BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: ab 1612
SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: lara
VERSION: 2/7/12
Analysis by: Mark Stivers FISCAL: YES
Hearing date: June 12, 2012
SUBJECT:
Building standards that impact housing
DESCRIPTION:
This bill requires a state entity proposing changes to building
standards that impact housing to include information on the
estimated costs and benefits of the changes.
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. The Department of
Housing and Community Development (HCD) is the relevant state
agency for residential building standards. In addition, the
California Energy Commission develops building standards
relating to energy efficiency for all occupancies, including
housing.
State agencies developing building standards begin with a model
code developed by a national code-writing entity. State
agencies then make amendments to the model codes to reflect
California needs and priorities.
Building standards qualify as regulations. Therefore, the
adoption of building standards is subject to the Administrative
Procedures Act (APA), which establishes the general process for
the adoption of regulations. As part of the APA, an entity
proposing new or amended regulations must prepare and submit to
the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) a notice of the proposed
action and an initial statement of reasons (ISOR) for proposing
the change in regulation. Among other things, the ISOR must
include a statement of the specific purpose for each change, the
problem the agency intends to address, and the rationale for why
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the change is reasonably necessary to carry out the purpose and
address the problem for which it is proposed. The ISOR must
also enumerate the benefits anticipated from the regulatory
action, both monetary and non-monetary, and include evidence to
support an initial determination that the change may have or
will not have a significant, statewide adverse impact directly
affecting business.
The notice of proposed action that accompanies the ISOR must
include, among other things, a statement that the change would
have a significant effect on housing costs, if the agency makes
an initial determination that the action would have that effect,
and, separately, a description of all cost impacts known to the
agency that a representative private person or business would
necessarily incur in reasonable compliance with the proposed
action. If the agency is unaware of cost impacts on private
persons or businesses, it may state that instead.
This bill requires a state entity proposing changes to building
standards that impact housing to include additional information
on the estimated costs and benefits of the changes.
Specifically, the bill:
For any California amendment to a model code that impacts
housing, requires the ISOR to include the estimated cost of
compliance, the estimated potential benefits, and the related
assumptions used to determine the estimates.
For a particular change added to a model code by a national
code-writing entity, requires for that specific change only
that the ISOR include the estimated cost of compliance, the
estimated potential benefits, and the related assumptions used
to determine the estimates if an interested party has made a
request to the agency to examine that specific section.
Requires a state entity to include with any statement in the
notice of proposed action that a change in building standards
would have a significant effect on housing costs and the
estimated costs of compliance and potential benefits of a
building standard, if any, that were included in the ISOR.
This applies to all California amendments to model codes and,
if requested for a particular change, to changes in the model
codes themselves.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose of the bill . An agency proposing changes to building
standards that impact housing is required to provide the cost
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of compliance if it expects a proposed building standard to
have a significant effect on housing costs. If the agency
determines, however, that the standard will not have a
significant impact, or if it is unaware of any significant
impact, the agency must only say that and need not supply any
explicit information on the cost of compliance. According to
the author, the subjectivity of the term "significant" and the
lack of an estimate of the cost of compliance leave the public
without a clear indication of the actual costs of proposed
building standards. Without a firm understanding of the costs
related to proposed building standards, businesses and the
public cannot provide informed input, nor can they fully
prepare for the standard. The author believes this bill will
provide greater transparency and clarity with respect to the
costs and benefits of proposed building standards.
2.Just state amendments and requested portions of model codes .
When national code-writing entities issue new model codes,
they often include numerous changes from the previous edition.
HCD estimates that there are 1500 such changes affecting
housing in the newest model codes. California amendments to
the model codes, however, are much less frequent. In
recognition of the potential workload associated with having
to provide cost and benefit information on every change to
building standards, this bill limits the requirement for an
agency to provide cost and benefit information just to
California amendments and to those changes within model codes
that an interested party requests information on.
3.Worth the effort ? Current law requires the notice of proposed
action, if relevant, to include a statement that a proposed
building standard change would have a significant effect on
housing costs. As a result, this bill only adds value with
respect to changes that the state agency deems insignificant.
The committee may wish to consider how important it is for
state agencies to expend resources estimating the costs and
benefits of less than significant changes to building
standards.
4.Once or twice ? This bill requires a state agency to provide
cost and benefit information on proposed building standard
changes that affect housing within both the notice of proposed
action and the ISOR which are issued together. The sponsor
believes that some interested parties may read only one of the
two documents and that there is no harm in cutting and pasting
the information into both documents to increase awareness.
AB 1612 (LARA) Page 4
The committee may wish to consider whether the desired
information should be included in only one or both of the
documents.
5.Previous legislation . In 2010, Senator Correa authored a very
similar bill, SB 643, which was held on the Assembly
Appropriations Committee suspense file. This year's bill
differs in that it does not require an estimated cost of
compliance for code changes incorporated into model codes
unless specifically requested by an interested party.
6.Technical amendments . The author has agreed to take the
following technical amendments in the Environmental Quality
Committee:
On page 4, line 2 after "request" insert "in writing"
On page 4, line 2 after "agency" insert "at least 30
days prior to submittal of the initial statement of
reasons"
On page 6, line 38 after "request" insert "in writing"
On page 4, line 38 after "agency" insert "at least 30
days prior to submittal of the initial statement of
reasons"
On page 10, line 38 strike "(i)"
On page 11, line 3 strike "(ii)" and insert "(D)"
On page 11, line 3 strike "a model code" and insert
"model codes"
On page 11, line 5 strike "subparagraph" and insert
"paragraph"
1.Chaptering amendments . This bill has chaptering conflicts
with three other bills, AB 1409, AB 2091, and SB 1520. The
author will need to resolve these conflicts at some point.
2.Double referral . The Senate Rules Committee has referred this
bill both to this committee and the Committee on Environmental
Quality.
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 74-0
Appr: 15-0
B&P: 8-0
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Wednesday, June 6,
2012)
AB 1612 (LARA) Page 5
SUPPORT: California Building Industry Association
(sponsor)
American Council of Engineering Companies
California
California Apartment Association
California Association of Realtors
California Business Properties Association
California Manufacturers & Technology Association
California Chamber of Commerce
Golden State Builders Exchange
United Contractors
Western Electrical Contractors Association
OPPOSED: None received.