Governor Schwarzenegger has vetoed the trio of green building bills which we presented here a few weeks ago. AB 888 would have required most commercial buildings in California to earn LEED Gold by January 1, 2013, while the other two bills (ABs 1058 and 35) were to apply to homes and public buildings, respectively. The Governor’s grounds for the veto were two-pronged; first, he argued that the LEED-driven standards would discriminate against
- Governor Vetoes Green Building Bills (Daily Breeze)
- Trio of Bills Await Action (gbNYC)
- Environmental Groups Pleased with State’s New Laws (BD+C)
Interesting. Today’s WSJ has (A13) an interesting piece that states that CA regulators will direct utility (gas & elec) companies to create programs that make new homes capable of generating as much energy as they consume by 2020 and by 2030 for new commercial buildings. Builders aren’t required to meet this goal but proposals by said utilities must be developed as incentives to builders. They’re trying to make this a component of the state’s building code and hopes to integrate this by 2011. While a big part of Gov. Schwarzenegger’s administration, he’s definitely in a tough spot fighting for reduced greenhouse emissions while supporting California wood. While California seems to be at the forefront of green legislation, the challenges of which green initiative to support will only get tougher. Green politics is just the same.
Is there a free link to the WSJ piece? I agree that Schwarzenegger is in a difficult position, but it does sound like he’ s going to work with the legislators who proposed these three bills to continue adapting the CA building code. It will be interesting to see how CA moves forward here, both with its codes and the utility regulations that you’ve mentioned.