Existing law, the California Building Standards Law, establishes the California Building Standards Commission (commission) within the Department of General Services and sets forth its powers and duties, including approval and adoption of building standards and codification of those standards into the California Building Standards Code (code). Existing law requires the commission to publish, or cause to be published, editions of the code in its entirety once every 3 years.

Existing law establishes the Department of Housing and Community Development (department) in the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency and requires the department to submit an annual report to the Governor and both houses of the Legislature on the operations and accomplishments during the previous fiscal year of the housing programs administered by the department.

This bill would require the department to convene a working group no later than December 31, 2025, to research and consider identifying and recommending amendments to state building standards allowing residential developments to be built, as specified. The bill would require the department, no later than December 21, 31, 2026, to provide a one-time report of its findings to the Legislature in the annual report described above. The bill, if the report identifies and recommends amendments to building standards, would require the department to research, develop, and consider proposing such standards for adoption by the commission, as specified.

Existing law, the California Building Standards Law, establishes the California Building Standards Commission (commission) within the Department of General Services and sets forth its powers and duties, including approval and adoption of building standards and codification of those standards into the California Building Standards Code (code). Existing law requires the commission to publish, or cause to be published, editions of the code in its entirety once every 3 years.

Existing law establishes the Department of Housing and Community Development (department) in the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency and requires the department to submit an annual report to the Governor and both houses of the Legislature on the operations and accomplishments during the previous fiscal year of the housing programs administered by the department.

This bill would require the department to no later than December 31, 2025, perform a review of construction cost pressures for certain residential construction as a result of new or existing building standards requirements in the code and provide a one-time report of its findings to the Legislature in the annual report described above. The bill, commencing with the next triennial edition of the code, and every 3 years thereafter, would require the department to perform additional reviews of construction cost pressures for single-family and multifamily residential construction, as described, and propose revisions or updates to the code, as needed, with a goal of maintaining or reducing by 30 percent the cost of construction for new residential development.

This bill would require the department to convene a working group no later than December 31, 2025, to research and consider identifying and recommending amendments to state building standards allowing residential developments to be built, as specified. The bill would require the department, no later than December 21, 2026, to provide a one-time report of its findings to the Legislature in the annual report described above. The bill, if the report identifies and recommends amendments to building standards, would require the department to research, develop, and consider proposing such standards for adoption by the commission, as specified.

SENATE COMMITTEE ON

Senator Anna Caballero, Chair

2023 - 2024 Regular Session

AB 2934 (Ward) - Residential developments: building standards: review

Bill Summary:

AB 2934 would require the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to convene a working group with specified stakeholders to research and consider recommendations for amendments to state building standards to allow residential developments of three to 10 units to be built under the California Residential Code, and to provide a report of its findings to the Legislature by December 31, 2026, as specified.

Fiscal Impact:

• HCD estimates ongoing costs of approximately $377,000 annually for 2.0 PY of staff to convene the working group, conduct research, consider recommendations for amending state building standards, and include findings in the annual report to the Legislature by December 31, 2026. To the extent the working group identifies and recommends amendments to building standards, HCD staff would research, develop, and propose revisions and clarifications to the Building Standards Code for adoption by the California Building Standards Commission (CBSC). (General Fund)
  
• Minor and absorbable costs for the California Energy Commission (CEC) and State Fire Marshal to participate in the working group and assist HCD in the investigation of possible building standards changes. (Special fund and General Fund)
  
• Minor and absorbable costs for the CBSC to participate in the working group and to consider the proposed revisions to the Building Standards Code for adoption as part of next triennial update. (Building Standards Administration Revolving Fund)

Background:

Existing law, the California Building Standards Law, authorizes the BSC to approve and adopt building standards through a triennial rulemaking process to revise and update the California Building Standards Code. There are approximately twenty state agencies that develop building standards for submittal to the BSC for review, approval, and adoption. HCD is responsible for proposing building standards to the BSC for residential buildings including, hotels, motels, lodging houses, apartment houses, dwellings, buildings and structures. In the absence of a designated state agency, the BSC is required to adopt specific building standards, as prescribed. Building standards take effect 180 days after they are published, unless a different date is specified. The most recent update to the California Building Standards Code, the 2022 Triennial Edition, is effect from January 1, 2023 until December 31, 2025.

The California Building Standards Code includes various sections, including an Administrative Code, Residential Code, Building Code, Electrical Code, Mechanical Code, Plumbing Code, Energy Code, Fire Code, and Green Building Standards Code, among others. The California Residential Code governs construction of one- and two-family residential dwellings and townhouses of three stories or less, while the California Building Code establishes requirements for the general building design and construction requirements for all other buildings, including medium and high density housing.

Proposed Law:

AB 2934 would require HCD to convene a working group by December 31, 2025 that includes the CBSC, Fire Marshal, CEC, and other stakeholders to research and consider identifying and recommending amendments to state building standards allowing residential developments of three to 10 units to be built under the requirements of the California Residential Code, and any necessary modifications to maintain health and safety standards for the developments. The bill would require HCD to provide a one-time report of its findings to the Legislature in its annual report by December 31, 2026.

AB 2934 would also require HCD, if the working group identifies and recommends amendments to building standards, to research, develop, and consider proposing those standards for adoption by the CBSC for the next triennial update of the Building Standards code that occurs on or after January 1, 2026.

Related Legislation:

AB 529 (Gabriel), Chap. 743/2023, required HCD to convene a specified working group regarding adaptive reuse residential projects, including identifying and recommending amendments to state building standards, and made other changes to state law related to adaptive reuse projects.

Staff Comments:

As noted above, HCD estimates that it would incur ongoing costs of approximately $377,000 annually for 2.0 PY of staff for workload associated with this bill. This would include staff time to convene and participate in the working group’s activities, and to include findings in a one-time report to the Legislature by December 1, 2026. To the extent the working group recommends amendments to building standards, HCD would continue to incur costs for workload to research, develop, and consider proposing building standards for adoption by the CBSC. Staff estimates that HCD would likely incur those staffing costs for three fiscal years, through the 2027-28 fiscal year, and potentially through the 2028 calendar year.

-- END --

SENATE COMMITTEE ON HOUSING

Senator Nancy Skinner, Chair

2023 - 2024 Regular

Bill No: AB 2934 Hearing Date: 6/24/2024

SUBJECT: Residential developments: building standards: review

DIGEST: This bill requires the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to convene a working group to research and consider identifying and recommending amendments to state building standards to allow residential developments between three and 10 units to be built under the California Residential Code.

