Advocacy Updates

Dive Into New Code Amendments that Expand Options for Adaptive Reuse

July 11, 2023| Advocacy Updates|

By AIA California Staff

(July 11, 2023) During the week of June 26, the California Building Standards Commission voted to amend the California Building Code (CBC), ushering in a new era of opportunities for AIA California members and architects in the state. (Read AIA California’s press release here.)

The amendments expands CBC tools that support the adaptive reuse, renovation, or repair of existing buildings. The changes bring seven existing International Existing Building Code (IEBC) Chapters to California’s Existing Building Code (CEBC) for the first time. The CEBC is one of a suite of different codes that make up the CBC.

“AIA California believes these significant code changes will lay an excellent foundation in support of the retrofit and adaptive reuse of non-historic existing commercial buildings to residential and other needed uses,” says Mike Malinowski, FAIA, who led AIA California’s multi-year code change initiative for this. “The benefits will include revitalization of our communities, decrease in greenhouse gas emissions that occur when existing infrastructure remains in place, increases in much-needed housing stock, and new levels of architectural creative problem-solving in making these projects both code compliant as well as efficient and attractive.”

We asked Mike to take a deep dive into these changes for members. His response follows below:

Understanding the Code Change
The amendment changes the California Existing Building Code by adding the Work Area and Performance paths to the Prescriptive Path, make it easier to obtain to adapt, renovate and repair existing buildings in California.

Technically, the California Building Code has amended to California Building Standards Commission altered California’s Title 24 Part 10 Existing Building Code (CEBC) by adding Chapters 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 13 of the International Existing Building Code (IEBC) into the 2022 CEBC. Chapters 6 through 11 are being adopted by the Office of the State Fire Marshall (OSFM) which is one of the core state code adopting agencies. The OSFM must approve of any code change that could impact building life safety considerations such as fire resistance, exiting, and structural stability.

The IEBC is unique among the ICodes in that it allows the design professional code user to select among a number of different compliance paths: Prescriptive, Work Area, and Performance. Conforming with any one of these compliance paths result in a code compliant building. The CEBC has up until now included just a single compliance path, the Prescriptive. This limited the range of options. When this code change goes into effect on July 1 2024, California will have two OSFM adopted compliance paths: the Prescriptive, and the Work Area. The Performance compliance path, Chapter 13 of the IEBC, will not be formally ‘adopted’ in California, but it will be printed, and available for local communities to adopt if they so choose.

It can serve in any community statewide as an optional ‘reference tool’ in evaluating Alternative Methods and Materials, which has always been a part of both California and International Codes. The Alternative Methods and Materials is in effect a separate path, that is based on achieving the intent of the ‘regular code’ – and Chapter 13 has an extensive analysis system built into it that can assist both code officials and design professionals in considering ‘code equivalence’.

Each of these different compliance paths address specific building conditions and provide design professionals with approaches and options specific to specific project requirements. For example, the Work Area method has separate chapters for ‘repairs’, ‘additions’, ‘change in use’ and ‘alterations’ – with alterations further broken down into levels 1, 2 and 3. These various chapters allow a design professional to select the method most appropriate to a particular building challenge, ultimately resulting in diverse options for compliance. Understanding the suitability of each compliance path helps architects determine the most appropriate approach for their specific projects, ensuring compliance with the code while optimizing design, functionality, and sustainability.

Note that there are NO changes proposed to the existing Prescriptive Compliance path by these changes, so those design professionals familiar with that chapter, can continue to use it as they have in the past.

Training and Implementation
AIA California recognizes the significance of architects adapting to these new compliance paths and aims to support its members and other professionals in the state during this transition. Consequently, the organization will be launching training sessions in the coming months, offering architects the opportunity to familiarize themselves with these optional methods for retrofitting and reusing existing buildings. This preparation will enable architects to integrate the new code provisions effectively and creatively in their future projects.

It is important to note that although the changes officially go into effect in July 2024, many jurisdictions may permit the use of approved code provisions prior to their formal activation date, as the decision to make this part of California’s building codes has already been made.

Read More →

Advocacy Update – Update on AIA CA Board’s Legislative Positions

July 5, 2023| Advocacy Updates|

The California Legislature is about halfway through the legislative process for the year. In fact, the Legislature just passed a major deadline they call the “House of Origins” deadline. This is the point in the legislative process in which all bills introduced in one house must pass out of that house and make it the second house in order to continue moving forward this year. This means that all bills introduced in the Senate must pass to the Assembly and all bills introduced in the Assembly must pass to the Senate.

Since this is the first year of a two–year legislative cycle, the bills that do not make it are only dead for the remainder of the year and will have an opportunity to be picked back up in January of next year. Click here for more information on the legislative process.

Here is an updated list with the status of the bills AIA CA has take a position on so far this year.

For more information on the process that led to these positions, click here.

Read More →

Advocacy Update: AIA California Board of Directors Adopted Positions on Legislation

May 2, 2023| Advocacy Updates|

Advocacy Update
AIA California Board of Directors Adopted Positions on Legislation

By Scott Terrell – Director of Government Relations, AIA California

The AIA California Board of Directors regularly takes positions on legislation that impacts the profession, whether that impact is positive or negative. During the April 28, 2023 board meeting, the board took positions on 57 bills.

The process followed to arrive at those positions is described below. (For a link to view all positions, click here, or scroll to the end of this article.)

The 2023 Legislative Session saw a higher number of legislation introduced than normal, in actuality, the highest number in over a decade: 1,751 Assembly Bills and 881 Senate Bills, for a total of 2,632 bills.

AIA California staff reviewed all, pulling out a couple of hundred bills that were relevant to each of our four legislation review subcommittees, which together equal about 40 AIA CA members: Climate Action, Urban Design, Housing, and Advocacy.

These committees review the legislation assigned to them and make recommendations to the Board.

The bills were then reviewed by the Executive Committee before receiving a vote from the Board on official positions. To date, the AIA California Board of Directors has voted to take positions on 57 bills this year.

Bills are often amended or changed drastically throughout the legislative process. AIA CA monitors those changes and brings any bills back to the committees and board for review if needed.

Here are the Board Adopted positions on legislation, as of April 28, 2023.

Read More →

A victory for AIA CA’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) efforts!

March 31, 2023| Advocacy Updates|

Advocacy Update

A victory for AIA CA’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) efforts!


March 29, 2023–AB 342 (Valencia), a bill sponsored by AIA California, which would allow the California Architect Board to ask applicants and licensees to share their demographic information, has passed its first hurdle in the Legislature! The bill passed with unanimous bipartisan support out of the Assembly Business and Professions Committee on Tuesday.

The collection of this demographic information is essential to these EDI efforts, as it allows for research to be done to understand attrition and recruitment patterns impacting the profession. From there, we can better develop strategies to address any patterns that create barriers to entry.

For more information on this bill: https://aiacalifornia.org/advocacy-updates-march2023/

Read More →

Advocacy Update

March 21, 2023| Advocacy Updates|

Code Advocacy Update
California Existing Building Code and CALGreen Development Code Updates

by Michael F. Malinowski, FAIA

Editor’s Note: Are you a Code wonk? If so, here’s the latest from the AIA California master-of-all-cody things: Michael F. Malinowski, FAIA.

AIA CA has two major code development projects in the pipeline for the upcoming midcycle.

California Existing Building Code (CEBC)
First, the California Existing Building Code (CEBC) will be proposed for a major update, with the addition of seven ‘missing chapters’.  The State Fire Marshall is currently proposing adoption, as the conclusion to a very long process of hearings and workshops that involved many stakeholders.  These seven chapters will bring for the first time the ‘work area’ method to California as an option for design professionals to consider.

In addition  the Performance chapter will be once again published so that it can be optionally used to support Alternate Means and Methods requests.  This chapter was previously published (not adopted) as an appendix in the CBEC; so at one time, it was widely available as a reference and resource. Bringing it back will bring back the only code framework that outlines how different life-safety issues can be compared on a numerical scoring basis, which can be helpful when considering alternative methods for code compliance. We believe an expanded CEBC has no downside for design professionals, as the choice of method is up to the design professional so those most comfortable with the existing prescriptive chapter do not need to make any changes.

