City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: September 30, 2025
Agenda Item: 10.A
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Jing Yeo, Director, Administration
Subject: Introduction and First Reading of an Ordinance Adopting the 2025 California Building Standards Code and Adoption of a Resolution making Findings of Climatic, Geological and Topographical Conditions
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Adopt a finding of no possibility of significant effect pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines;
2. Introduce for first reading the attached ordinance to adopt the 2025 California Building, Residential, Electrical, Energy, Mechanical, Plumbing, Fire, Green Building, Wildland-Urban Interface, Historical and Existing Building Standards Codes and local amendments to the 2025 California Building Standards Code;
3. Adopt the attached resolution making findings of local climatic, geological and topographical conditions, as required; and
4. Instruct staff to file the adopted resolution and ordinance with the California Building Standards Commission following the second reading of the ordinance, but at least 30 days before the effective date of the Codes.
Summary
The California Building Standards Commission publishes an amended California Buildings Standards Code every three years to apply throughout the State of California.
The recent set of codes were published on July 1, 2025, and become effective 180 days after publication. All cities and counties in the state must follow the published standards, unless locally amended through adoption of an ordinance, as allowed per State law.
State law requires local amendments to be more restrictive than the published standards, and that local amendments be supported by findings demonstrating that the amendments are reasonably necessary due to climatic, geological, or topographical conditions. Additionally, on June 30, 2025, the Governor signed into law Assembly Bill 2 of 7
(AB) 130, which implements a freeze on certain state and local building code updates that apply to residential units for nearly six years, subject to limited exceptions, commencing October 1, 2025.
Exceptions include, among others:
• Changes or modifications that are substantially equivalent to changes or modifications that were previously filed by the governing body of the city or county and were in effect as of September 30, 2025,
• Changes or modifications relating to home hardening, and • Changes or modifications to administrative practices related to enforcement of code violations.
The proposed local amendments described in this report and set forth in the attached Ordinance include carryover amendments from the previous 2022 Code adoption cycle, except that, consistent with Council direction given at its September 9, 2025 meeting, the City’s building and fire code definitions for high-rise buildings will become consistent with the Statewide high-rise definition as set forth in Health & Safety Code 13210(b), as well as proposed new local amendments related to home hardening and fire safety. In 2024, the City adopted a local amendment to Section 5.409.3 Product GWP Compliance of the California Green Building Standards Code to set local compliance limits for carbon reductions from concrete used in new building construction projects.
The City includes a readoption of this local amendment in the 2025 Code adoption cycle. The language in the proposed local amendment for readoption is substantially the same as originally adopted in the previous code cycle as is the language in the code a section amended. Additionally, there are minor changes proposed to administrative items in Article VIII, Building Regulations, of the Santa Monica Municipal Code (SMMC) to modify and clarify language to reflect current processes and to eliminate internal redundancies. These proposed local amendments, therefore, are permissible under AB 130.
Background
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Pursuant to the Health and Safety Code, the California Building Standards Code (‘Title 24’) that applies throughout the State of California is published every three years. The majority of local governments adopt the published Title 24 by reference in local ordinances; however, Title 24 is the applicable code by default regardless of whether it is locally adopted. State law prescribes that all cities and counties must follow the published standards 180 days after publication, unless an ordinance is adopted to locally amend the standards. The 2025 Edition of the California Building Standards Code was published July 1, 2025, and will become effective on January 1, 2026.
The 2025 California Building Standards Code (Title 24) includes the following:
• Title 24, Part 1: 2025 California Administrative Code • Title 24, Part 2: 2025 California Building Code
• Title 24, Part 2.5: 2025 California Residential Code
• Title 24, Part 3: 2025 California Electrical Code
• Title 24, Part 4: 2025 California Mechanical Code
• Title 24, Part 5: 2025 California Plumbing Code
• Title 24, Part 6: 2025 California Energy Code
• Title 24, Part 7: 2025 Wildland-Urban Interface Code
• Title 24, Part 8: 2025 California Historical Building Code • Title 24, Part 9: 2025 California Fire Code
• Title 24, Part 10: 2025 California Existing Building Code • Title 24, Part 11: 2025 California Green Building Standards Code During the period between publication of the California Building Standards Code and mandatory local adoption, cities and counties may make local amendments based on climatic, geological, topographical, and environmental conditions. Local amendments shall be more restrictive than the Title 24 building standards and shall include local adoption of a Resolution making findings that the amendments are reasonably necessary because of local climatic, geological and topographical conditions. Local amendments only become effective if the locally adopted ordinance and required findings are filed with the California Building Standards Commission. Additionally, local 4 of 7
amendments are specific to each edition of Title 24; and, as a result, previously approved local amendments must be re-adopted with each new edition of Title 24.
