BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: sb 401
SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: Hueso
VERSION: 4/8/13
Analysis by: Mark Stivers FISCAL: yes
Hearing date: April 30, 2013
SUBJECT:
Estimated costs and benefits of new building standards
DESCRIPTION:
This bill requires any state entity proposing amendments to
non-residential model building codes, and when requested for new
standards within the model codes, to estimate the cost of
compliance and the potential benefits of the new standard as
well as disclose the assumptions used to determine the
estimates.
ANALYSIS:
The California Building Standards Law establishes the California
Building Standards Commission (BSC) and the process for adopting
state building standards. Under this process, state agencies
propose building standards for building types under their
jurisdiction. 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
agency for schools and emergency service buildings. In
addition, the California Energy Commission develops building
standards relating to energy efficiency for all occupancies.
State agencies begin with a model code developed by a national
code-writing entity. They then propose amendments to the model
codes to reflect California needs and priorities and submit to
the BSC the amended model codes. The BSC must then adopt,
modify, or reject the proposed building standards.
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
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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
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 of whether or not the
changes would have a significant effect on housing costs 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.
AB 1612 (Lara), Chapter 471, Statutes of 2012 requires the ISOR
for any California amendment to a model building code that
impacts housing to include the estimated cost of compliance, the
estimated potential benefits, and the related assumptions used
to determine the estimates. For changes in the model codes
themselves, AB 1612 requires the ISOR to include the estimated
cost of compliance, the estimated potential benefits, and the
related assumptions used to determine the estimates for that
specific change only if an interested party has made a request
to the agency to examine that specific section. No longer may a
state agency developing building standards that relate to
housing state that changes to the standards do not have a
significant effect on housing costs without publicly
substantiating that determination with cost data.
This bill applies the AB 1612 ISOR rules to any building
standard, not just a building standard that impacts housing.
The bill requires any state entity proposing building codes to
include in the ISOR the estimated cost of compliance, the
estimated potential benefits, and the related assumptions used
to determine the estimates for any California amendment to a
model building code. In addition, a state entity must include
in the ISOR the estimated cost of compliance, the estimated
potential benefits, and the related assumptions used to
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determine the estimates for any change in the model codes
themselves if an interested party has made a request to the
agency to examine that specific section.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose of the bill . According to the author, it is critical
to consider the impacts of changes in state building standards
on all businesses, not just on the residential construction
industry. If an agency is able to make the determination that
a new standard will have no significant impact on business, it
should know what the proposed standard will cost. This bill
creates parity between residential and non-residential
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.
Last year, HCD estimated that there were 1500 such changes
affecting housing in the newest model codes. Non-residential
model codes see similar numbers of changes. 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.
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Wednesday, April 24,
2013.)
SUPPORT: California Building Industry Association
California Business Properties Association
OPPOSED: None received.