More than a\u00a0dozen California cities and counties have been trying for months to get climate-forward building standards enacted. But they\u2019ve been caught in regulatory purgatory thanks to legislation meant to address the state\u2019s affordable housing crisis.<\/p>\n
Last year, in an effort to ease development, California hit the brakes<\/a> on updates to state and local building codes meant to make buildings safer and more efficient. But the law that established the six-year moratorium, Assembly Bill 130<\/a>, left some exceptions for local governments \u2014 including a\u00a0narrow legal pathway to adopt emissions-cutting rules to support their preexisting climate goals.<\/p>\n Since the pause went into effect Oct. 1, 2025, 21 cities and counties have passed such building ordinances. These \u200b\u201creach codes<\/a>\u201d go beyond the state\u2019s energy-efficiency standards in encouraging building owners to ditch fossil fuels. For example, 14 localities have adopted rules to incentivize households to replace broken one-way air conditioners with two-way heat pumps<\/a>, which provide both heating and cooling. The approach nudges<\/a> homes toward electrified heating, since when the furnace dies, the installed heat pump is ready to take its\u00a0place.<\/p>\n Reach codes have the potential to be among \u200b\u201cthe most impactful ordinances\u201d that local agencies can adopt to tackle climate change, said Anthony Eulo, senior manager of public sector services for Silicon Valley Clean Energy, a\u00a0public energy agency.<\/p>\n Localities must get the green light from the California Building Standards Commission, followed by a\u00a0thumbs-up from the state energy commission, before they can implement those codes. But as of Friday, the Building Standards Commission has yet to approve 17 proposed reach codes from 15 jurisdictions, including Alameda, Glendale, Marin County, Palo Alto, and San Luis Obispo. Some have been waiting nearly a\u00a0year.<\/p>\n In the past, the commission\u2019s vetting process took days, not months, Eulo\u00a0said.<\/p>\n The Building Standards Commission, which must ensure ordinances meet AB 130\u2019s complex exemption requirements, said it has approved seven reach codes over the last year. But the 17 pending ordinances \u200b\u201ccontain more complex amendments and are still under review,\u201d the agency said. \u200b\u201cWe hope to begin issuing response letters soon.\u201d In the last year, the commission has processed 440 ordinances out of about 500 received.<\/p>\n At the commission\u2019s last meeting on Aug. 25<\/a>, city and county representatives and building decarbonization advocates expressed their frustration at the unusual delay, which is holding them back from reducing noxious<\/a> pollution<\/a> from gas appliances.<\/p>\n \u201cAlameda cannot achieve its urgent climate goals and protect the health and safety of our residents without these foundational policies,\u201d Danielle Mieler, the city\u2019s sustainability and resilience manager, said at the meeting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than a\u00a0dozen California cities and counties have been trying for months to get climate-forward building standards enacted.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485579,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":["post-485578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}