CBIA News
Legislative program focuses on recovery
Reviving California’s beleaguered housing industry is the top priority of CBIA’s legislative agenda for the 2009 session.
Green building, water conservation and water quality remain high priority public-policy issues. CBIA is focusing on new initiatives as well as changes to existing laws to help with the recovery of the housing industry.
To that effect, CBIA is sponsoring a number of recovery bills this legislative session, including:
• AB 333: Introduced by Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes, D–Arleta, this bill proposes to extend expiring subdivision maps five years. Without this extension, many viable housing projects would have to return to square one on the entitlement process.
• AB 1084: Introduced by Assemblyman Anthony Adams, R–Claremont, it seeks to tighten up the state’s existing Mitigation Fee Act to ensure that homebuilders are being charged a fair amount for the projects’ impacts.
• AB 1432: Introduced by Assemblyman Tony Mendoza, D–Norwalk, the bill would give the California Housing Finance Agency (Cal HFA) authorization to close construction financing gaps. Some builders are having trouble getting financing from institutional lenders due to the current credit crunch.
• AB 1529: Introduced by Assemblywoman Mary Salas, D–Chula Vista, it aims to reduce the inventory of unsold, bank-owned homes. It calls for Cal HFA to provide funding to purchase these homes.
• SB 143: Introduced by Sen. Gil Cedillo, D–Los Angeles, the bill removes sunset dates established in a 2004 law that established fair liability rules associated with the cleanup and improvement of so-called brownfields.
In addition to the recovery bills, CBIA is sponsoring a number of smart housing and affordable housing measures, including:
• AB 210: Introduced by Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi, D–Hayward, the bill promotes consistency in the use of municipalities of green building standards.
• AB 300: Introduced by Assemblywoman Anna Marie Caballero, D–Salinas, the bill is identical to 2008’s AB 2219. It is designed to promote greater water conservation in new subdivisions by giving homebuilders full credit for saving water.
• AB 927: Introduced by Assemblyman Charles Calderon, D–City of Industry, the bill removes sunset dates established with the enactment of SB 800, which focused on construction dispute litigation.
• SB 310: Introduced by Sen. Denise Ducheny, D–San Diego, the bill seeks to allow watershed-based runoff management strategies and eliminate project-based resolution.
• SB 616: Introduced by Sen. Tom Harman, R–Costa Mesa, the bill is aimed at resolving equity problems when it comes to actions taken by banks against homebuilders to recover on troubled loans.
• SB 793: Introduced by Sen. Robert Dutton, D–Rancho Cucamonga, the bill creates a permanent source of funding for low- and moderate-income housing through redevelopment funds.
For more information on these and other bills, visit the Government Affairs section of www.cbia.org.
CBIA endorses green building programs
CBIA has endorsed a pair of voluntary green building programs for members that wish to build homes exceeding the state’s standards for energy efficiency and water conservation.
The programs backed by CBIA are the California Green Builder program, developed by the Building Industry Institute, and the GreenPoint Rated program, developed by the Bay Area organization Build It Green.
In a policy statement backing the programs, CBIA said such practices must be voluntary, cost-effective and efficient.
CBIA President and CEO Robert Rivinius said a growing number of builders are interested in green building, but CBIA strongly opposes any effort to mandate additional steps in a state which already has the toughest rules in the nation. It is also the wrong time for additional mandates given the current health of the industry and the economy.
Rivinius said it would be more beneficial to focus state and federal efforts on making existing homes more energy efficient than to tighten standards for new homes.
“Simply helping homeowners insulate, install modern heating and air conditioning systems and install modern window systems would be far more effective in helping the state meet its carbon-reduction goals,” Rivinius said.
BIA Cares continues to help in San Diego
BIA Cares, the philanthropic arm of the BIA of San Diego, has continued to support and underwrite numerous community projects in San Diego County.
Most recently it raised funds and donated 250 bikes and helmets to underprivileged children, granted $600 in awards for winners of the Greater San Diego Science Fair, and funded a $1,000 scholarship to help establish a math, science, engineering elective class at Correia Middle School in the Pt. Loma/Ocean Beach community.
BIA Cares is a volunteer-based organization representing more than 1,100 member companies and their 100,000 employees in supporting projects and services that help San Diego-area residents in need. Since its founding in 1990, BIA Cares has raised more than $1.5 million in donations and in-kind contributions to carry out the work of its donors and volunteers.
The organization not only supports children’s causes but San Diegans of all ages. More information on donations or in-kind services can be found at www.biacares.org.
BIA helps give home a makeover
For many years, Joel and Chemaine Almquist have run the Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary in Phelan. Due to increasing costs, the Almquists had been unable to improve their facility or their own living conditions, which consisted of a double-wide trailer with no heat or air conditioning.
That’s where the BIA Baldy View Chapter and ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition stepped in.
The BIA assembled a team to design and build a new home for the Almquists and an upgrade to the wildlife center. The entire project was completed in seven days, with the story broadcast on the March 29 edition of the show.
“This was a perfect opportunity to join other builders and work together for a good cause,” said Scott Szwejbka, vice president and general manager for Hanson Roof Tile, which tapped its Fontana facility and donated more than $15,000 worth of products to the cause.