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1. Establishes the California Building Standards Commission (CBSC) within the Department of General Services, and requires the commission to approve and adopt building standards and to codify those standards in the California Building Standards Code. Requires CBSC to publish editions of the code in its entirety once every three years. In the intervening period the CBSC must publish supplements as necessary.
2. Requires CBSC to receive proposed building standards from a state agency for consideration in an 18-month code adoption cycle. Requires CBSC to adopt regulations governing the procedures for 18-month code adoption cycle, which must include adequate provision of the following:
   1. Public participation in the development of standards;
   2. Notice in written form to the public of the compiled building standards with justifications;
   3. Technical review of the proposed building standards and accompanying justification by advisory boards appointed by CBSC; and
   4. Time for review of recommendations by the advisory boards prior to CBSC taking action.

1. Requires proposed building standards that are submitted to CBSC for consideration to be accompanied by an analysis completed by the appropriate state agency that justifies approval based on criteria, as specified.
2. Requires HCD to propose the adoption, amendment, or repeal of building standards to CBSC for residential buildings, including hotels, motels, lodging houses, apartment houses, dwellings, buildings, and structures.

This bill:

1. Requires HCD to convene a working group, with membership including, but not limited to, the CBSC State Fire Marshal, Energy Commission, and other stakeholders, to research and consider identifying and recommending amendments to state building standards allowing residential developments of between three and 10 units to be built under the requirements of the California Residential Code, and any necessary modifications to maintain health and safety standards for the developments.
2. Requires HCD, no later than December 31, 2026, to provide a one-time report of its findings to the Legislature in HCD’s annual legislative report, as specified.
3. Requires HCD, if the working group identifies and recommends amendments to building standards in the report in 3), to research, develop, and consider proposing for adoption by the CBSC such standards for the next triennial update of the California Building Standards Code that occurs on or after January 1, 2026.

COMMENTS:

1. Author’s Statement. “AB 2934 would direct HCD to create a working group to explore allowing ‘missing middle’ developments between three and 10 units to be built under the requirements of the California Residential Code, rather than the California Building Code. This change could unlock the production of triplexes and other smaller multi-family housing types by streamlining code requirements, while preserving health and safety and opening up a broader workforce to build these projects.”
2. Building Standards. The California Building Standards Law establishes the process for adopting state building standards by CBSC. Statewide building standards are intended to provide uniformity in building across the state. The CBSC's duties include the following: receiving proposed building standards from state agencies for consideration in each triennial and intervening building code adoption cycle; reviewing and approving building standards submitted by state agencies; adopting building standards for state buildings where no other state agency is authorized by law; and publishing the approved building standards in the California Building Standards Code.

There are approximately 20 state agencies that develop building standards and propose them for adoption to the CBSC. After the proposal of building standards by state agencies, the standards undergo a public vetting process. A code advisory committee composed of experts in a particular scope of code reviews the proposed standards, followed by public review. The proposing agency considers feedback and may then amend the standards and re-submit them to the CBSC for consideration. HCD is responsible for the standards for residential buildings, hotels and motels. The California Building Code and California Residential Code govern general standards for multifamily and single-family residential construction.

Updates and changes to building standards are adopted on two timelines: through the triennial code adoption cycle which occurs every three years, and through the intervening code adoption cycle which provides an update to codes 18 months after the publication of the triennial codes. Regulatory activities for each cycle begin over two years before the effective date of the codes. The standards adopted in the current intervening code cycle will be effective on July 1, 2024 and the next triennial cycle's standards will be effective on January 1, 2026.

As a matter of practice, the Legislature typically offers guidelines or directs agencies to consider certain standards, rather than requires the adoption of specific standards, in order to provide flexibility and allow for subject matter experts to determine appropriateness and weigh the many considerations that must be evaluated when recommending new or modified building standards through the public regulatory process.

1. Housing Costs and Missing Middle Housing. The cost of housing in California is the highest of any state in the nation. Additionally, the pace of cost increase has far outstripped that in other parts of the county. One result of this is that homeownership has become much more difficult to attain, and the median priced home in California has continued to climb even during the recent high interest rate environment. Construction costs have also continued to increase. There are many drivers of this, including the cost of materials, cost and availability of labor, complexity of building code requirements, availability of construction loan financing, and more. Currently, only 15% of California households can afford to purchase the median priced home – compared to 35% for the country as a whole, the lowest level since 2007.^[1]

The type of housing built also affects this affordability. Much of the housing built in California is large single-family homes (which can be an inefficient use of land) and mid- and high-rise construction (which are expensive to build). One strategy to lower the cost of housing is to facilitate the construction of "missing-middle" housing types that accommodate more units per acre, but are not as inherently expensive to build. This includes medium-density typologies such as accessory dwelling units, townhomes, duplexes, fourplexes, and multifamily housing projects up to twenty units. Such units are more likely to be affordable to moderate-income households that cannot afford typical market-rate homes, but that earn too much income to qualify to receive publicly-subsidized affordable housing.

Missing middle housing building codes. The California Residential Code governs construction of one- and two-family dwellings and townhouses of three stories or less. The California Building Code (CBC) establishes requirements for all other buildings, including medium and high-density housing. These are based on model international codes commonly used around the world. However, certain reasonable requirements in the CBC for larger buildings can make development prohibitively complicated or render the economics infeasible for smaller ones. As a result, several jurisdictions across the United States have begun to allow smaller, missing-middle housing types, including triplexes and fourplexes, to be built under the requirements of the Residential Code.

The city of Memphis, which pioneered this new flexibility, identified several immediate benefits to the shift, including no longer requiring separate mechanical, engineering, and plumbing drawings to be submitted for project permitting; providing simpler egress requirements; and safely modifying seismic and fire protections. In addition, more small-scale residential contractors are now available to build these homes, as commercial contractors tend to work on larger projects like block-size apartment complexes and large commercial buildings.

Additionally, the unit cutoffs in the CRC do not align with the current financing offerings for constructing one- to four-unit dwellings. FHA-backed mortgages allow recipients to take advantage of more affordable financing for construction up to a fourplex, but the rigidity of the CBC hinders this possibility. In addition, some jurisdictions have reported that the construction of new units that increase the unit count of a parcel from two to three (or more) are triggering the heightened requirements of the CBC, including instances of adding an ADU to properties with a duplex, or adding a second ADU to a lot with a single-family home and an existing ADU.

