BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 1574
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 16, 2001

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                              Carole Migden, Chairwoman

                  AB 1574 (Lowenthal) - As Amended:  April 26, 2001 

          Policy Committee:                              HousingVote:  9-0
                        Utilities                             13-4

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:               

           SUMMARY  

          This bill:

          1)Requires the California Energy Commission (CEC) to adopt  
            emergency regulations: 

             a)   Requiring higher insulation and HVAC energy efficiency  
               standards in new nonresidential buildings.  

             b)   Prescribing minimum energy efficiency standards for  
               existing single family homes.  

          2)Exempts the above regulations from approval by the California  
            Building Standards Commission.  

          3)Requires an inspection made in conjunction with the sale of a  
            single family home to include an inspection of the home's  
            energy efficiency.

          4)Requires the person who requests a home inspection to pay for  
            the inspection costs.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          The CEC would incur one-time General Fund costs of at least  
          $500,000 for staff and consulting contracts to develop the  
          energy efficiency regulations for existing single family homes.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Purpose .  This bill is sponsored by the North American  








                                                                  AB 1574
                                                                  Page  2

            Insulation Manufacturers Association and Owens-Corning.   
            According to CEC, residential and commercial buildings account  
            for over 65% of all state electrical energy use and over 52%  
            of all natural gas use.  Although there are existing standards  
            for new construction, which are periodically updated, those  
            standards were initially drafted in 1978.  According to the  
            sponsors, approximately 5.3 million single-family homes have  
            little to no insulation or other efficiency improvements. The  
            sponsors believe that both residential and commercial building  
            represent enormous savings potential and should be targeted  
            for efficiency improvements.  

          Estimates of the energy savings potential from increased  
            efficiency in existing residential and commercial buildings  
            are 20 times greater than comparable savings achieved by the  
            CEC's recently approved efficiency revisions for new  
            buildings.

           2)Related Legislation  .  AB 549 (Longville), which is on the  
            committee's Suspense file, requires the CEC to develop a plan  
            for decreasing peak load energy consumption in existing  
            buildings.

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)319-2081