News for California Building Departments
Issue 2, April - June 2004
Index to all issues of The Willdan Letter
Important Dates
March 12, 2004
Last day to apply IAPMO certification examinations to be held on April 24, 2004 in Ontario, Ventura, Oroville, Oakland and Sacramento
See www.iapmo.org
March 15, 2004
NFPA NEC Training Seminar
Anaheim, CA
See www.nfpa.org or
call 1-800-344-3555 for
details
March 18, 2004
Building Standard Commission Hearing
See www.bsc.ca.gov for details, and the agenda when available
May 17-20, 2004
ICC Spring Meeting
Overland Park Kansas
See www.iccsafe.org for details
June 7-11, 2004
NFPA Professional Development Week
San Francisco, CA
See www.nfpa.org or call 1-800-344-3555 for details
September 26-30, 2004
75th Annual Educational and Business Conference Reno, NV
See www.iapmo.org for details
October 18, 2004
NFPA NEC Training Seminar
San Francisco, CA
See www.nfpa.org or call 1-800-344-3555 for details
What's Up With The State?
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AB 2787 (Chapter 726 of 2002 Statutes) requires the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to work with several other state agencies and develop “guidelines” and a “model ordinance” based on the principles of universal design developed by the Center for Universal Design at North Carolina State University, or other similar standards. Such guidelines and the model ordinance are currently being developed by HCD and are to provide non-mandatory accessibility standards for new home construction and existing home modifications that are not otherwise subject to accessibility regulations. When issued by HCD, the model ordinance may be adopted by a city or county as a local amendment to California Code of Regulations Title 24.
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The California Building Standards Commission hearing on March 18, 2003, in Sacramento began with the swearing in of reappointed James Barthman, and new Commissioners Robert Pernell and Isam Hasenin. Other Commission action included adoption of emergency structural standards applicable to state owned buildings including buildings owned by the University of California and California State University system. Regarding the planned adoption of the NFPA 5000 Building Code, the Commission provided a detailed schedule and flow chart mapping out the work and numerous steps needed to effect adoption. The schedule shows October 1, 2007, as the first possible effective date of a California Building Code based on the NFPA 5000. Testimony by NFPA provided an update on progress being made to develop language combining California Amendments with several NFPA chapters. Also, the NFPA advised that 49 new model code pages have been developed regarding concrete.
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As now planned, the 2004 Code Adoption Cycle will include efforts to adopt all the 2003 edition model codes selected on July 29, 2003 and 2002 NEC, without a building code. It is not clear if this means a 2004 California Building Standards Code publication with all Parts except Part 2, the California Building Code.
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The Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) has been holding open public workshops over the past two years in an effort to develop a new Chapter 11A of the California Building Code on multifamily dwelling accessibility. The project is nearing completion and is scheduled to be submitted to the California Building Standards Commission in August 2004 in order to become part of the 2005 Code Adoption Cycle. Following public hearings and adoption by the Commission, the new Chapter 11A will be published as a replacement to the existing Chapter 11A in the 2001 California Building Code.
2004 Legislation of Interest to Building Departments
1. Senate Bill 1633 if enacted as last amended on July 1, 2003, will amend the Health and Safety Code to allow the Building Standards Commission to adopt building standards for occupancies where no state agency currently has authority to adopt building standards, when the Commission determines that statewide uniformity is needed to protect the public health and safety, or is otherwise in the public interest.
2. Senate Bill 1634 if enacted as amended on April 13, 2004, will authorize the issuance of an administrative citation under specific conditions for violations of the State Housing Law (Health and Safety Code, beginning with section 17910), the California Building Standards Code (Title 24), or local housing standards when a building is substandard. Provisions for recovering code enforcement costs are proposed. This bill will require the home address any city or county employee, or retired employee, who has enforced the State Housing Law, Building Standards Code or local housing standards, that is on record with the Department of Motor Vehicles to be maintained confidential and not a public record. This bill will add the Legislature’s encouragement for local enforcement agencies to allow public access to any database of information on substandard housing.
3. Senate Bill 1815 if enacted as introduced on February 20, 2004, will prohibit a city or county from requiring a permit to replace an existing plumbing fixture or appliance in a dwelling, if such installation may be made without alteration to the dwelling. A permit may be required for such installations in dwellings deemed substandard or hazardous.
4. Senate Bill 1652 if enacted as amended on April 12, 2004, will require on and after January 1, 2006, a solar photovoltaic energy system in at least 25% of all single-family dwellings constructed as part of a development of at least 25 homes and a density of at least 20 homes per acre.
5. Assembly Bill 2536 if enacted as introduced on February 20, 2004, will require the installation of grab bars in 25% of all hotel and motel guest room bath and shower facilities by January 1, 2009, and in 100% of such facilities by January 1, 2030. By January 1, 2005, all hotel and motel shower and bath facilities shall have nonskid floor surfaces or provide nonskid mats.
6. Assembly Bill 2638 if enacted as introduced on February 20, 2004, will require any rule, interpretation or regulations by local government to clarify the California Building Standards Code (Title 24), to be a public record and subject to disclosure.
7. Assembly Bill 2533 if enacted as introduced on February 20, 2004, will address the need for compliance with existing laws requiring the identification of potentially hazardous buildings. This is in response to the deaths in Paso Robles during the earthquake on December 22, 2003. Watch for amendments requiring action by local government.
Did You Know?
Did you ever wonder what the difference is between the California Administrative Code and the California Code of Regulations? The answer is...none! The name of California’s regulations adopted by the various state agencies to implement state laws was renamed from the California Administrative Code to the California Code of Regulations, by legislation in 1991 enacting Government Code section 11344.9. Yes, it is true that you can still find references to the California Administrative Code in both state laws and regulations, but that is only because it will take many more years to replace the old name wherever used. The official name of the book of regulations that implements, clarifies, interprets and is to carryout the provisions of state laws enacted by the legislative process is the California Code of Regulations which is organized into 27 separate Titles.
Useful Websites
Current and prior year legislation
State regulations other than Title 24
State laws
International Code Council
National Fire Protection Association
Int’l Assoc of Plumbing & Mechanical Officials