This bill would direct HCD to set up a working group, similar to the working group established in AB 529 (Gabriel, Chapter 743, Statutes of 2023), to examine the possibility of modifying the California Building and Residential Codes for smaller developments between three and 10 units in size, without creating negative impacts on health and safety.

1. Cost Study. New building standards being proposed by various code entities (like HCD) to CBSC must be accompanied by an analysis that justifies approval based on criteria including that the cost to the public is reasonable, based on the overall benefit to be derived from the building standard. While the law currently requires the proposing entity to analyze the cost to the public of individual building code modifications, it is not apparent that any entity is reviewing the accumulation of those many changes at a holistic level to form a reasonable estimate of the cumulative cost impacts. These changes and any new or heightened requirements in the code have a direct impact on the cost of new housing in the state. This bill would require HCD to begin performing a more holistic cost pressure analysis of proposed standards, to better identify the impacts and ensure the residential building standards process evaluates not just with the granular cost of individual modifications, but the overall impact of the totality of standards.

Related Legislation:

AB 529 (Gabriel, Chapter 743, Statutes of 2023) — required HCD to convene a working group regarding adaptive reuse residential projects, including identifying and recommending amendments to state building standards, and makes other changes to state law related to adaptive reuse projects.

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: Fiscal Com.: Local:

POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on Wednesday,

June 19, 2024.)

SUPPORT:

American Planning Association, California Chapter
California Apartment Association
California Building Industry Association
California Community Builders
California State Association of Counties
Eden Housing
Inner City Law Center
LeadingAge California
Livable California

OPPOSITION:

None received.

-- END --

1. https://www.car.org/marketdata/data/haitraditional ↑

SENATE COMMITTEE ON HOUSING

Senator Nancy Skinner, Chair

2023 - 2024 Regular

Bill No: AB 2934 Hearing Date: 6/24/2024

SUBJECT: Residential developments: building standards: review

DIGEST: This bill requires the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to convene a working group to research and consider identifying and recommending amendments to state building standards to allow residential developments between three and 10 units to be built under the California Residential Code.

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1. Establishes the California Building Standards Commission (CBSC) within the Department of General Services, and requires the commission to approve and adopt building standards and to codify those standards in the California Building Standards Code. Requires CBSC to publish editions of the code in its entirety once every three years. In the intervening period the CBSC must publish supplements as necessary.
2. Requires CBSC to receive proposed building standards from a state agency for consideration in an 18-month code adoption cycle. Requires CBSC to adopt regulations governing the procedures for 18-month code adoption cycle, which must include adequate provision of the following:
   1. Public participation in the development of standards;
   2. Notice in written form to the public of the compiled building standards with justifications;
   3. Technical review of the proposed building standards and accompanying justification by advisory boards appointed by CBSC; and
   4. Time for review of recommendations by the advisory boards prior to CBSC taking action.

1. Requires proposed building standards that are submitted to CBSC for consideration to be accompanied by an analysis completed by the appropriate state agency that justifies approval based on criteria, as specified.
2. Requires HCD to propose the adoption, amendment, or repeal of building standards to CBSC for residential buildings, including hotels, motels, lodging houses, apartment houses, dwellings, buildings, and structures.

This bill:

1. Requires HCD to convene a working group, with membership including, but not limited to, the CBSC State Fire Marshal, Energy Commission, and other stakeholders, to research and consider identifying and recommending amendments to state building standards allowing residential developments of between three and 10 units to be built under the requirements of the California Residential Code, and any necessary modifications to maintain health and safety standards for the developments.
2. Requires HCD, no later than December 31, 2026, to provide a one-time report of its findings to the Legislature in HCD’s annual legislative report, as specified.
3. Requires HCD, if the working group identifies and recommends amendments to building standards in the report in 3), to research, develop, and consider proposing for adoption by the CBSC such standards for the next triennial update of the California Building Standards Code that occurs on or after January 1, 2026.

COMMENTS:

1. Author’s Statement. “AB 2934 would direct HCD to create a working group to explore allowing ‘missing middle’ developments between three and 10 units to be built under the requirements of the California Residential Code, rather than the California Building Code. This change could unlock the production of triplexes and other smaller multi-family housing types by streamlining code requirements, while preserving health and safety and opening up a broader workforce to build these projects.”
2. Building Standards. The California Building Standards Law establishes the process for adopting state building standards by CBSC. Statewide building standards are intended to provide uniformity in building across the state. The CBSC's duties include the following: receiving proposed building standards from state agencies for consideration in each triennial and intervening building code adoption cycle; reviewing and approving building standards submitted by state agencies; adopting building standards for state buildings where no other state agency is authorized by law; and publishing the approved building standards in the California Building Standards Code.

There are approximately 20 state agencies that develop building standards and propose them for adoption to the CBSC. After the proposal of building standards by state agencies, the standards undergo a public vetting process. A code advisory committee composed of experts in a particular scope of code reviews the proposed standards, followed by public review. The proposing agency considers feedback and may then amend the standards and re-submit them to the CBSC for consideration. HCD is responsible for the standards for residential buildings, hotels and motels. The California Building Code and California Residential Code govern general standards for multifamily and single-family residential construction.

Updates and changes to building standards are adopted on two timelines: through the triennial code adoption cycle which occurs every three years, and through the intervening code adoption cycle which provides an update to codes 18 months after the publication of the triennial codes. Regulatory activities for each cycle begin over two years before the effective date of the codes. The standards adopted in the current intervening code cycle will be effective on July 1, 2024 and the next triennial cycle's standards will be effective on January 1, 2026.

As a matter of practice, the Legislature typically offers guidelines or directs agencies to consider certain standards, rather than requires the adoption of specific standards, in order to provide flexibility and allow for subject matter experts to determine appropriateness and weigh the many considerations that must be evaluated when recommending new or modified building standards through the public regulatory process.

