Factory-built housing: building standards.

Plain English Breakdown

The bill summary does not provide specific details on how the state will enforce new standards or what happens if less than 15% of a project's costs are spent on factory-built housing.

Factory-built Housing: Setting Minimum State Building Standards

AB-1815 sets minimum state building standards for factory-built housing and restricts local governments from enforcing stricter standards if at least 15% of a project's costs are spent on approved factory-built units.

What This Bill Does

• Sets the California Building Standards Code as the minimum standard for factory-built housing construction.
• Prohibits cities, counties, or city and county governments from requiring building plans for factory-built housing that already meet state standards if at least 15% of a project's costs are spent on approved factory-built units.

Who It Names or Affects

• Local governments (cities, counties) setting building standards for housing projects using factory-built units.
• Developers and builders who use factory-built housing in their construction projects.

Terms To Know

Factory-built housing

Housing units that are built off-site in a manufacturing facility before being transported to the building site for installation.

Building standards code

A set of rules and regulations established by the state that dictate how buildings must be constructed to ensure safety, durability, and compliance with environmental laws.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify what happens if less than 15% of a project's costs are spent on factory-built housing.
• It is unclear how local governments will enforce the new state-mandated standards without additional guidance or resources.

Official Summary Text

AB 1815, as amended, Wicks.
Factory-built housing.
Factory-built housing: building standards.
Existing law, the California Building Standards Law, establishes the California Building Standards Commission (commission) within the Government Operations Agency. 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 California Factory-Built Housing Law, requires all factory-built housing after a specified date that is sold or offered for sale to first users within the state to bear insignia of approval issued by the department, deems that housing to comply with the requirements of all ordinances or regulations enacted by any city, county, city and county or district that may be applicable to the construction of housing, as specified, and prohibits
a city, county, city and county, and district from requiring submittal of plans for any factory-built housing manufactured, or to be manufactured pursuant to these provisions, as specified. That law specifically and entirely reserves to local jurisdictions certain local requirements, including local use zone requirements. That law also requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to enforce its provisions, except for in-plant inspections of the manufacture and installation of factory-built housing by local enforcement or inspection agencies, as specified. That law provides that any person who violates any of these provisions and other specified law is guilty of a misdemeanor, as specified.
This bill would prohibit a city, county, or city and county from imposing or enforcing building standards that exceed the state minimum building standards in the California Building Standards Code on a housing construction project that utilizes factory-built
housing, provided that at least 15% of the project’s hard costs, as defined, are spent on factory-built housing that bears the insignia of the Department of Housing and Community Development. By adding to the duties of local officials, and expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities.
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 no reimbursement is required by this act for specified reasons.
Existing law specifies that if the Department of Housing and Community Development determines that standards for the construction of factory-built housing, which have been prescribed by the statutes or rules and regulations of other states, are at least equal to the standards of the State Building Standards Code and the other requirements prescribed by the department, then the department may so provide by regulation.
This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to those provisions.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF