SB 1415

Bill Subjects

Abstract

(1) Existing law requires the State Fire Marshal, the chief of any city, county, or city and county fire department or district providing fire protection services, or a Designated Campus Fire Marshal, and their authorized representatives, to enforce in their respective areas building standards relating to fire and panic safety adopted by the State Fire Marshal and published in the California Building Standards Code, and other regulations that have been formally adopted by the State Fire Marshal for the prevention of fire or for the protection of life and property against fire or panic. Existing law also authorizes a city, county, or city and county fire department or fire protection district to adopt more stringent or restrictive regulations. Existing law requires the State Fire Marshal or local fire enforcement agencies, as specified, to annually or biennially inspect, or to inspect with a different provided frequency, certain categories of structures for the purpose of enforcing building standards and other regulations of the State Fire Marshal, as specified. Existing law, in some cases, authorizes the assessment and collection of a fee to recover the costs of these inspections or related fire and life safety activities. This bill would, until January 1, 2029, require each entity responsible for enforcing building standards and other regulations of the State Fire Marshal, as specified, to inspect, every 5 years, all privately owned structures within the entity's responsibility that are in the Storage Group S occupancy classifications, as described, for compliance with those standards and regulations, or, if applicable, more stringent or restrictive local regulations, unless the structure meets any of 4 specified criteria. The bill would authorize an entity that inspects a structure pursuant to these provisions to charge and collect a fee from the owner of the structure to recover the costs of the inspection or related fire and life safety activities, including reporting to the State Fire Marshal as described below. The bill would require a local agency, as defined, that is responsible for enforcing building standards and other regulations of the State Fire Marshal, as specified, to submit to the State Fire Marshal an annual report containing information on the total number of structures within the local agency's responsibility, categorized by occupancy classification, as defined, and required frequency of inspection, as defined, pursuant to state or local law or regulation, and the number of those structures that are overdue for inspection. By imposing new inspection and reporting requirements on local entities, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law, the State Housing Law, establishes statewide construction and occupancy standards for buildings used for human habitation. Existing law requires, for those purposes, that any building, including any dwelling unit, be deemed to be a substandard building when a health officer determines that any one of specified listed conditions exists to the extent that it endangers the life, limb, health, property, safety, or welfare of the public or its occupants. This bill would instead specify that a building be deemed a substandard building when a health officer determines that any of those listed conditions exist to the extent that it endangers the life, limb, health, property, safety, or welfare of the occupants of the building, nearby residents, or the public. The bill would clarify that the term "substandard building" for purposes of the State Housing Law means a residential building or any other building that is deemed to be substandard pursuant to the provisions described above, and would clarify that standard applies regardless of the zoning designation or approved use of the building. The bill would make conforming changes to this effect. (3) The State Housing Law provides for relocation assistance to a tenant displaced from a residential rental unit as a result of an order to vacate by a local enforcement agency under specified conditions. This bill would define the term "residential rental unit" for those purposes to mean any unit rented for human habitation that is located in a building that is deemed or found to be a substandard building. (4) 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. If there is a violation of these provisions or any order or notice that gives a reasonable time to correct that violation, or if a nuisance exists, an enforcement agency is required, after 30 days' notice to abate the nuisance, to institute appropriate action or proceeding to prevent, restrain, correct, or abate the violation or nuisance. Existing law requires an enforcement agency to provide copies of specified notices of violations to tenants residing in a residential building, and requires an order or notice to repair or abate a violation that results in a substantial endangerment of the health and safety of residents or the public to include specified information. Existing administrative law requires notices under the State Housing Law to state the conditions causing the building to become substandard or in violation of specified requirements, and requires the enforcement agency to post conspicuously at least one copy of the notice on the building alleged to have become substandard. Existing law authorizes the enforcement agency to charge the owner of the building for its postage or mileage cost for sending or posting the notices. This bill would state that violations of municipal codes and municipal building and fire codes are included within these provisions. The bill would require an enforcement agency to post conspicuously at least one copy of specified documents relating to violations of these provisions on the building. The bill would authorize the enforcement agency to charge the owner of the building for its staff time for sending or posting the notices in addition to the postage and mileage costs. The bill would require an enforcement agency that issues a notice to correct a violation or to abate a nuisance pursuant to these provisions to include in that notice specified information related to what provisions were alleged to have been violated and what the owner is required to do to correct or abate those violations, unless the enforcement agency concludes that the time needed to include that information would prevent the agency from acting in time to prevent or remedy an immediate threat to the health and safety of the occupants of the building, nearby residents, or the public. The bill would define the term "petition" for those purposes to include a complaint. (5) The State Housing Law authorizes the enforcement agency, a tenant, or tenant association or organization to seek, and the court to order, the appointment of a receiver for the substandard building if the owner of a property with substandard conditions fails to comply within a reasonable time period with the terms of a specified order or notice to repair or abate a violation that results in a substantial endangerment of the health and safety of residents or the public. This bill would, instead, require a court to order the appointment of a receiver pursuant to those provisions if the owner fails to comply within a reasonable time period with the terms of a specified order or notice to repair or abate a violation that results in a substantial endangerment of the health and safety of the occupants of the building, nearby residents, or the public, unless there is clear and convincing evidence to the contrary. (6) Under the State Housing Law, a person who obtains an ownership interest in property after the recording of a notice of pendency of an action or proceeding brought pursuant to the State Housing Law with respect to the property or a notice of a violation of that law, and if there is no withdrawal or expungement of the notice, is subject to the order to correct a violation and any other recorded notice of a violation of the State Housing Law. This bill would specify that a person described above is subject to any costs and fees of any receiver appointed or enforcement agency, as applicable. (7) 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.