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AB-2910 State Housing Law: City of Los Angeles: conversion of nonresidential buildings.(2023-2024)

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Date Published: 08/29/2024 09:00 PM
AB2910:v93#DOCUMENT

Enrolled  August 29, 2024
Passed  IN  Senate  August 26, 2024
Passed  IN  Assembly  August 27, 2024
Amended  IN  Senate  August 21, 2024
Amended  IN  Senate  August 15, 2024
Amended  IN  Senate  June 24, 2024
Amended  IN  Assembly  April 18, 2024
Amended  IN  Assembly  March 19, 2024

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 2910

Introduced by Assembly Member Santiago

February 15, 2024

An act to add and repeal Section 17958.10 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to housing.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 2910, Santiago. State Housing Law: City of Los Angeles: conversion of nonresidential buildings.
The California Building Standards Law establishes the California Building Standards Commission within the Department of General Services. Existing law requires the commission to approve and adopt building standards and to codify those standards in the California Building Standards Code, which is required to be published once every 3 years.
The State Housing Law establishes statewide construction and occupancy standards for buildings used for human habitation. That law requires the building department of every city or county to enforce within its jurisdiction the provisions of the California Building Standards Code, the provisions of the State Housing Law, and specified other rules and regulations promulgated pursuant to that law. That law authorizes a city or county to adopt alternative building regulations for the conversion of commercial or industrial buildings to joint living and work quarters, as specified.
This bill would additionally authorize the City of Los Angeles (city) to adopt alternative building regulations for the conversion of nonresidential buildings to residential uses, as specified. The bill would prohibit these alternative building regulations from applying to nonresidential buildings with industrial uses. Before adopting alternative building regulations, this bill would require the city to have a housing element compliant with law, adopt an ordinance facilitating or expediting the review of adaptive reuse projects, and make specified express findings.
This bill would require the city to file the alternative building regulations and a copy of the findings expressly marked and identified with the regulation that the finding refers to with the commission. The bill would authorize the commission to reject the alternative building regulations filed by the city. The bill would prohibit the alternative building regulations from being effective or operative for any purpose until the findings and the alternative building regulations have been filed with the commission or if the commission rejects the alternative building regulations.
This bill would require the city to notice, hold at least two public meetings, and provide for public comment, as specified, before adopting alternative building regulations. The bill, if the city adopts the approved alternative building regulations, would require those regulations to be adopted at a public meeting of the legislative body of the city. The bill would require the city to submit the adopted alternative building regulations to the commission.
This bill would authorize the commission and other specified state agencies to request additional information from the city regarding regulations adopted pursuant to this bill.
This bill would repeal these provisions and any alternative building standards adopted pursuant to these provisions upon the effective date of specified state adaptive reuse building standards, or January 1, 2029, whichever is earlier.
This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the City of Los Angeles.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares the following:
(a) The COVID-19 pandemic spurred a significant shift in the way people work, reducing the amount of time spent working in offices and increasing the amount of work done on a hybrid schedule or entirely remotely.
(b) Shifts in current and projected office demand have led to concerns that declining commercial office building valuations may pose fiscal challenges for local governments, which rely heavily on property taxes levied on commercial real estate to provide public goods and services.
(c) In 2022, the national office vacancy rate reached an almost three-decade high of about 17 percent, according to a report from the real estate company CBRE.
(d) According to Bloomberg News, over $900,000,000,000 of debt in commercial real estate nationally will mature in 2024.
(e) According to the sixth Regional Housing Needs Assessment cycle, local governments must plan for more than 2,500,000 homes by 2030 to meet the housing need in California.
(f) Residential homes built further away from existing neighborhoods and infrastructure are more likely to face greater risk for fires, storms, flooding, extreme heat, and other severe weather events.
(g) Homes built further away from city and town centers force residents to commute longer distances to jobs, schools, and other community services resulting in higher household transportation costs. Residents in these communities are more likely to rely on personal vehicles for daily commutes and errands, therefore increasing overall vehicle miles traveled and greenhouse gas emissions throughout the state, and continuing to contribute to climate change.
(h) Converting vacant commercial space into residential housing, through adaptive reuse, could greatly reduce underutilized and vacant buildings that have been decreasing in value, thereby helping to stabilize the commercial real estate market and filling those spaces with more valuable tax generating uses.
(i) Adaptive reuse projects can also increase activity and foot traffic in neighborhoods across the state which help support local businesses and enhance the cultural life of cities and towns.
(j) Adaptive reuse projects create new construction jobs and preserve historic structures.
(k) Adaptive reuse projects are more environmentally friendly than new construction, repurposing existing materials, reducing transportation emissions, and preserving embodied carbon.

SEC. 2.