On June 30, 2025, Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 130 into law, which amends various code provisions regulating local amendments to the California Building Standards Code. Under AB 130, and commencing from October 1, 2025, to June 1, 2031, a city shall not make changes that are applicable to residential units unless one of the following conditions is met:
1) The changes or modifications are substantially equivalent to changes or modifications that were previously filed by the governing body of the city or county and were in effect as of September 30, 2025.
2) The California Building Standards Commission deems those changes or modifications necessary as emergency standards to protect health and safety. 3) The changes or modifications relate to home hardening. 4) The building standards relate to home hardening and are proposed for a fire protection district pursuant to Section 13869.7.
5) The changes or modifications are necessary to implement a local code amendment that is adopted to align with a general plan approved on or before June 10, 2025, and that permits mixed-fuel residential construction consistent with federal law while also incentivizing all-electric construction as part of an adopted greenhouse gas emissions reduction strategy.
6) The changes or modifications are related to administrative practices, are proposed for adoption during the intervening period and exclusively result in any of the following:
a. Reductions in time for a local agency to issue a post entitlement permit. b. Alterations to a local agency’s post entitlement fee schedule. c. Modernization of, or adoption of, new permitting platforms and software utilized by the local agency.
d. Reductions in cost of internal operation for a local agency. e. Establishment, alteration, or removal of local programs related to enforcement of building code violations or complaints alleging building code violations.
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The majority of the City’s local amendments proposed as part of this code adoption cycle are related to seismic safety due to the substantial risk of geologic hazards in Southern California and the City’s desire to protect against loss of life and property in the event of a significant earthquake and are substantially equivalent to changes or modifications that were in effect as part of the 2022 code adoption. These local amendments were a culmination of an extensive and collaborative effort by representatives from local jurisdictions, including the City of Santa Monica, through the Los Angeles Regional Unified Code Program, which is sponsored by the Los Angeles Basin Chapter of the International Code Council.
The only new amendment added to Article 8 is related to home hardening and can be found in Attachment B under Section 8.39.
Discussion
Proposed changes to Article VIII, Building Regulations, of the Santa Monica Municipal Code (SMMC) are detailed in Attachments A-C and summarized below. The changes include updated section references that have changed from previous building code editions, new Santa Monica local amendments to the State codes, re-adoption of previously adopted local amendments, additions and revisions to previously local amendments, and text edits to achieve/maintain internal consistency and reduce redundancies. In addition, consistent with Council direction given at its September 9, 2025 meeting, the City’s building and fire code definitions for high-rise buildings will become consistent with the Statewide high-rise definition as set forth in Health & Safety Code 13210(b). It is important to note that some of the changes labeled as ‘ “retention of previously approved local amendments” may include updates to incorporate updated practices and standards; however, the general intent of the prior amendment remains the same.
The issues before the Council for adoption include:
• Administrative changes to Article VIII for consistency, coordination with the California Building Standards Code, and clarity.
• Code update adopting the 2025 California Building Code, applicable Building Standards, and the re-adoption of existing local amendments. 6 of 7
• Code update adopting the 2025 California Existing Building Code and appendix Chapters A1, A2 and A3
• Code update adopting the 2025 California Historical Building Code. • Code update adopting the 2025 California Residential Code for one-and-two family dwellings, townhouses, and associated accessory structures, and the re - adoption of existing local amendments.
• Code update adopting the 2025 California Electrical Code and the re-adoption of existing local amendments
• Code update adopting the 2025 California Mechanical Code and the re-adoption of existing local amendments
• Code update adopting the 2025 California Plumbing Code and the re-adoption of existing local amendments.
• Code update adopting the 2025 California Energy Code. • Code update adopting the 2025 California Fire Code and the re-adoption of existing local amendments.
• Adoption of updated local amendments to the seismic retrofit standards. See Sections 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20 of the attached Ordinance. • Code update adopting the 2025 California Green Building Standards Code and the re-adoption of existing local amendments.
• Code update adopting the 2025 Wildland-Urban Interface Code and, adoption of new local amendments.
Building and Fire-Life Safety Commission Action
The Building and Fire-Life Safety Commission considered these amendments at their September 10, 2025 meeting. They recommended that City Council adopts the 2025 California Building Standards Code and local amendments.
Environmental Review
The updates to the Building Code are exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) (Common Sense Exemption) of the CEQA Guidelines, which states that CEQA does not apply “where it can be seen with 7 of 7
certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment.” The updates to the Building Code help maintain general public safety and welfare of the community. Therefore, it can be seen with certainty that the building code updates would not result in a significant effect on the environment, and therefore, are exempt from CEQA.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
There is no immediate financial impact or budget action necessary as a result of recommended action. Staff will return to Council if specific budget actions are required in the future.
Prepared By: Sia Poursabahian, Building & Safety Manager Approved Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. Building Code Local Amendments Ordinance 2025.09.30
B. Building Code Amendment Resolution 2025.09.30
C. PowerPoint Presentation