9/1/09 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE : 6-3, 7/7/09
AYES: Lowenthal, DeSaulnier, Kehoe, Pavley, Simitian, Wolk
NOES: Huff, Ashburn, Harman
NO VOTE RECORDED: Hollingsworth, Oropeza
SENATE ENV. QUALITY COMMITTEE : 5-2, 7/13/09
AYES: Simitian, Corbett, Hancock, Lowenthal, Pavley
NOES: Runner, Ashburn
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 50-30, 5/28/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Green building standards
SOURCE : Natural Resources Defense Council
Environmental Defense Fund
DIGEST : This bill requires the Buildings Standards
Commission to seek and respond to input from specified
state agencies when developing green building standards and
explicitly authorizes the California Energy Commission to
adopt voluntary green building standards.
Senate Floor Amendments of 9/1/09 added Housing and
CONTINUED
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Community Development to the list of state agencies whose
input to the Building Standards Commission must seek and
respond to when development green building standards.
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 (HCD) 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
agencies for schools and emergency service buildings. The
California Energy Commission (CEC) adopts building
standards related to energy efficiency. Not all buildings
fall under the jurisdiction of a relevant state agency.
Most commercial, industrial, and manufacturing structures
are considered "local buildings," over which local
governments may determine applicable building standards.
With respect to green building standards, SB 1473
(Calderon), Chapter 719, Statutes of 2008, gave BSC the
authority to adopt standards for occupancies for which no
state agency has authority or expertise (i.e., local
buildings).
This bill:
1. Requires BSC or any other state agency proposing green
building standards to seek the input of other state
agencies, including, but not limited to, all of the
following:
A. The Department of General Services
B. The Integrated Waste Management Board
C. The State Air Resources Board
D. The Department of Water Resources
E. The Department of Toxic Substances Control
F. The State Department of Public Health
G. The Department of Transportation
H. The Office of the State Fire Marshal
I. The Department of Housing and Community
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Development
2. Requires that any such input include whether the
standard commented on should be voluntary or mandatory.
3. Requires BSC or any other state agency proposing green
building standards to consider and respond in writing to
the input provided by another state agency, if this
input is within the mandate of the other state agency.
4. Requires BSC or any other state agency proposing green
building standards to consult with environmental
advocacy groups, interested local government and code
enforcement entities, the building construction and
design industry, and other interested public parties.
5. Provides that green building standards shall include,
but not be 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.
6. Provides that green building standards 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.
7. Authorizes the CEC to adopt voluntary energy efficiency
standards, provided that the voluntary standards exceed
the CEC's current mandatory standards. These voluntary
standards are to be considered green building standards.
8. Requires the CEC, in developing these voluntary
standards, to leverage available incentive mechanisms
and ensure that the cost to the public is reasonable
based on the overall benefit to be derived.
Background
What is "green" building ? With renewed emphasis on energy
and resource conservation and preserving the public and
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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 defined and/or more descriptive terms such
as "environmental performance standards" were established
to clarify the differences between "green" and traditional
building standards.
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,
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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.
Related Legislation
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."
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.
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.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 9/2/09)
Environmental Defense Fund (co-source)
Natural Resources Defense Council (co-source)
American Lung Association of California
California Building Industry Association
California Business Properties Association
California League of Conservation Voters
Environment California
Planning and Conservation League
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Sierra Club California
Stopwaste.org
U.S. Green Building Council, Northern California
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office
and sponsors, this bill intends to strengthen the green
building regime in California by establishing a robust
development process that incorporates best practices and
technical expertise from various state agencies. As BSC
works to include more mandatory standards in the 2010
update of the current green building standards, the
participation of other expert state agencies, such as the
Department of Toxic Substances Control, Environmental
Protection Agency, and Department of Health Services, will
be vital to establishing strong standards. In addition,
this bill increases transparency by allowing the public to
better track the adoption process.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Ammiano, Arambula, Beall, Block, Blumenfield,
Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter,
Chesbro, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, Eng, Evans,
Feuer, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Galgiani, Hall, Hayashi,
Hernandez, Hill, Huffman, Jones, Krekorian, Lieu, Bonnie
Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Monning, Nava, John A. Perez, V.
Manuel Perez, Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana,
Skinner, Solorio, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico,
Yamada, Bass
NOES: Adams, Anderson, Bill Berryhill, Tom Berryhill,
Blakeslee, Conway, Cook, DeVore, Duvall, Emmerson,
Fletcher, Fuller, Gaines, Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman,
Harkey, Huber, Jeffries, Knight, Logue, Miller, Nestande,
Niello, Nielsen, Silva, Smyth, Audra Strickland, Tran,
Villines
JJA:do 9/2/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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