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SBCC committee weighs HB 1458 embodied-carbon requirements and votes to inform at upcoming hearing
Summary
The committee discussed HB 1458, a draft bill that would require embodied-carbon reporting and incremental reductions up to 30% by the 2030 code cycle; members raised concerns about scope, workload, and timeline and voted to send two members to inform at a February hearing.
At the Jan. 30 legislative committee meeting, members discussed HB 1458, a bill that would require reporting on embodied carbon, convene a specialized Technical Advisory Group (TAG) and direct incremental embodied-carbon reductions (a 30% target by the 2030 code cycle). Dustin, SBCC staff, said the bill “is asking a lot from the state building code council,” describing requirements to convene a TAG whose membership is spelled out in the draft and to begin reporting for the 2024 code cycle.
Committee members raised several implementation concerns. Micah said much of the technical work the bill contemplates has already been discussed in the SBCC’s building-code tag and that creating a second, new TAG would duplicate past work and impose more staff burden. Members also questioned statutory dates in the draft, with several participants saying the bill’s July 1, 2026 target for recommending modifications is unrealistic and needs alignment with the SBCC code-adoption cycles (2024, 2027, 2030). Dustin and others asked the group to be prepared to offer technical suggestions rather than simply object.
Action: Jay Arnold moved that the committee nominate Kjell Anderson and, if Kjell is unavailable, Todd Bayreuther to "inform" at the Local Government Committee hearing on HB 1458. Kjell seconded the motion. The committee approved the motion by voice vote; individual roll-call counts were not recorded at the meeting.
Why this matters: HB 1458 would expand reporting and potential enforceable requirements related to embodied carbon across a category of buildings (the draft applies to buildings of 50,000 square feet or more in the version discussed). Committee members said the SBCC’s prior work on an appendix package and the building-code tag’s review may provide a path to reduce SBCC workload if the legislature narrows or clarifies scope.
Next steps: The committee agreed to inform the Local Government Committee hearing (February 5) and to bring proposed technical comments and alignment suggestions to the full SBCC at the next opportunity; Kjell Anderson and Todd Bayreuther were selected as informants for the hearing. Members also recommended staff and existing tags review the draft’s technical references and suggested changing statutory dates to match SBCC adoption timelines.
Ending: Committee members said they will monitor the bill’s progress, coordinate testimony that emphasizes prior SBCC work and tag recommendations, and provide suggested edits that reduce prescriptive technical code language in statute.
