“Express Finding” Requirements for Local Amendments to California’s Title 24 Building Codes

Introduction

One target audience for this report is those California attorneys who may, on their client’s behalf, wish to evaluate the pros and cons of challenging the legality of a local government’s modified building codes and standards.

• Where such preliminary evaluations could prove complicated (and costly) due to the lack of a single reference resource that helps explain both: a) the nuances of the workings of the Building Standards Commission, and b) the “reasonably necessary” and “expressly marked” “express finding” procedural requirements of HSC 17958.7 for a jurisdiction’s filing of its duly authorized adoption ordinance(s), this report seeks to fill that void.

Another target audience is that group of attorneys (and Building Officials) who represent the interests of local governments and who may wish to reassess whether or not the implementation and enforcement of their locally amended “building standards” might be ripe for a legal challenge.

• It is important to recognize that local governments (and their building departments) can – for a wide variety of reasons, including political, financial, and quality of staffing – greatly differ in their approaches for ensuring that their modifications to the Title 24 building standards have been properly formatted and filed with the CBSC.

Background Information – My Professional Qualifications

I am a long-standing member of the International Code Council (ICC) and am one of about 950 individuals worldwide who have been awarded “Master Code Professional” certification.

• The ICC has advised: “The Master Code Professional (MCP) is the highest level of designation the International Code Council offers and is the ‘gold standard’ for demonstrating proficiency in the code profession.”
• During the course of earning and maintaining my MCP certification, I additionally have been awarded more than 30 additional “inspector” and “official” certifications, including Certified Building Official, Building Code Official, Housing Code Official, Building Plans Examiner, Commercial Combination Inspector, Residential Combination Inspector, California Commercial Building Inspector, California Residential Building Inspector, Accessibility Inspector/Plans Examiner, ICC/AACE Property Maintenance and Housing Inspector, and Fire Inspector I.

I am a California-licensed general contractor (#B-88924) and have led litigation-related (plaintiff and defense) construction/code evaluations in multiple States, and have provided sworn testimony (plaintiff and defense) as a building codes expert in multiple trials, arbitrations, and depositions.

I am a volunteer “Certified SAP Evaluator” for the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services Post-Disaster Safety Assessment Program.  In that role, in 2014, I provided post-Napa Earthquake inspection services as a sworn Deputy Building Official for the City of Vallejo, and in 2017, post-Tubbs Fire inspection services for the Sonoma County Building Department.