 Section 17958.10 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:

17958.10.
 (a) The City of Los Angeles may adopt alternative building regulations for the conversion of nonresidential buildings and structures, or portions thereof, to Residential Group R-1 or R-2 and related accessory uses, as described in the California Building Standards Code. The alternative building regulations adopted pursuant to this section shall not apply to nonresidential buildings with industrial uses.
(1) The buildings and structures subject to the alternative building regulations adopted pursuant to this section shall remain subject to local zoning regulations.
(2) The alternative building regulations adopted pursuant to this section are not required to impose the same requirements as building standards adopted pursuant to Section 17922. However, in permitting repairs, alterations, and additions necessary to accommodate the conversion of commercial buildings and structures, or portions thereof, to Residential Group R-1 or R-2 uses, the alternative building regulations shall, in the determination of the local governing body, impose requirements that protect the public health, safety, and welfare.
(3) (A) The alternative building regulations adopted pursuant to this section shall be limited to establishing minimum standards relative to ceiling height, emergency escape, exterior wall and exterior opening protection, smoke control systems, fire extinguishing systems, fire alarm systems, fire pumps and generator rooms, means of egress, accessibility, light, ventilation, light and ventilation courts, sound transmission, energy conservation, electrical systems, mechanical systems, elevators, fire command center design, vestibules, windows, structural design requirements, and room and other interior space dimensions.
(B) The alternative building regulations adopted pursuant to this section shall be equivalent to or more restrictive than the standards allowed for live-work conversions under Section 91.8502 of the Los Angeles Building Code, as that section read as of January 1, 2024, except that the city may adopt alternative building regulations that are less restrictive, but provide equivalent or greater protection for the public health, safety and welfare, than the standards set forth in Section 91.8502 of the Los Angeles Building Code, relative to fire extinguishing systems, fire command center design, vestibules, windows, means of egress, energy conservation, elevators, structural design requirements, and room and other interior space dimensions.
(4) The alternative building regulations shall include the same accessibility requirements as Chapter 11B of the California Building Standards Code.
(5) The alternative building regulations shall require approval by the Energy Commission pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (h) of Section 25402.1 of the Public Resources Code.
(b) Before the City of Los Angeles may adopt alternative building regulations pursuant to this section, the city shall meet all of the following requirements:
(1) The city shall have a housing element that is compliant with law, including, but not limited to, Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 65100) of Division 1 of Title 7 of the Government Code, as determined by the Department of Housing and Community Development.
(2) The city shall adopt an ordinance to facilitate, or expedite the review of, adaptive reuse projects, as described in subparagraph (K) of paragraph (3) of subdivision (f) of Section 65589.9 of the Government Code.
(c) Before adopting alternative building regulations pursuant to this section, the City of Los Angeles shall make express findings that the regulations, at a minimum, are equivalent to the requirements in the California Building Standards Code or promote the same protection for the public health, safety, and welfare.
(1) The findings shall be available as public records.
(2) The city shall file the alternative building regulations and a copy of the findings expressly marked and identified with the regulation that the finding refers to with the California Building Standards Commission.
(3) The alternative building regulations shall not become effective or operative for any purpose until the findings and the alternative building regulations have been filed with the California Building Standards Commission.
(4) The California Building Standards Commission may reject the alternative building regulations filed by the city. If the California Building Standards Commission rejects the alternative building regulations, then those alternative building regulations shall not be effective or operative for any purpose.
(d) (1) The city shall notice, hold at least two public meetings, and provide for public comment in accordance with the Ralph M. Brown Act (Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 54950) of Part 1 of Division 2 of Title 5 of the Government Code) before adopting alternative building regulations pursuant to this section.
(2) If the city adopts the approved alternative building regulations, the regulations shall be adopted at a public meeting of the legislative body of the city. The city shall submit the adopted alternative building regulations to the California Building Standards Commission.
(e) The Legislature recognizes that while the working group established pursuant to Section 17921.9 is identifying and recommending amendments to state building standards to facilitate the creation and promotion of adaptive reuse residential projects statewide while not reducing minimum health and safety standards, there is a period of time before such amendments may be proposed during which adaptive reuse projects are subject to existing building standards which may warrant revisions or modifications.
(f) The California Building Standards Commission, Department of Housing and Community Development, Energy Commission, Public Utilities Commission, State Fire Marshal, and any member of the working group established pursuant to Section 17921.9 may request additional information from the City of Los Angeles regarding regulations adopted pursuant to this section.
(g) This section and any alternative building standards adopted pursuant to this section shall remain in effect only until the effective date of any state adaptive reuse building standards, as specified in subdivision (d) of Section 17921.9, or January 1, 2029, whichever is earlier, and as of that date shall be repealed.

SEC. 3.

 The Legislature finds and declares that a special statute is necessary and that a general statute cannot be made applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution because of the unique circumstances facing the City of Los Angeles with regard to affordable housing, homelessness, and commercial vacancies.