(a) Notice of proposed building standards shall be given and hearings shall be held by the adopting agencies, as required by the Administrative Procedure Act, prior to the adoption of the building standards and submission to the commission for approval. The notice of proposed building standards and the initial statement of reasons for the proposed building standards shall comply with Article 5 (commencing with Section 11346) of Chapter 3.5 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code. The adopting agency or state agency that proposes the building standards shall submit the notice and initial statement of reasons for proposed building standards to the California Building Standards Commission, which shall review them for compliance with Article 5 (commencing with Section 11346) of Chapter 3.5 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code. If the commission determines that the adopting agency or state agency that proposes the building standards has complied with Article 5 (commencing with Section 11346) of Chapter 3.5 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, the commission shall approve the notice and initial statement of reasons for proposed building standards, and submit the notice to the Office of Administrative Law for the sole purpose of inclusion in the California Regulatory Notice Register. The Office of Administrative Law shall publish only those notices of proposed building standards which have been approved by, and submitted to, the office by the California Building Standards Commission.
(b) In order to ensure an absence of conflict between hearings and a maximum opportunity for interested parties to be heard, no hearings by adopting agencies shall be conducted unless the time and place thereof has been approved in writing by the commission prior to public notices of the hearing being given by the adopting agencies.
(c) If, after building standards are submitted to the commission for approval, the commission requires changes therein as a condition for approval, and the changes are made, no additional hearing by the affected state agency shall be required in connection with making the changes when the commission determines the changes are nonsubstantial, solely grammatical in nature, or are sufficiently related to the text submitted to the commission for approval that the public was adequately placed on notice that the change could result from the originally proposed building standards.
(Amended by Stats. 2016, Ch. 714, Sec. 20. (SB 944) Effective January 1, 2017.)