While there will be something of a learning curve to take full advantage of the new chapters by code officials and interested design professionals, AIA CA is already working with the International Code Council (ICC), and subject-matter experts, to have that ‘ready to go’.  In fact, some introductory training has already been developed, presented, and recorded. AIA CA envisions significant ‘real world’ benefits of this code change in supporting reuse and retrofitting of existing buildings, particularly for conversion of obsolete commercial structures to new and innovative forms of housing.

CALGreen
For CALGreen, we are expecting to see a significant set of changes come forward for adoption by California Building Standards Commission (CBSC) and the Division of State Architect (DSA) of the first integration of embodied carbon considerations into CALGreen.  Embodied carbon is very important for near-term climate action as Greenhouse Gas impacts (aka carbon) occur all at once when projects are constructed.  Studies have documented that even high-performing new buildings can take years to decades to recoup these initial impacts via operational carbon savings.

The proposed measure will apply only to large projects (those over 100,000 sq ft commercial; 50,000 sq ft for school projects subject to DSA). These numbers are ‘sweet spots’ where benefits are significant while impacting a modest number of actual projects.

The proposal includes a number of optional compliance paths for design professionals to choose from. These range from simple prescriptive approaches using material data, or a performance approach that uses Whole Building Lifecycle Assessment (WBLCA).

There is also a path based on reuse and retrofit of an existing building. AIA CA believes it is important to include these provisions in this code cycle to shift building industry culture and habit toward early consideration of carbon impacts. Limiting these provisions to a small number of large projects will at the same time avoid slowing down economic activity or reducing project feasibility.  There may be some lively discussions during the final hearings on these changes just as there were during the Code Advisory Committee hearings where it was ultimately approved.  AIA CA believes this journey must start now, and that this measure is well-researched, well considered, and in the best interest of our state.

Both of these efforts are the result of a long runway of effort and extensive collaborations, and AIA CA has worked with a very wide range of subject-matter experts and stakeholders in the code development process itself.

Do you have questions or thoughts? Share them with Mike at mfm@appliedarts.net

Read More →

Advocacy Update – March 2023

March 14, 2023| Advocacy Updates|

Legislation to Aid in EDI Efforts introduced by AIA CA

By Scott Terrell, Director of Government Relations, AIA California

This winter, AIA CA introduced AB 342 by Assemblymember Avelino Valencia, which allows the California Architect Board (Board) to ask licensees to provide demographic information to the Board for the purposes of aiding in our Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) efforts.

AIA California has made it a priority to champion a culture of equity, diversity, and inclusion to create an equitable community for everyone within the architectural profession. This is founded on a number of principles:

  1. A diverse profession is key to the long-term success of the profession and industry. AIA California believes that when our members’ cultural, demographic, and ethnographic makeup mirrors the communities our members serve, the profession will be better suited for long-term growth.
  2. The pipeline to enter the profession must be as diverse as the communities we serve. When designing livable communities, it is essential that there is cultural competencies of the communities that are being served by our designs.
  3. The architectural profession must address the systemic, cultural barriers to entry and advancement, and prosperity. AIA California is focused on providing the resources necessary for firms and practitioners to make significant and lasting change.
  4. As the professional organization for architects in California, we must model the behavior we wish to see and move beyond the status quo.

The collection of this demographic information is essential to these EDI efforts, as it allows for research to be done to understand attrition and recruitment patterns impacting the profession. From there, we can better develop strategies to address any patterns that create barriers to entry within the profession.

What’s Next

This bill has been referred to the Assembly Business and Professions Committee, where it will soon receive a hearing date. Once the date is set, the bill will receive a hearing and a vote from the committee. If passed out of this policy committee, it will next head to the Assembly Appropriations Committee where the cost of the bill will be analyzed and the bill will receive another vote before heading to the Assembly floor for a vote of the full Assembly body. For more information on the journey this bill will have to take to be signed into law, click here.

EDI Resources
For curated resources for individuals, firms, and AIA chapters to build a culture of equity, diversity, and inclusion in California’s architectural profession, click here.
Read More →

Advocacy Wins for AIA CA In 2022

December 16, 2022| Advocacy Updates|

2022 was a big year for the American Institute of Architects California, with significant victories for the profession in the advocacy arena. Below are the top six achievements accomplished through the efforts of AIA CA members and staff:
  1. 5 Hours of Zero Net Carbon Design (ZNCD) Continuing Education: In 2021, AIA CA sponsored legislation to require architects to complete five hours of continuing education every two years in Zero Net Carbon design in order to renew their license.

    California has, in recent years, taken several steps to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, and is in the process of considering additional steps, including improved codes and standards for buildings.  AIA California agrees that buildings codes and standards must continue to improve to reduce the impact buildings have on our environment.

    Improving the performance of buildings requires that architects – the designers of buildings – have the knowledge to design buildings according to changes to the building codes and standards and, importantly, how to design high-performing Zero Net Carbon buildings.

    As part of the negotiations for this proposal, AIA CA agreed to offer these courses free of charge to all architects in California for the first 2-year cycle. As a result of great staff work, this year AIA CA offered 17 ZNCD courses with an average attendance of 378 attendees, with the highest attendance reaching 489 attendees! Special thanks to Frank Bostrom, AIA, Bill Burke, AIA, Sarah Vasquez, AIA CA Climate Action Coordinator, and Rebekah Aceves, AIA CA Professional Practice Program Coordinator, for all of their efforts that led to these successes.

  2. Architects Intellectual Property Protected: In recent years more local planning departments have adopted the practice of posting architectural plans for proposed projects online to help the public access information and make informed comments. This practice, however, often violates the Copyright Act.  Architectural documents submitted to local planning departments includes information protected by the Copyright Act. Therefore, these architectural plans cannot be posted online, where they can be copied, without the permission of the architect.

    Cary Bernstein, AIA, an AIA San Francisco Member who sits on the AIA CA Board of Directors and the AIA CA Advocacy Advisory Committee, brought the need for SB 1214 to the attention of AIA California.  After Ms. Bernstein became aware that a planning department was posting her documents on a publicly accessible website, she proposed that AIA California sponsor legislation to help planning departments share information with their constituencies in a manner that does not violate the Copyright Act.  Ms. Bernstein’s colleagues on the Advocacy Advisory Committee and AIA California Board of Directors agreed.

    Ms. Bernstein, using her expert knowledge of architectural documents, and Attorney Steven Weinberg, with Holmes Weinberg PC, using his expert knowledge of the Copyright Act, worked with AIA California staff to draft the language that became SB 1214.

    SB 1214 allows architectural documents that express the scope of a project and do not contain information protected by the Copyright Act to be posted online by a planning department and copied.  These documents are Site Plans and Massing Diagrams, which SB 1214 defines.  Other architectural documents that contain protected information cannot be posted online or copied.  These protected documents can be viewed by the public at the planning department and, of course, distributed to local government staff, advisory boards, and other decision makers.

  3. 2022 CALGreen Check List: The California Green Building Standards Code—Part 11, Title 24, California Code of Regulations—known as CALGreen, is the mandatory green building standards code. AIA California updates and posts on its website, a set of CALGreen checklists (both residential and nonresidential) for members each renewal year. With the upcoming new full code cycle, the 2022 CALGreen code goes into effect January 1, 2023. The updated 2022 Residential and Non-Residential CALGreen checklists are now available on AIA CA’s website here. Feel free to use and edit as required for submittal to the jurisdiction having authority over your projects. Special thanks to the AIA CA Professional Practice Committee and VP Carina Mills, AIA, and Rebekah Aceves on our staff for taking the lead on this project.
  4. International Existing Building Code (IEBC) Implementation: The Office of the State Fire Marshall has accepted our proposal for the mid-cycle amendments to include IEBC (International Existing Building Code) as part of California’s building code. The IEBC is a tool architects can use on existing buildings , which directly supports our embodied carbon efforts. While this isn’t a done deal yet, but this was a big hurdle to get this option into the conversation and architects were not only ‘’at the table’’ but were leading the conversation! Special thanks to AIA CA Code Consultant, Michael Malinowski, FAIA, for leading these efforts and building effective coalitions and Sarah Vasquez, AIA CA Climate Action Coordinator, for providing support.
  5. AIA CA Defeats Problematic Proposed Regulation: AIA CA was successful in stopping an onerous proposed regulation that would have had many unintended consequences for licensed architects. At the December 9th CAB meeting, by a vote of six in favor, one opposed, and two abstentions, the Board voted to table the proposed regulations. That regulation was California Code of Regulation (CCR) 135, which in its most recent version proposed to require ”(a) As of July 1, 2023, an architect … include their name and license number in all forms of advertisement to the public in connection with an offer to provide architectural services for which a license is required by the Architects Practice Act, which shall include any writing, electronic device, card, letterhead, Internet Web site, social media profile, or contract proposal.”

