Residential buildings: oil well disclosures: methane mitigation systems.

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide specific details on the number of properties potentially affected by the bill.

Oil Well Disclosures and Methane Mitigation in Residential Buildings

This law requires sellers of residential property and landlords to inform buyers or tenants about nearby oil wells and their risks, and it mandates methane gas monitoring systems for buildings near these wells.

What This Bill Does

• Requires sellers of residential real estate and landlords to provide written notice to potential buyers or renters if there are active, idle, orphaned, or abandoned oil wells within 300 feet of the property, including information on associated hazards such as health impacts, fire risks, toxic exposure, and methane gas emergencies.
• Mandates that owners of multifamily buildings near oil wells install and maintain methane gas monitoring systems to detect dangerous levels of methane.
• Requires building owners or their agents to ensure these systems are working properly and report compliance to the Department of Housing and Community Development or local agencies.

Who It Names or Affects

• Sellers of residential real estate
• Landlords renting out properties
• Potential buyers or renters of homes near oil wells
• Owners of multifamily buildings near active, idle, orphaned, or abandoned oil wells

Terms To Know

Methane gas monitoring system

A device that detects and alerts about dangerous levels of methane gas in the air.

Orphaned well

An oil or gas well that has been abandoned by its original owner without proper closure procedures.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify an effective date, so it is unclear when the requirements will start.
• Local agencies may need additional funding to enforce these new rules.

Official Summary Text

AB 1725, as amended, Caloza.
Residential buildings: oil well disclosures: methane mitigation systems.
(1) Existing law requires specified disclosures be made by sellers of residential real property and landlords of residential dwelling units, including, among other things, that they disclose knowledge of any area identified by an agency or instrumentality of the federal or state government as an area once used for military training purposes that may contain potentially explosive munitions within the neighborhood area, as specified.
This bill would require the seller of residential real property or the landlord of a residential dwelling unit, or their agents, to give written notice to the prospective buyer or a prospective tenant describing the presence of active, idle, orphaned, or abandoned
oil
wells on or within 300 feet of the property
that includes information on the associated hazards of living in close proximity to an oil well, including any potential health impacts and the increased risk of fire, toxic exposure, and methane gas emergency, as specified.
(2) Existing law, the State Housing Law, establishes statewide construction and occupancy standards for buildings used for human habitation. The State Housing Law requires the housing or building department or, if there is no building department, the health department, of every city or county or a specified environmental agency to enforce within its jurisdiction all of the State Housing Law, the building standards published in the California Building Standards Code, and other specified rules and regulations. Among other things, existing law requires an owner or owner’s agent of a dwelling unit intended for human occupancy who rents or leases the dwelling unit to a tenant to maintain carbon monoxide devices in that dwelling
unit, as specified.
This bill would require an owner of a multifamily dwelling unit intended for human occupancy, or the owner’s agent, who rents or leases the dwelling unit to a tenant to maintain a methane gas monitoring and alarm system in that dwelling unit if the unit is located where active, idle, orphaned, or abandoned
oil
wells are on or within 300 feet of the
property
property, as specified,
or where increased levels of methane are likely to be present due to commercial, industrial, geological, or environmental factors. The bill would make the owner or their agent responsible for ensuring that the methane gas monitoring or alarm system is operational, that it is inspected, updated, and
tested to ensure that it remains in good working order, and to periodically submit certification of compliance with these provisions to the Department of Housing and Community Development or the local housing or building standards enforcement agency. Because the bill would require local officials to perform additional enforcement duties under the State Housing Law, it would impose a state-mandated local program.
(3) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF