AB 2939: Green cities

Although a number of California cities, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, have adopted progressive “green building” standards, and many more want to do so, state law appears to limit their authority to cases where local seismic or climatic conditions demand different standards. The California Building Standards Commission has lagged behind in seeing the benefits of green building standards; this summer it finally got around to adopting “voluntary” measures. AB 2939 (Hancock) would have clarified that local governments have the authority to adopt green building requirements that exceed state standards.