1. Housing Costs and Missing Middle Housing. The cost of housing in California is the highest of any state in the nation. Additionally, the pace of cost increase has far outstripped that in other parts of the county. One result of this is that homeownership has become much more difficult to attain, and the median priced home in California has continued to climb even during the recent high interest rate environment. Construction costs have also continued to increase. There are many drivers of this, including the cost of materials, cost and availability of labor, complexity of building code requirements, availability of construction loan financing, and more. Currently, only 15% of California households can afford to purchase the median priced home – compared to 35% for the country as a whole, the lowest level since 2007.^[1]

The type of housing built also affects this affordability. Much of the housing built in California is large single-family homes (which can be an inefficient use of land) and mid- and high-rise construction (which are expensive to build). One strategy to lower the cost of housing is to facilitate the construction of "missing-middle" housing types that accommodate more units per acre, but are not as inherently expensive to build. This includes medium-density typologies such as accessory dwelling units, townhomes, duplexes, fourplexes, and multifamily housing projects up to twenty units. Such units are more likely to be affordable to moderate-income households that cannot afford typical market-rate homes, but that earn too much income to qualify to receive publicly-subsidized affordable housing.

Missing middle housing building codes. The California Residential Code governs construction of one- and two-family dwellings and townhouses of three stories or less. The California Building Code (CBC) establishes requirements for all other buildings, including medium and high-density housing. These are based on model international codes commonly used around the world. However, certain reasonable requirements in the CBC for larger buildings can make development prohibitively complicated or render the economics infeasible for smaller ones. As a result, several jurisdictions across the United States have begun to allow smaller, missing-middle housing types, including triplexes and fourplexes, to be built under the requirements of the Residential Code.

The city of Memphis, which pioneered this new flexibility, identified several immediate benefits to the shift, including no longer requiring separate mechanical, engineering, and plumbing drawings to be submitted for project permitting; providing simpler egress requirements; and safely modifying seismic and fire protections. In addition, more small-scale residential contractors are now available to build these homes, as commercial contractors tend to work on larger projects like block-size apartment complexes and large commercial buildings.

Additionally, the unit cutoffs in the CRC do not align with the current financing offerings for constructing one- to four-unit dwellings. FHA-backed mortgages allow recipients to take advantage of more affordable financing for construction up to a fourplex, but the rigidity of the CBC hinders this possibility. In addition, some jurisdictions have reported that the construction of new units that increase the unit count of a parcel from two to three (or more) are triggering the heightened requirements of the CBC, including instances of adding an ADU to properties with a duplex, or adding a second ADU to a lot with a single-family home and an existing ADU.

This bill would direct HCD to set up a working group, similar to the working group established in AB 529 (Gabriel, Chapter 743, Statutes of 2023), to examine the possibility of modifying the California Building and Residential Codes for smaller developments between three and 10 units in size, without creating negative impacts on health and safety.

1. Cost Study. New building standards being proposed by various code entities (like HCD) to CBSC must be accompanied by an analysis that justifies approval based on criteria including that the cost to the public is reasonable, based on the overall benefit to be derived from the building standard. While the law currently requires the proposing entity to analyze the cost to the public of individual building code modifications, it is not apparent that any entity is reviewing the accumulation of those many changes at a holistic level to form a reasonable estimate of the cumulative cost impacts. These changes and any new or heightened requirements in the code have a direct impact on the cost of new housing in the state. This bill would require HCD to begin performing a more holistic cost pressure analysis of proposed standards, to better identify the impacts and ensure the residential building standards process evaluates not just with the granular cost of individual modifications, but the overall impact of the totality of standards.

Related Legislation:

AB 529 (Gabriel, Chapter 743, Statutes of 2023) — required HCD to convene a working group regarding adaptive reuse residential projects, including identifying and recommending amendments to state building standards, and makes other changes to state law related to adaptive reuse projects.

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No

POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on Wednesday,

June 19, 2024.)

SUPPORT:

California Council for Affordable Housing (Sponsor)
California Housing Consortium
California Housing Partnership Corporation
Eden Housing
Housing California
LeadingAge California
Resources for Community Development

OPPOSITION:

None received.

-- END --

1. https://www.car.org/marketdata/data/haitraditional ↑

ASSEMBLY THIRD READING

ATR Bill Id:AB 2934

Author:(Ward)

As Amended Ver:May 16, 2024

Majority vote

SUMMARY

Requires the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to convene a working group to research and consider identifying and recommending amendments to state building standards to allow residential developments between three and 10 units to be built under the California Residential Code.

Major Provisions

1. Requires HCD to convene a working group, with membership including, but not limited to, the California Building Standards Commission (CBSC), State Fire Marshal, Energy Commission, and other stakeholders, to research and consider identifying and recommending amendments to state building standards allowing residential developments of between three and 10 units to be built under the requirements of the California Residential Code, and any necessary modifications to maintain health and safety standards for the developments.
2. Requires each entity in the working group to provide input relative to its area of expertise and oversight.
3. Requires HCD, no later than December 31, 2026, to provide a one-time report of its findings to the Legislature in the annual report, as specified.
4. Requires HCD, if the working group identifies and recommends amendments to building standards in the report in 3), to research, develop, and consider proposing for adoption by the CBSC such standards for the next triennial update of the California Building Standards Code that occurs on or after January 1, 2026.

COMMENTS

California's Housing Crisis: California is in the midst of a severe housing crisis. Over two-thirds of low-income renters are paying more than 30% of their income toward housing, a "rent burden" that means they have to sacrifice other essentials such as food, transportation, and health care.^[1] In 2023, over 181,000 Californians experienced homelessness on a given night, with a sharp increase in the number of people who became homeless for the first time.^[2] The crisis is driven in large part by the lack of affordable rental housing for lower income people. According to the California Housing Partnership's (CHP) Housing Need Dashboard, in the current market, nearly 2 million extremely low-income and very low-income renter households are competing for roughly 687,000 available and affordable rental units in the state. Over three-quarters of the state’s extremely low-income households and over half of the state's very low-income households are severely rent burdened, paying more than 50% of their income toward rent each month. CHP estimates that the state needs an additional 1.3 million housing units affordable to very low-income Californians to eliminate the shortfall.^[3] By contrast, production in the past decade has been under 100,000 housing units per year – including less than 10,000 units of affordable housing per year.^[4] In addition, information from the California Association of Realtors’ Housing Affordability Index indicates the median cost of a single-family home in the state reached $822,000 in 2023.^[5]

Building Standards: The California Building Standards Law establishes the process for adopting state building standards by the Commission. Statewide building standards are intended to provide uniformity in building across the state. The CBSC's duties include the following: receiving proposed building standards from state agencies for consideration in each triennial and intervening building code adoption cycle; reviewing and approving building standards submitted by state agencies; adopting building standards for state buildings where no other state agency is authorized by law; and publishing the approved building standards in the California Building Standards Code (CCR, Title 24).

