California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed three bills that would have set energy-efficient standards for commercial buildings and another that would have required landlords to offer recycling services to tenants.
To be fair, however, the governor last month also signed 18 of the 25 environmental bills endorsed by the Sierra Club, including several that directly affect the commercial real estate industry, such as Assembly Bill 1103 by Assemblywoman Lori Saldana, D-San Diego, which requires electric utilities to maintain energy consumption records on all non-residential buildings in their service areas and requires building owners to provide energy benchmarking data to potential buyers, lessees or lenders beginning in 2010.
The green building bills vetoed by Schwarzenegger were labeled "job-killers" by the California Chamber of Commerce, which contended they would drive up construction costs and hurt the economy and an already battered real estate industry. They include:
AB 35 (Ira Ruskin; D-Redwood City): Would have required the California Environmental Protection Agency to set sustainable standards for new and renovated state buildings.
AB 888 (Ted Lieu, D-Torrance): Would have mandated that some commercial buildings greater than 50,000 square feet meet the equivalent of a standard developed by the Cal-EPA.
AB 1058 by (John Laird,, D-Santa Cruz): Would have required green-building standards for residences built in 2013 or later.
AB 548 (Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys): Would have required the owners of residential buildings with five units or more to provide recycling services.
Schwarzenegger said in his veto message that while he supports such standards, they should not be written into law, adding that the state’s Buildings Standards Commission was created to "ensure an open public adoption process allowing experts to develop standards and periodic updates to the buildings codes."
Both of the green building bills would have required commercial and residential buildings to sharply reduce water and energy use by 2013. In his veto message, the governor said he was concerned that language in one of the bills would violate California's earthquake safety standards.
Measures signed by the governor with potential impact on commercial owners and tenants include:
AB 1109 (Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael), the California Lighting Efficiency and Toxics Reduction Act, enacts the nation’s first efficiency program for light bulbs. The measure prohibits the manufacturing for sale or the sale of certain general-purpose lights that contain hazardous substances. In addition, the bill requires the California Energy Commission to adopt energy efficiency standards for all general-purpose lights. The measure requires the state to set rules making indoor light bulbs 50% more energy efficient by 2018.
AB 1406 (Huffman) promotes water recycling in condominiums, adding condos to the meaning of "structure" with respect to the use of recycled water for toilet and urinal flushing.
AB 1470 (Huffman) is billed as the nation’s first incentive for solar water heaters. The bill creates the Solar Water Heating and Efficiency Act of 2007, which places a surcharge on natural gas bills to raise $250 million to fund incentives to attain the goal of installing 200,000 solar water heating systems in the state by 2017.
AB 1560 (Huffman) requires the California Energy Commission to incorporate standards for water efficiency and conservation into the existing building standards governing energy efficiency.
AB 1481 (Hector De La Torre, D-South Gate) creates a uniform, statewide permitting process for landscape irrigation uses of recycled water, such as parks, playgrounds and golf courses. It requires the State Water Resources Control Board to adopt a statewide general water quality permit.