CBIA Continues to Enjoy Success as Governor Takes Action on Legislation
CBIA continued to enjoy success in our legislative endeavors as Governor Jerry Brown
took action on several bills in which CBIA had a vested interest.
Signature Requests
Among key legislation that CBIA supported and had hoped for the Governor’s signature
was Senate Bill 617 (Calderon, D-Montebello). The Governor eventually signed SB 617
which requires the Department of Finance to develop and adopt guidelines by November
1, 2013, that will help state agencies better assess the cost and benefits of major
regulations. When proposing regulations, agencies must now address the impacts the
regulations will have on the creation or elimination of jobs and/or businesses in
California, the competitive advantage or disadvantage the regulations will have on instate businesses and the positive or negative impacts on investment in California. The bill
had language very similar to CBIA-sponsored Senate Bill 643 (Correa, D-Santa Ana)
which ultimately drew the support of CBIA.
The Governor also signed Senate Bill 454 (Pavley, D-Agoura Hills), a measure that
requires utilities to obtain appropriate documentation that proper permits were obtained
before releasing incentive funding for energy efficiency upgrades, which the industry has
strongly supported. CBIA was instrumental in removing language from the bill that
would have granted the California Energy Commission judicial authority to enforce the
state’s energy efficiency standards.
CBIA also supported the signing of Assembly Bill 849 (Gatto, D-Burbank), a measure
that would repeal the authority of a city, county, or other local agency to adopt building
standards that prohibit entirely the use of graywater systems. Instead, the legislation
grants local jurisdictions the authority to adopt graywater system standards that are more
restrictive than state standards.
Senate Bill 474 (Evans, D-Santa Rosa) was signed by the Governor after CBIA
successfully fought to remove language that would have eliminated a general contractor’s
or property owner’s ability to seek indemnity and defense from subcontractors in nonresidential construction. CBIA ultimately removed opposition once these concessions
were made.
CBIA also requested a signature on Senate Bill 194, the Local Government Omnibus Act
(Committee on Governance and Finance), which changes the dollar limit that triggers a
longer life for tentative maps from $178,000 to $236,790, conforming the statutory
threshold to the amount set by the State Allocation Board in January 2011. Under
previous state law, a tentative map would be extended by 36 months if local officials
required a subdivider to spend $187,000 on off-site infrastructure improvements. The
threshold could have ended up much higher had this legislation not been enacted.
The Governor also signed Senate Bill 618 (Wolk, D-Davis), a measure that require the
county assessor to consider, when valuing real property for property taxation purposes,
solar-use easements. CBIA requested a signature on this measure.
Veto Requests
In addition to the signature requests, CBIA also sought vetoes on a number of bills.
The Governor vetoed Assembly Bill 275 (Solorio, D-Santa Ana), the Rainwater Capture
Act of 2011, which would have allowed local governments to charge for permits for
rainwater capture systems that would be connected to the public water system.
CBIA was also part of a broad coalition seeking a veto of Assembly Bill 767 (Perez, DLos Angeles) which would establish a State Capitol Sustainability Task Force. The
coalition was opposed because the bill mandated the state use a private-sector building
standards program to the exclusion of California’s own groundbreaking mandatory
standards, the California Green Building Code (CALGreen).
Lastly, CBIA was part of a coalition seeking a veto of Senate Bill 469 (Vargas, D-San
Diego), a measure that would have added significant burdens to retailers wishing to
locate new stores or remodel existing stores which sell groceries in California. Among
other aspects, the bill would have required redundant economic impact studies already
required under CEQA.
The CBIA Board of Directors has adopted legislative and regulatory priorities for 2012,
which CBIA will update members on in the coming weeks.
For more information, contact your Governmental Affairs Team:
Richard Lyon
Jason Bryant
Silvio Ferrari
Bob Raymer
Nick Cammarota
Steve Cruz
Cassie Gilson
Frank de Lima
Cliff Moriyama
Christy Sinclair