POLICY ISSUES IN THE STALLED BUDGET

Another summer another stalled budget in Sacramento. The storyline is so familiar that unless you are directly involved in the process, it easily fades to a background annoyance. However, the budget is about more than just funding state agencies. Many within our industry develop facilities, lease properties, and provide management services for the state – and without a budget will not be paid. More importantly, however, the budget has become another vehicle for activists to push a policy agenda – not usually in line with our own. This year especially, there are several issues in the State Budget which would have a direct impact on our industry and are outlined in the following two stories.

ATTORNEY GENERAL LAWSUITS MEANT TO STALL GROWTH

Of most concern in the stalled State Budget is funding provided to Attorney General Jerry Brown, which many fear will allow Brown to push his notion that local governments are now obligated to consider global warming while updating general land use and development plans. Brown has already filed suit against one county and interceded in several other local planning processes claiming that last year’s anti-global warming law, Assembly Bill 32, “implies” that local governments have a responsibility to address the greenhouse gas impacts of development – even though the law says nothing to that effect.

These lawsuits are believed to be an attempt by the anti-growth crowd to create a new way to stop projects. Brown’s actions have angered local officials as a violation of their authority and bemused many who say he is simply “making up” law and imagining authority where none exists. To his chagrin, Senate Republicans are challenging these actions by questioning funding in the budget seen as facilitating more lawsuits.

GREEN BUILDING MANDATE SLIPPED INTO BUDGET

Another major policy item quietly slipped into the stalled State Budget is language that would mandate that all state buildings (owned or leased) built after 2008, meet the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) “silver” rating. Although many in our industry appreciate the intent of this language and agree that the state should lead by example in terms of building sustainable buildings, the budget language is poorly written and the mandate in statute is too restrictive in that it completely ignores the ongoing process related to green buildings currently underway at the California Building Standards Commission (BSC).

The BSC’s Green Building Committee has started the task of creating a state standard written specifically for California and we should support continuing that effort. The Legislature has historically relied on the administrative process at the BSC for the adoption and updating of such technical building standards and this language in budget would ignore that policy which has stood for more than thirty years, producing some of the most progressive environmentally-based requirements in the nation.

Additionally, there are several other credible programs and guidelines in the marketplace that certify the “sustainability” of buildings, such as GreenGlobes, EPA’s Federal Green Construction Guide, and our state’s own “Building Better Buildings; an update on State Sustainable Building Initiatives,” so why would the state want to cement in statute one particular standard? Instead customizing a sustainable building code for California through the BSC process, the budget could mandate an approach that would be difficult to implement, stifle competition, and costly to the state and private businesses alike.

SB 375: LAND USE BILL WOULD HALT USE OF LAND

CBPA and allied industry groups are spending a lot of time under the Capitol Dome in Sacramento fighting a measure that would limit growth by tying the local planning process to a convoluted process that would effectively grind development to a halt. The bill also limits increased transportation capacity and affordable housing by blocking use of transportation bond funds for all projects except for very narrowly defined “infill” projects. The bill, Senate Bill 375 by Senator Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), is in the final steps of the legislative process and we need your help opposing this measure.

SB 375 attempts to force significant changes to traditional land use decision-making and existing transportation policy by vesting regional councils of governments (COGS) with expansive new land use authority and by altering the existing rules for funding transportation projects throughout the state.

Under the guise of reducing carbon emissions, SB 375 would impede new suburban residential, commercial and retail development, and the jobs and transportation improvements that go with it, by withholding from many newly developing areas the benefits of future critical transportation project funding – including funding authorized by voters in the recently approved Proposition 1-A – if those projects are not located in areas identified by a COG as a “preferred” area for growth.

SB 375 advances the approach described above in order to achieve the singular goal of reducing greenhouse gasses (GHG). Moreover, it looks to achieve GHG reductions on a timetable far ahead of the established process set out by AB 32 and through untested and risky land use control measures adopted by remote and unaccountable regional agencies unfamiliar with the subtleties of land use planning.

As representatives of the business community, we are committed to the twin goals of AB 32 – reducing the overall level of greenhouse gasses emitted in California while at the same time growing the economy; adding jobs and providing California consumers with a healthy variety of lifestyle choices. Unfortunately SB 375 heads in a different direction, attempting to replace that balance with heavy-handed state planning and growth constraints.

Help us defeat this bad bill by calling your Assemblymember and letting them know that this bill would hurt the local economy and would stall progress that most communities in California are enjoying. Find your Assemblymember by clicking here.

STRATEGIC ISSUES CONFERENCE: GLOBAL WARMING AND THE BUSINESS OF REAL ESTATE

Four major industry groups are combining forces to sponsor a high level discussion regarding the impacts of “global warming” policy on our industry. From AB 32 greenhouse gas regulations to the legislative focus on “green building” mandates, this conference promises to deliver the most up to date thinking about the politics driving these policies and will offer strategic discussion to set the course on how we can proactively be at the table and positively influence policy.

Joint sponsors for this event include: California Business Properties Association (CBPA), California Building Industry Association (CBIA), Building Owners and Managers Association of California (BOMA California), and Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA),

The event will be held November 1-2, 2007, at the Meritage Resort in Napa Valley. A stellar line-up of policy and decision-makers from Industry, the Schwarzenegger Administration and Legislature, as well as a respected member of the political press corps, is coalescing for the conference. Until we can announce confirmed names of speakers, here is the framework agenda:

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2007
4:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. Kick-off Reception in the Wine Caves
6:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Dinner with Speaker TBA

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2007
8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. Breakfast with Speaker TBA
9:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Panel Presentations (2 panels TBA)
11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Luncheon with Speaker TBA

For early-bird registration information and special room rates, please contact Tracy Fujii at CBPA, 916-443-4676, or tfujii@cbpa.com.

Don’t just react – be a leader – participate in this conference and shape important issues that will affect your businesses.

BOMA CALENDAR 2007-2008

November 1 & 2 – BOMA Cal/CBIA/CBPA Fall Joint Legislative Conference
BOMA Cal Annual Meeting
Napa Valley (Meritage Resort)

January 15 – BOMA Cal Board Meeting
Los Angeles
In conjunction with IREM/BOMA GLA Forecast Breakfast

March/April (date TBD) – BOMA Cal Board Meeting
Location TBD

June 10-11 – CA Commercial Real Estate Summit – BOMA Cal Board Meeting
Sacramento (Hyatt Regency)

October/November (date TBD) - BOMA Cal Annual Meeting/20th Anniversary Event
Location TBD