    While AIA CA fully supports the primary purpose of CCR 135, to protect the public, the way this proposed regulation was written was of great concern to our membership for a number of reasons. Read more here.

  6. Improved and Formalized Relationship with the California Architect Board: This year the AIA CA Executive Committee met with the senior leadership of the California Architects Board to advance our shared goals and objectives. This resulted in a formalization of our relationship through a document signed by both CAB President Tian Feng, FAIA, and AIA CA President Rona Rothenberg, FAIA. We look forward to building on this positive relationship to advocate on behalf of our members.
As you can see, 2022 has been a year filled with wins for our organization. None of this would be possible without our members and our dedicated staff. We look forward to building on these successes in 2023 and continuing to amplify the voice of the architectural profession.
Read More →

AIA Government Relations: Demystifying the Legislative Process – How a Bill Becomes Law

December 9, 2022| Advocacy Updates|

AIA Government Relations

Demystifying the Legislative Process – How a Bill Becomes Law

Understanding how a bill becomes a law can be an overwhelming task. This chart attempts to illustrate the complex process, but is scant on the interpersonal and unspoken factors that can impact a bill as it works through the process. This article is to attempt, as much as possible, to demystify a complicated process.  It won’t be as entertaining as the School House Rock version, but I hope it provides some insight.

Pre-Introduction / Idea Phase

This is the phase of the process we are currently in. During fall recess, legislative staff are busy researching bill proposals for consideration in their boss’s legislative package. In the Senate, members can introduce up to 40 bills during a 2-year cycle, and in the Assembly, members can introduce up to 50 bills in a 2-year cycle. It is up to members how they split those numbers up between the two years and how many of the allotted bills they actually use.

Ideas for legislation come from a variety of sources. Whether it be an idea from a constituent, an idea that came about through the course of reviewing previous legislation, an idea that originated from the member themselves, or an idea that originated from an interest group, like AIA CA. These ideas are brought to the attention of legislative staff, who then research the bill idea to see how viable the bill is, how the bill will fit in the members package, how it will impact their district, what political implications it has, and if it is in line with their policy objectives and goals. After vetting, these ideas are condensed into the “legislative package” that the member will “carry” through the process for the year.

In order for a bill to be introduced it must be formally drafted by the Legislative Counsel unit at the Capitol. This is a unit of lawyers at the Capitol that are specifically tasked with drafting legislation and giving legal opinions to legislators.

Introduction/Referral Phase

Once a legislative package is finalized, members will begin to introduce their bills, or “put them across the desk.” This refers to the process of submitting your bill language with proper signatures of authors and coauthors to the desk in the house in which the member serves, at which point they are assigned a bill number (i.e. AB XXX for the Assembly and SB XXX for the Senate). The desk is located at the front of both chambers and is made up of staff people who serve under the Secretary of the Senate or the Chief Clerk of the Assembly. They have many ministerial tasks to ensure the orderly conduct of the business before the Legislature, and the retention of legislative records for the use of the public. One of those tasks is processing the introduction of bills.

After a bill has been introduced, it will be sent to the Rules Committee in its respective house. This committee is tasked with looking at the language of the bill and deciding which standing committees in the house have jurisdiction over the content of the bill and then assigning the bill to be heard in those committees. A bill can be referred to multiple committees depending on the content.

Committee Process / Stakeholder Input

Once a bill is assigned to committee(s) the committee process begins. Each committee in the legislature has staff who are tasked with analyzing the bills that come before that committee. Their task is to analyze the bill and take into account all of the arguments in support or opposition, and at times request/suggest changes to the bill. Based on this analysis, they will make recommendations to the chair of the committee, who often then makes recommendations to the members of the committee for how to vote (note: while most committee chairs do make recommendations, some choose to leave it up to members to choose what is best for them).