There are approximately 20 state agencies that develop building standards and propose them for adoption to the CBSC. After the proposal of building standards by state agencies, the standards undergo a public vetting process. A code advisory committee composed of experts in a particular scope of code reviews the proposed standards, followed by public review. The proposing agency considers feedback and may then amend the standards and re-submit them to the CBSC for consideration. HCD is responsible for the standards for residential buildings, hotels and motels. The California Building Code and California Residential Code govern general standards for multifamily and single-family residential construction, while the California Plumbing Code governs plumbing requirements for a variety of buildings. Within the codes, there are certain requirements that are mandatory for all newly constructed dwellings or buildings, and certain provisions that are optional or voluntary – meaning the requirements must be followed only if an entity chooses to construct certain items or systems.

Updates and changes to building standards are adopted on two timelines: through the triennial code adoption cycle which occurs every three years, and through the intervening code adoption cycle which provides an update to codes 18 months after the publication of the triennial codes. Regulatory activities for each cycle begin over two years before the effective date of the codes. The standards adopted in the current intervening code cycle will be effective on July 1, 2024 and the next triennial cycle's standards will be effective on January 1, 2026.

As a matter of practice, the Legislature typically offers guidelines or directs agencies to consider certain standards, rather than requires the adoption of specific standards, in order to provide flexibility and allow for subject matter experts to determine appropriateness and weigh the many considerations that must be evaluated when recommending new or modified building standards.

Housing Costs and Missing Middle Housing: The cost of housing in California is the highest of any state in the nation. Additionally, the pace of cost increase has far outstripped that in other parts of the county. One result of this is that homeownership has become much more difficult to attain, and the median priced home in California has continued to climb even during the high interest rate environment. Construction costs have also continued to increase, though there are many drivers of this, including the cost of materials, cost and availability of labor, complexity of building code requirements, availability of construction loan financing, and more. Currently, only 15% of California households can afford to purchase the median priced home – compared to 35% for the country as a whole, the lowest level since 2007.^[6]

One of the many reasons that housing is too expensive is the type of housing that is being built. Much of the housing built in California is large single-family homes (which can be an inefficient use of land) and mid- and high-rise construction (which are expensive to build). One strategy to lower the cost of housing is to facilitate the construction of "missing-middle" housing types that accommodate more units per acre, but are not as inherently expensive to build. This includes medium-density typologies such as accessory dwelling units, townhomes, duplexes, fourplexes, and the like. Such units are more likely to be affordable to moderate-income households that cannot afford typical market-rate homes, but that earn too much income to qualify to receive publicly-subsidized affordable housing.

The California Residential Code (CRC) governs construction of one- and two-family dwellings and townhouses of three stories or less. The California Building Code (CBC) establishes requirements for all other buildings, including medium and high-density housing. These are based on model international codes commonly used around the world. However, certain reasonable requirements in the CBC for larger buildings can make development prohibitively complicated or render the economics infeasible for smaller ones. As a result, several jurisdictions across the United States have begun to allow smaller, missing-middle housing types, including triplexes and fourplexes, to be built under the requirements of the Residential Code.

Additionally, the unit cutoffs in the CRC do not align with the current financing offerings for constructing one- to four-unit dwellings. FHA-backed mortgages allow recipients to take advantage of more affordable financing for construction up to a fourplex, but the rigidity of the CBC hinders this possibility. In addition, some jurisdictions have reported that the construction of new units that increase the unit count of a parcel from two to three (or more) are triggering the heightened requirements of the CBC, including instances of adding an ADU to properties with a duplex, or adding a second ADU to a lot with a single-family home and an existing ADU.

This bill would direct HCD to set up a working group, similar to the working group established in AB 529 (Gabriel), Chapter 743, Statutes of 2023, to examine the possibility of modifying the CBC/CRC here in California for smaller developments between three and 10 units in size, without creating negative impacts on health and safety.

The city of Memphis, which pioneered this new flexibility, identified several immediate benefits to the shift, including no longer requiring separate mechanical, engineering, and plumbing drawings to be submitted for project permitting; providing simpler egress requirements; and safely modifying seismic and fire protections. In addition, more small-scale residential contractors are now available to build these homes, as commercial contractors tend to work on larger projects like block-size apartment complexes and large commercial buildings.

According to the Author

According to the author, "AB 2934 would direct HCD to create a working group to explore allowing ‘missing middle’ developments between three and 10 units to be built under the requirements of the California Residential Code, rather than the California Building Code. This change could unlock the production of triplexes and other smaller multi-family housing types by streamlining code requirements, while preserving health and safety and opening up a broader workforce to build these projects."

Arguments in Support

According to the American Planning Association, California Chapter, "While the Legislature has passed many changes to the housing entitlement and permitting process, we are excited to see interest in looking at other potential constraints to housing development. Reviewing the California Building code to determine areas where changes can be safely made that could address financial constraints to developing smaller multi-family developments could allow these type of projects to pencil out, providing more housing opportunities for communities throughout the state. With construction costs increasing due to interest rates, material costs and labor, in addition to building standards, we believe looking more closely at ways to provide a path for this 'missing middle' housing type will serve as an important resource to address the state's severe housing crisis."

Arguments in Opposition

None on file.

FISCAL COMMENTS

According to the Assembly Committee on Appropriations: HCD estimates ongoing General Fund costs of approximately $400,000 annually for two staff positions to develop and maintain the working group.

According to the Legislative Analyst's Office, the General Fund faces a structural deficit in the tens of billions of dollars over the next several fiscal years.

