Bill Text: CA AB1959 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Building standards: green building standards: toxic air
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-05-25 - In committee: Set, second hearing. Held under submission. [AB1959 Detail]
Download: California-2011-AB1959-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 1959 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 16, 2012
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Williams
FEBRUARY 23, 2012
An act to add Section 18941.10 to the Health and Safety Code,
relating to building standards.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1959, as amended, Williams. Building standards: green building
standards: toxic air contaminants.
The California Building Standards Law provides for the adoption of
building standards by state agencies by requiring all state agencies
that adopt or propose adoption of any building standard to submit
the building standard to the California Building Standards Commission
for approval and adoption. In the absence of a designated state
agency, the commission is required to adopt specific building
standards, as prescribed. Existing law requires the commission to
publish, or cause to be published, editions of the code in its
entirety once every 3 years.
This bill would require the commission
Department of Housing and Community Development , as a part of
the next triennial edition of the California Green Building Standards
Code adopted after January 1, 2013 2014
, to consider adopting building standards for toxic air
contaminants as a part of the mandatory minimum building standards.
proposing standards to the commission for indoor air
pollutants in residential buildings. The bill would require the
commission, as a part of the next triennial edition of the California
Green Building Standards Code adopted after January 1, 2014, to
consider proposing standards for indoor air pollutants in
nonresidential buildings.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) Toxins in the built environment cause serious health problems,
including cancer, premature death, asthma, and other respiratory
disease.
(b) Infants and children may be more susceptible to indoor air
pollutants in comparison to the general population and are
additionally likely to be disproportionately exposed more often to
indoor pollutants in comparison to the general population.
(c) Sources of pollutants include all of the following:
(1) Volatile organic compounds used in fumigants or formaldehyde
in furniture.
(2) Metals such as lead and mercury.
(3) Semivolatile organic compounds, such as carbon bonded to
bromine, chlorine, fluorine used in flame retardants and stain
repellents.
(4) Endocrine disruptors such as phthalates and BPA used as
softeners in plastics, cash register receipts, and air fresheners.
(5) Environmental tobacco smoke.
(d) Sources of pollutants in the built environment are numerous,
and because people spend most of their time indoors, the risk from
indoor air pollution is substantial. Californians, like others in
industrialized nations, average about 87 percent of their time
indoors. Indoor emissions are partially trapped inside buildings, and
people's activities put them very near indoor sources. Consequently,
some scientists estimate that pollutants emitted indoors are about
1,000 times more likely to be inhaled than comparable outdoor
emissions.
(e) Indoor pollution is estimated to cost California's economy
more then forty five billion dollars ($45,000,000,000) each year due
to premature deaths, medical costs, lost worker productivity, and
related impacts. The total cost is likely much higher, because the
total health impacts are not known.
(f) Therefore, toxins in the built environment should be reduced.
SEC. 2. Section 18941.10 is added to the Health and Safety Code,
to read:
18941.10. (a) As used in this section, "toxic air contaminants"
has the same meaning as defined in Section 39655.
(b)
18941.10. (a) As a part of the next
triennial edition of the California Green Building Standards Code
(Chapter 11 (commencing with Section 101) of Title 24 of the
California Code of Regulations) adopted after January 1,
2013, the commission shall consider adopting building standards for
toxic air contaminants as a part of the mandatory minimum building
standards. 2014, the Department of Housing and
Community Development shall consider proposing standards to the
commission for indoor air pollutants in residential buildings, and
the commission may adopt those standards.
(b) As a part of the next triennial edition of the California
Green Building Standards Code (Chapter 11 (commencing with Section
101) of Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations) adopted after
January 1, 2014, the commission shall consider proposing standards
for indoor air pollutants in nonresidential buildings.
(c) In preparation of regulations proposed pursuant to subdivision
(a) or (b), the categories of indoor air pollutants that the
commission and the department may consider include, but are not
limited to, volatile organic compounds, semi-volatile organic
compounds, metals, and endocrine disruptors.
(d) In preparation of regulations proposed pursuant to subdivision
(a) or (b), the commission and the department may consider existing
research completed by other state agencies on the topic of indoor air
quality, such as the State Air Resources Board's 2005 Report to the
California Legislature "Indoor Air Pollution in California," and work
prepared by the California Environmental Contaminant Biomonitoring
Program (Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 105440) of Part 5 of
Division 103).
(e) Regulations adopted pursuant to this section shall be feasible
within the meaning of Section 21061.1 of the Public Resources Code,
and shall comply with the criteria specified in subdivision (a) of
Section 18930.