The committee process is the opportune time for interest groups to weigh in on bills and discuss any issues or opportunities they may see with the bill. This is the time when coalitions come together to discuss and work out issues, usually with the legislator’s staff and the committee staff. The committee process is also the time for legislators to make their concerns or support for bills known and work with each other.

The bills are then presented in front of the committee. Support and opposition are given the opportunity to formally weigh in on the bill in a public hearing, members of the committee are given the opportunity to discuss the bill and ask questions, and then a vote is taken. If the bill receives support from the majority of the members, the bill get’s out of committee and is moved along in the process either to the next policy committee, the Appropriations Committee or directly to the floor.

Fiscal Committee Process

All bills tagged to have a fiscal impact by Legislative Counsel are automatically referred to the Appropriations Committee following their hearings in assigned policy committees. Similar to the policy committee process, the committee consultants for the Appropriations Committee will review and analyze the bill’s fiscal impacts. The committee will reach out to all stakeholders who are impacted to get their estimates for how much the bill will cost to implement.

If the committee deems the bills to have minor and negligible costs, then both houses have separate ways of letting the bill out of committee: in the Senate, Senate Rule 28.8 allows for these bills to simply be let out of committee by decision of the chair, whereas, in the Assembly, these bills go on a consent calendar and are passed out of committee as a batch.

In the Senate, all bills that have a fiscal cost over $50,000 from the General Fund or $150,000 from a special fund are automatically referred to the “suspense file,” while in the Assembly, any bill that has a cost over $150,000 from any funding source are automatically referred to the “suspense file.” These bills are held on this file until closer to each houses deadline to pass bills to the other house and then are all heard in a single hearing. Once these bills are placed on the suspense file, the Chair of the Appropriations Committee has the sole authority to decide what bills are allowed to come up for a vote and what bills die. They are not required to give any explanation for why a bill is allowed to be brought up for a vote or allowed to die.

Floor Process 

Once a bill has passed out of policy and fiscal committees, it is referred to the floor of the respective house. This is where the bill has a vote of the full body. Most bills require a majority vote (41 votes in the Assembly and 21 votes in the Senate). Others, such as bills containing an urgency clause, tax increase, amendments to the Political Reform Act, and constitutional amendments, require a 2/3 vote (54 votes in the Assembly and 27 votes in the Senate). Members on the floor are given the opportunity to speak on the bill and ask questions, while members of the public are not.

Once a bill is passed off the floor in it’s house of origin, the bill is then referred to the other house where the entire process is repeated. If a bill is amended in the second house, it must return to the floor in the house of origin for a vote to concur in the amendments.

Governor’s Desk

All bills that successfully make it through this process in both houses are then sent to the Governor for consideration. The Governor has his own legislative staff who analyze the bills and make recommendation to him. The Governor usually has 12 days to sign or veto a bill (not including Sundays) after the bill is presented to him (not from the date the bill passes), otherwise the bill becomes law. However, the 12 day rule only applies to bills presented to the Governor twelve or more days prior to the date the Legislature adjourns for a joint recess in the first year of the two-year session, as well as on or before August 20th of the second year of the Session. For all bills that fall under that timeline, the Governor has until September 30th to sign or the bill becomes law.

Bill Becomes Law

If a bill has made it to this point, congratulations! You have successfully navigated a complex process that many bills have not. Most bills go into effect January 1st of the year following passage. However, bills with an urgency clause go into effect immediately.

Every year, the Advocacy Advisory Committee meets to discuss AIA CA’s proactive legislative agenda for the year and make recommendations to the Board of Directors. This often includes solving issues architects are facing through the legislative process in the form of bills. AIA California has had many successes with sponsored bills going through this process and being signed by the Governor.

Additionally, after the bill introduction deadline each year, AIA CA reviews the thousands of bills that are introduced by members of the legislature and identifies those that might have an impact on the profession. These bills are reviewed by various committees within AIA CA, as well as the Advocacy Advisory Committee, who make recommendations to the Board on which bills we should take a formal position on (i.e. support, oppose, support with amendments, or oppose unless amended). These positions are available on our website and regular updates are issued in the weekly newsletter, Relevance. If you ever have an issue impacting the profession that you think needs to be fixed through the legislative process or questions about a bill going through the process, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Read More →
↑