VOTES

ASM HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: 9-0-0

YES: Ward, Joe Patterson, Grayson, Kalra, Lee, Quirk-Silva, Reyes, Sanchez, Wilson

ASM APPROPRIATIONS: 11-1-3

YES: Wicks, Arambula, Bryan, Calderon, Wendy Carrillo, Mike Fong, Grayson, Haney, Hart, Pellerin, Villapudua

NO: Jim Patterson

ABS, ABST OR NV: Sanchez, Dixon, Ta

UPDATED

VERSION: May 16, 2024

CONSULTANT: Nicole Restmeyer / H. & C.D. / (916) 319-2085 FN: 0003373

1. https://chpc.net/housingneeds/ ↑

2. https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/ahar/2023-ahar-part-1-pit-estimates-of-homelessness-in-the-us.html ↑

3. https://chpc.net/housingneeds/ ↑

4. https://www.hcd.ca.gov/policy-research/housing-challenges.shtml ↑

5. https://www.car.org/marketdata/data/haitraditional ↑

6. https://www.car.org/marketdata/data/haitraditional ↑

Date of Hearing: May 8, 2024

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Buffy Wicks, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 2934

Author:(Ward) – As Introduced Ver:February 15, 2024

Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable: No

SUMMARY:

This bill requires the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to convene a working group to consider recommending amendments to state building standards to allow residential developments between three and 10 units to be built under the California Residential Code. This bill also requires HCD to review residential construction cost pressures as a result of existing building standards requirements.

Specifically, this bill:

1. Requires HCD, by December 31, 2025, to convene a working group to include the California Building Standards Commission (CBSC), State Fire Marshal, Energy Commission, and other stakeholders, to research and consider identifying and recommending amendments to state building standards allowing residential developments of between three and 10 units to be built under the requirements of the California Residential Code, and any necessary modifications to maintain health and safety standards for the developments. Each entity in the working group must provide input relative to its area of expertise and oversight.
2. Requires HCD, by December 31, 2026, to provide a one-time report of its findings to the Legislature in its existing annual report, as specified.
3. Requires HCD, if the working group recommends amendments to building standards, to research, develop, and consider proposing for adoption by the CBSC such standards for the next triennial update of the California Building Standards Code that occurs on or after January 1, 2026.
4. Requires HCD, by December 31, 2025, to review construction cost pressures for single-family and multifamily residential construction as a result of new or existing building standards requirements in the California Building Standards Code and provide a one-time report of its findings to the Legislature in its existing annual report, as specified.
5. Requires HCD, commencing with the next triennial edition of the California Building Standards Code and every three years thereafter, to perform a review as described above and propose revisions or updates to the code, as needed, with a goal of maintaining or reducing by 30% the cost of construction for new residential development.

FISCAL EFFECT:

HCD estimates ongoing General Fund costs of $1.455 million annually for two staff positions and a third-party contractor every 18 months. Staff is needed to develop and maintain the working group and to review the construction cost pressures for residential construction every triennial code adoption cycle. HCD indicates some of the specialty reviews required by this bill would necessitate hiring a third-party contractor.

According to the Legislative Analyst’s Office, the General Fund faces a structural deficit in the tens of billions of dollars over the next several fiscal years. 

COMMENTS:

1. Purpose. According to the author:

[This bill] would direct HCD to create a working group to explore allowing ‘missing middle’ developments between three and 10 units to be built under the requirements of the California Residential Code, rather than the California Building Code. This change could unlock the production of triplexes and other smaller multi-family housing types by streamlining code requirements, while preserving health and safety and opening up a broader workforce to build these projects. Additionally, this bill would require HCD to perform an analysis of cost pressures created by current building code requirements and to complete the same analysis in future building code cycles with a goal of maintaining or reducing the costs of construction for new housing.

1. Background. Missing-Middle. The cost of housing in California is the highest of any state in the nation, and the rate of increase has far outpaced that in other parts of the county. As a result, homeownership has become more difficult to attain. Currently, only 15% of California households can afford to purchase the median priced home – compared to 35% for the country as a whole, the lowest level since 2007.

One strategy to lower the cost of housing is to facilitate the construction of “missing-middle” housing types that accommodate more units per acre, but are not as inherently expensive to build. This includes medium-density typologies such as accessory dwelling units (ADUs), townhomes, duplexes, and fourplexes. Such units are more likely to be affordable to moderate-income households that cannot afford typical market-rate homes, but that earn too much income to qualify for publicly-subsidized affordable housing.

The California Residential Code (CRC) governs construction of one- and two-family dwellings and townhouses of three stories or less. The California Building Code (CBC) establishes requirements for all other buildings, including medium- and high-density housing. However, certain reasonable requirements in the CBC for larger buildings can make development prohibitively complicated or render the economics infeasible for smaller buildings. As a result, several jurisdictions across the United States have begun to allow smaller, missing-middle housing types, including triplexes and fourplexes, to be built under the requirements of the residential code. Further, Federal Housing Administration-backed mortgages allow more affordable financing for construction up to a fourplex, but the rigidity of the CBC hinders this possibility.

This bill would direct HCD to convene a working group to examine the possibility of modifying the CBC and CRC for smaller developments between three and 10 units in size, without creating negative impacts on health and safety.

Cost Pressure Study. New building standards being proposed by various code entities (like HCD) to CBSC must be accompanied by an analysis that justifies approval, based on specified criteria. Existing law requires the proposing entity to analyze the cost to the public of individual building code modifications, but there is no requirement that any entity review the cumulative cost impacts of the individual changes.

This bill requires HCD to perform a review of construction cost pressures resulting from proposed or existing building standards to better support the goal of maintaining or reducing the cost of construction for new residential development.

1. Prior Legislation. AB 529 (Gabriel), Chapter 743, Statutes of 2023, requires HCD to convene a working group regarding adaptive reuse residential projects, including identifying and recommending amendments to state building standards, among other changes.

Analysis Prepared by: Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081

Date of Hearing: April 24, 2024

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Christopher M. Ward, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 2934 (

Author:Ward) – As Introduced Ver:February 15, 2024

SUBJECT: Residential developments: building standards: review

SUMMARY: Requires the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to convene a working group to research and consider identifying and recommending amendments to state building standards to allow residential developments between three and 10 units to be built under the California Residential Code, and to perform a review of residential construction cost pressures. Specifically, this bill:

1. Requires HCD to convene a working group, with membership including, but not limited to, the California Building Standards Commission (CBSC), State Fire Marshal, Energy Commission, and other stakeholders, to research and consider identifying and recommending amendments to state building standards allowing residential developments of between three and 10 units to be built under the requirements of the California Residential Code, and any necessary modifications to maintain health and safety standards for the developments.
2. Requires each entity in the working group to provide input relative to its area of expertise and oversight.
3. Requires HCD, no later than December 31, 2026, to provide a one-time report of its findings to the Legislature in the annual report, as specified.
4. Requires HCD, if the working group identifies and recommends amendments to building standards in the report in 3), to research, develop, and consider proposing for adoption by the CBSC such standards for the next triennial update of the California Building Standards Code that occurs on or after January 1, 2026.
5. Requires HCD, no later than December 31, 2025, to perform a review of construction cost pressures for single-family and multifamily residential construction as a result of new or existing building standards requirements in the California Building Standards Code and provide a one-time report of its findings to the Legislature in the annual report, as specified.
6. Requires HCD, commencing with the next triennial edition of the California Building Standards Code and every three years thereafter, to perform a review as described in 5) and propose revisions or update to the California Building Standards Code, as needed, with a goal of maintaining or reducing by 30% the cost of construction for new residential development.

