California Codes & Regulations

Issues related to California Codes will be among the major actions that will impact on the commercial real estate industry over the next decade and BOMA California is well positioned to assure it has a seat at the table and is part of the decision-making process.

Why is it necessary to monitor the California Codes and the California Regulatory Process so closely? Unlike most other states, California adopts model codes and then is statutorily required to amend them with California specific provisions. For example, the International Code Council publishes the International Building Code (IBC), which California chose in 2005 as our base building code. Many states adopt the model code only and do not require amendments at all, however, many seismic, environmental and California specific standards are required to be included within our codes. Within the fire code alone, California required nearly 1,000 state-specific amendments to the model.

To leverage the success BOMA California has had in the legislative realm and since regulations promulgated within the various agencies will impact the way you do business and ultimately your bottom line, BOMA Cal has hired a respected Sacramento-based consulting firm, PattersonWheeler, LLC, who will assist us as "eyes and ears" enabling us to better represent the industry's interests in front of a multitude of regulatory bodies.

California was always the leader in codes, what happened?

What are the big issues?

Who are agencies/commissions BOMA California most closely works with and what do they do?

Top five issues impacting BOMA California Members.

Comments to the Building Standards Commission;
Green Building Code Advisory Committee
In early February 2008, the Building Standards Commission’s Green Building Code Advisory Committee met to adopt proposed changes to the State’s Building Code to incorporate new green building standards.  As the leader of a large coalition, our industry successfully fended off an ill-conceived green building codes mandate bill in the California Legislature last year and part of our argument was that the Building Standards Code process should work to write these codes. That process is now happening and we are actively engaged in the process.

Here is a link to our letter and comments to the committee:
                Green Building Code Advisory Committee Joint Letter (PDF)
                Green Building Code Advisory Committee Code Layout (PDF)