Existing law establishes the Department of Housing and Community Development in the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency. Existing law, the California Building Standards Law, establishes the California Building Standards Commission. Existing law requires the commission to approve and adopt building standards and to codify those standards in the California Building Standards Code. Existing law, the State Housing Law, establishes statewide construction and occupancy standards for buildings used for human habitation.

Existing law, until January 1, 2033, requires the commission and the department, commencing with the next triennial edition of the code adopted after January 1, 2023, to research and develop, and authorizes the commission and the department to propose for adoption by the commission, mandatory building standards for the installation of electric vehicle charging stations in existing multifamily dwellings, hotels, motels, and nonresidential developments, as specified.

This bill would require the commission, commencing with the first triennial edition of the code adopted after June 1, 2031, to adopt, approve, codify, and publish mandatory building energy standards for new construction building electrical circuit features to enable a qualified plug-in photovoltaic system, as defined, to function as an energy source within a single-family residential dwelling’s, multiunit residential dwelling’s, or nonresidential development’s electrical circuit, as specified. The bill would, for purposes of that requirement, require the department to research, develop, and propose for adoption mandatory building standards for a qualified plug-in photovoltaic system to function as an energy source within a single-family residential dwelling’s, multiunit residential dwelling’s, or nonresidential development’s electrical circuit. The bill would require the commission and the department, in satisfying those requirements, to, among other things, consult with certain interested parties and invite the participation of the public at large in the development of those building energy standards through open consensus-based processes.