EXISTING LAW:

1. Establishes the CBSC within the Department of General Services, and requires the commission to approve and adopt building standards and to codify those standards in the California Building Standards Code. Requires CBSC to publish editions of the code in its entirety once every three years. In the intervening period the commission must publish supplements as necessary. (Health and Safety Code (HSC) Sections 18942 and 18930)
2. Requires CBSC to receive proposed building standards from a state agency for consideration in an 18-month code adoption cycle. Requires CBSC to adopt regulations governing the procedures for 18-month code adoption cycle, which must include adequate provision of the following:
   1. Public participation in the development of standards;
   2. Notice in written form to the public of the compiled building standards with justifications;
   3. Technical review of the proposed building standards and accompanying justification by advisory boards appointed by CBSC; and
   4. Time for review of recommendations by the advisory boards prior to CBSC taking action. (HSC 18929.1)
3. Requires proposed building standards that are submitted to CBSC for consideration to be accompanied by an analysis completed by the appropriate state agency that justifies approval based on the following criteria:
   1. The building standard does not conflict with, overlap, or duplicate other building standards;
   2. The proposed standard is within the parameters of the agency's jurisdiction;
   3. The public interest requires the adoption of the building standard;
   4. The standard is not unreasonable, arbitrary, unfair, or capricious;
   5. The cost to the public is reasonable, based on the overall benefit to be derived from the building standard;
   6. The standard is not unnecessarily ambiguous or vague; and
   7. The applicable national specifications, published standards, and model codes have been appropriately incorporated into the standard. (HSC 18930)
4. Requires HCD to propose the adoption, amendment, or repeal of building standards to CBSC for residential buildings, including hotels, motels, lodging houses, apartment houses, dwellings, buildings, and structures. (HSC 17921)
5. Provides that only those building standards that are approved by the CBSC and are in effect at the local level at the time an application for a building permit is submitted shall apply to the plans and specifications for construction. (HSC 18938.5)

FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown.

COMMENTS:

Author’s Statement: According to the author, “AB 2934 would direct HCD to create a working group to explore allowing ‘missing middle’ developments between three and 10 units to be built under the requirements of the California Residential Code, rather than the California Building Code. This change could unlock the production of triplexes and other smaller multi-family housing types by streamlining code requirements, while preserving health and safety and opening up a broader workforce to build these projects. Additionally, this bill would also require HCD to perform an analysis of cost pressures created by current building code requirements and to complete the same analysis in future building code cycles with a goal of maintaining or reducing the costs of construction for new housing.”

California’s Housing Crisis: California is in the midst of a severe housing crisis. Over two-thirds of low-income renters are paying more than 30% of their income toward housing, a “rent burden” that means they have to sacrifice other essentials such as food, transportation, and health care.^[1] In 2023, over 181,000 Californians experienced homelessness on a given night, with a sharp increase in the number of people who became homeless for the first time.^[2] The crisis is driven in large part by the lack of affordable rental housing for lower income people. According to the California Housing Partnership’s (CHP) Housing Need Dashboard, in the current market, nearly 2 million extremely low-income and very low-income renter households are competing for roughly 687,000 available and affordable rental units in the state. Over three-quarters of the state’s extremely low-income households and over half of the state’s very low-income households are severely rent burdened, paying more than 50% of their income toward rent each month. CHP estimates that the state needs an additional 1.3 million housing units affordable to very low-income Californians to eliminate the shortfall.^[3] By contrast, production in the past decade has been under 100,000 housing units per year – including less than 10,000 units of affordable housing per year.^[4] In addition, information from the California Association of Realtors’ Housing Affordability Index indicates the median cost of a single-family home in the state reached $822,000 in 2023.^[5]

Building Standards: The California Building Standards Law establishes the process for adopting state building standards by the Commission. Statewide building standards are intended to provide uniformity in building across the state. The CBSC’s duties include the following: receiving proposed building standards from state agencies for consideration in each triennial and intervening building code adoption cycle; reviewing and approving building standards submitted by state agencies; adopting building standards for state buildings where no other state agency is authorized by law; and publishing the approved building standards in the California Building Standards Code (CCR, Title 24).

There are approximately 20 state agencies that develop building standards and propose them for adoption to the CBSC. After the proposal of building standards by state agencies, the standards undergo a public vetting process. A code advisory committee composed of experts in a particular scope of code reviews the proposed standards, followed by public review. The proposing agency considers feedback and may then amend the standards and re-submit them to the CBSC for consideration. HCD is responsible for the standards for residential buildings, hotels and motels. The California Building Code and California Residential Code govern general standards for multifamily and single-family residential construction, while the California Plumbing Code governs plumbing requirements for a variety of buildings. Within the codes, there are certain requirements that are mandatory for all newly constructed dwellings or buildings, and certain provisions that are optional or voluntary – meaning the requirements must be followed only if an entity chooses to construct certain items or systems.

Updates and changes to building standards are adopted on two timelines: through the triennial code adoption cycle which occurs every three years, and through the intervening code adoption cycle which provides an update to codes 18 months after the publication of the triennial codes. Regulatory activities for each cycle begin over two years before the effective date of the codes. The standards adopted in the current intervening code cycle will be effective on July 1, 2024 and the next triennial cycle’s standards will be effective on January 1, 2026.

As a matter of practice, the Legislature typically offers guidelines or directs agencies to consider certain standards, rather than requires the adoption of specific standards, in order to provide flexibility and allow for subject matter experts to determine appropriateness and weigh the many considerations that must be evaluated when recommending new or modified building standards.

