BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2472
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 20, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS, PROFESSIONS AND CONSUMER
PROTECTION
Mary Hayashi, Chair
AB 2472 (Huffman) - As Amended: April 12, 2010
SUBJECT : Building standards: pilot program for green
innovation building permits.
SUMMARY : Authorizes Marin County and an unspecified local
jurisdiction to adopt a pilot program for green innovation
building permits to promote and facilitate innovation and
research regarding environmentally sustainable building
materials, methods, and designs not yet considered or addressed
in the California Building Standards Code (Code). Specifically,
this bill :
1)Requires a city, county, or city and county that adopts a
green innovation building permit program to do all of the
following:
a) Adopt a local ordinance that includes the limitations
and requirements of the pilot program;
b) Limit the pilot program to green innovation technologies
methods and materials that improve water efficiency and
conservation, energy efficiency, material conservation,
resource efficiency or environmental quality beyond minimum
levels established by the Code;
c) Require technologies, methods and materials not
specifically approved as a green innovation by this program
to comply with the Code;
d) Prohibits the modification of essential structural, fire
and life-safety features of the program;
e) Require the certified building official to administer
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and enforce the provisions under this bill to ensure
qualified oversight of the health and safety of buildings;
f) Annually limit the pilot program to a maximum of 10 new
or existing single-family detached dwellings, unoccupied
accessory buildings, for a period of 5 years;
g) Require performance monitoring and reporting of each
permit under this pilot program to the building official
for use in assessing the success of each permit; and,
h) Require upon resale of a property where a green
innovation permit has been issued, that the seller notify
the buyer in writing of the building designs and
modifications approved under the pilot program for that
property.
2)Requires the building official of a city, county, or city and
county that adopts a pilot program pursuant to this bill to
report to the Department of Housing and Community Development
(DHCD) on both of the following:
a) The scope and requirements of the program and the types
of permits to be issued within six months after adoption of
the pilot program; and,
b) The number of each type of permit issued, an assessment
of the program, and recommendations for future revisions to
the green innovation permit program and state building
standards, within three years after the adoption of the
pilot program.
3)Makes legislative findings and declarations.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Authorizes a city or county to make changes or modifications
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in the requirements contained in the provisions published in
the California Building Standards Commission (CBSC) for
approval and adoption.
2)Authorizes a city or county to amend state green building
standards by ordinance if they make a finding that the
amendments are reasonably necessary because of local climatic,
geological, or topographical conditions.
3)Authorizes DHCD to approve the use of an alternate material,
appliance, installation, device, arrangement, method, or work
that is at least equivalent to the building standards
published in the Code, and other rules and regulations related
to public health and safety.
4)Requires that amendments, additions, and deletions to the Code
adopted by a city, county, or city and county pursuant to
existing law, become effective 180 days after publication, or
at a later date, as specified.
5)Requires all building standards to be administered and
enforced and, whenever practicable, written on a performance
basis consistent with state and nationally recognized
standards for building construction in view of the use and
occupancy of each structure to preserve and protect public
health and safety.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. This bill is keyed non-fiscal.
COMMENTS :
Purpose of this bill . According to the author's office,
"Research and field testing is limited by requirements of the
state building codes. There is no current process or framework
in state law that allows for safe field testing of new
technologies. Existing law requires local changes to be either
more restrictive than the state building codes, or require
evidence that the local changes are equivalent to the state
building codes. These processes do not allow and were not
intended for the local jurisdictions to allow for and test
promising new green technologies in order to develop the
documented proof and evidence of equivalency with building
codes. Many of the emerging public domain green building
practices, that could improve energy conservation, wastewater
management, and water reuse, need additional field testing to
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gain the performance documentation to prove to local and state
building officials that the alternatives are equivalent to the
current codes. This bill would allow for the additional field
testing while specifically safeguarding public health and
safety.
"Individual home owners seeking to conserve more resources than
the current code mandates currently have no practical legal
framework to apply to. Existing alternate materials and methods
provisions employed by local building departments pose an
unreasonably high evidentiary burden that cannot be feasibly met
by individual homeowners seeking to do the right thing.
However, the existing alternate materials and methods provisions
employed by local building departments are effective as applied
to industry seeking local approval for new products, and we are
therefore not proposing to change these existing provisions
through this proposed legislation."
Background . Current law provides local jurisdictions with two
mechanisms to modify the state building standards, including
green building standards, by one of the following methods:
1)Ordinance: The Code authorizes a local jurisdiction to adopt
more stringent building standards than the state building
standards, if it makes a finding that the changes are
reasonably necessary because of local climatic, geological, or
topographical conditions; or,
2)Administrative action: The Code authorizes a local building
official to administratively approve alternate materials and
methods, when the alternate is at least equivalent to the
building standards prescribe in the Code.
The proponents argue that the two current mechanisms available
use a lengthy approval process that can take up to several
years, and are expensive to entrepreneurs who provide green
energy products and materials, yet lack the capital for research
and development.
This bill would authorize local jurisdictions to bypass the two
mechanisms to modify the state building standards by adopting
the a pilot program that allows the local building official to
approve up to 50 projects using materials, methods, and designs
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not yet considered or addressed in the Code. Alternatively,
Marin County could propose that the innovative materials,
methods, and designs be adopted in the Code; DHCD is one of the
state agencies that proposes and adopts building standards.
The author's office contends that this bill would enable field
testing and data collection of non-approved state green building
standards.
Support . According to the Environmental Defense Fund,
"Experimentation will drive California's building stock into a
greener, more efficient and environmentally friendly future.
Buildings account for 40% of the energy usage in California and
almost 40% potable water use. Green building is still gaining
momentum and needs cutting edge design and construction to
continuously improve. By allowing for green building permits on
a limited basis, this bill allows communities to authorize
practices that are not yet contained in the Code.
"The [last set of amendments] tighten up the permitting process
and the types of practices allowed under this bill. These
amendments outline the types of new construction practices [the]
permits allow, including measures which impact water efficiency
and conservation, energy efficiency, material conservation and
resource efficiency, and environmental quality. The amendments
also further specify the counties which can participate in the
program and limit the number of permits allowed per year under
this bill."
Oppose . According to the California State Pipe Trades Council,
this bill "is both unnecessary and dangerous. The Code already
allows local jurisdictions to approve new, innovative,
environmentally sustainable building materials, methods and
designs pursuant to its local ordinance provisions and alternate
material approval provisions. The only difference between these
provisions and what is proposed is that AB 2472 would allow the
use of alternate materials, methods, and designs that fail to
meet minimum Code standards regarding sanitation, fire
protection, disabled access, structural and seismic safety,
electrical safety, drinking water safety, natural gas pipe
safety, durability and performance, indoor air quality, water
efficiency and even energy efficiency. By allowing local
jurisdictions to completely exempt buildings from the Code, this
proposal bypasses important code development safeguards built
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into the California building standards statutory scheme. It
also undoes decades of legislative reform designed to ensure
uniform, minimum building standards that are coordinated to
address multiple state programmatic objectives."
Previous Legislation . AB 210 (Hayashi), Chapter 89, Statutes of
2009, clarifies that cities and counties may amend state green
building standards if they make a finding that the amendments
are reasonably necessary because of local climatic, geological,
or topographical conditions
Double-referred . This bill is double-referred to Assembly Local
Government Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
City of Santa Barbara Community Development Department
Development Center for Appropriate Technology
Environmental Defense Fund
Marin County Board of Supervisors
Natural Resources Defense Council
Sierra Club California
Opposition
California State Pipe Trades Council
Analysis Prepared by : Joanna Gin / B.,P. & C.P. / (916)
319-3301