Housing Costs and Missing Middle Housing: The cost of housing in California is the highest of any state in the nation. Additionally, the pace of cost increase has far outstripped that in other parts of the county. One result of this is that homeownership has become much more difficult to attain, and the median priced home in California has continued to climb even during the high interest rate environment. Construction costs have also continued to increase, though there are many drivers of this, including the cost of materials, cost and availability of labor, complexity of building code requirements, availability of construction loan financing, and more. Currently, only 15% of California households can afford to purchase the median priced home – compared to 35% for the country as a whole, the lowest level since 2007.^[6]

One of the many reasons that housing is too expensive is the type of housing that is being built. Much of the housing built in California is large single-family homes (which can be an inefficient use of land) and mid- and high-rise construction (which are expensive to build). One strategy to lower the cost of housing is to facilitate the construction of “missing-middle” housing types that accommodate more units per acre, but are not as inherently expensive to build. This includes medium-density typologies such as accessory dwelling units, townhomes, duplexes, fourplexes, and the like. Such units are more likely to be affordable to moderate-income households that cannot afford typical market-rate homes, but that earn too much income to qualify to receive publicly-subsidized affordable housing.

The California Residential Code (CRC) governs construction of one- and two-family dwellings and townhouses of three stories or less. The California Building Code (CBC) establishes requirements for all other buildings, including medium and high-density housing. These are based on model international codes commonly used around the world. However, certain reasonable requirements in the CBC for larger buildings can make development prohibitively complicated or render the economics infeasible for smaller ones. As a result, several jurisdictions across the United States have begun to allow smaller, missing-middle housing types, including triplexes and fourplexes, to be built under the requirements of the Residential Code.

Additionally, the unit cutoffs in the CRC do not align with the current financing offerings for constructing one- to four-unit dwellings. FHA-backed mortgages allow recipients to take advantage of more affordable financing for construction up to a fourplex, but the rigidity of the CBC hinders this possibility. In addition, some jurisdictions have reported that the construction of new units that increase the unit count of a parcel from two to three (or more) are triggering the heightened requirements of the CBC, including instances of adding an ADU to properties with a duplex, or adding a second ADU to a lot with a single-family home and an existing ADU.

This bill would direct HCD to set up a working group, similar to the working group established in AB 529 (Gabriel), Chapter 743, Statutes of 2023, to examine the possibility of modifying the CBC/CRC here in California for smaller developments between three and 10 units in size, without creating negative impacts on health and safety.

The city of Memphis, which pioneered this new flexibility, identified several immediate benefits to the shift, including no longer requiring separate mechanical, engineering, and plumbing drawings to be submitted for project permitting; providing simpler egress requirements; and safely modifying seismic and fire protections. In addition, more small-scale residential contractors are now available to build these homes, as commercial contractors tend to work on larger projects like block-size apartment complexes and large commercial buildings.

Cost Study: New building standards being proposed by various code entities (like HCD) to CBSC must be accompanied by an analysis that justifies approval based on the following criteria:

• The building standard does not conflict with, overlap, or duplicate other building standards;
• The proposed standard is within the parameters of the agency's jurisdiction;
• The public interest requires the adoption of the building standard;
• The standard is not unreasonable, arbitrary, unfair, or capricious;
• The cost to the public is reasonable, based on the overall benefit to be derived from the building standard;
• The standard is not unnecessarily ambiguous or vague; and
• The applicable national specifications, published standards, and model codes have been appropriately incorporated into the standard. (HSC 18930)

While the law currently requires the proposing entity to analyze the cost to the public of individual building code modifications, it is not apparent that any entity is reviewing the accumulation of those many changes at a holistic level to form a reasonable estimate of the cumulative cost impacts. These changes and any new or heightened requirements in the code have a direct impact on the cost of new housing in the state. This bill would require HCD to begin performing a more holistic cost pressure analysis of proposed standards, to better identify the impacts and ensure the residential building standards process evaluates not just with the granular cost of individual modifications, but the overall impact of the totality of standards.

Arguments in Support: According to the American Planning Association, California Chapter, “While the Legislature has passed many changes to the housing entitlement and permitting process, we are excited to see interest in looking at other potential constraints to housing development. Reviewing the California Building code to determine areas where changes can be safely made that could address financial constraints to developing smaller multi-family developments could allow these type of projects to pencil out, providing more housing opportunities for communities throughout the state. With construction costs increasing due to interest rates, material costs and labor, in addition to building standards, we believe looking more closely at ways to provide a path for this ‘missing middle’ housing type will serve as an important resource to address the state’s severe housing crisis.”

Arguments in Opposition: None on file.

Related Legislation:

AB 2933 (Low) of the current legislative session requires HCD to investigate whether additional water conservation and efficiency measures are warranted for existing and new multifamily housing during the next triennial code cycle. This bill passed this committee on a 7-1 vote and is currently pending before the Assembly Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials.

SB 597 (Glazer) of the current legislative session requires HCD to conduct research and develop recommendations, and authorizes them to propose, building standards for the installation of rainwater catchment systems in newly constructed residential dwellings. The bill requires HCD to provide a report to the Legislature regarding the outcomes of its research and the recommendations developed by January 1, 2025. This bill passed out of this committee on a 6-0 vote and is currently pending before the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

AB 529 (Gabriel), Chapter 743, Statutes of 2023: Requires HCD to convene a working group regarding adaptive reuse residential projects, including identifying and recommending amendments to state building standards, and makes other changes to state law related to adaptive reuse projects.

AB 835 (Lee), Chapter 345, Statutes of 2023: Requires the California State Fire Marshal to research standards for single-exit, single stairway apartment houses, with more than two dwelling units, in buildings above three stories, as specified, and to provide a report to the relevant legislative committees by January 1, 2026, as specified.

SB 745 (Cortese), Chapter 884, Statutes of 2023: Requires HCD and the CBSC to research, develop, and propose building standards to reduce potable water use in new residential and nonresidential buildings, and requires CBSC to perform a review of water efficiency and water reuse standards every three years, and update them as needed.

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

American Planning Association, California Chapter

California Building Industry Association

California Community Builders

Livable California

Opposition

None on file.

Analysis Prepared by: Nicole Restmeyer / H. & C.D. / (916) 319-2085

1. https://chpc.net/housingneeds/ ↑

2. https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/ahar/2023-ahar-part-1-pit-estimates-of-homelessness-in-the-us.html ↑

3. https://chpc.net/housingneeds/ ↑

4. https://www.hcd.ca.gov/policy-research/housing-challenges.shtml ↑

5. https://www.car.org/marketdata/data/haitraditional ↑

6. https://www.car.org/marketdata/data/haitraditional ↑