The California Legislature unanimously passed a bill that would create a remote inspection process for home energy projects like solar that is awaiting Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature.
AB 1738 was authored by Assemblymember Juan Carrillo (D-Palmdale), chair of the Assembly Local Government Committee. If enacted, homeowners or their contractors can request remote inspections home solar and battery storage, heat pump water heaters, heat pump HVAC systems and new roofs. Cities and counties run the program at their discretion.
“Remote inspections save both the homeowner and the building official time,” Carrillo said. “Saving money for the homeowner by not having them wait around for an inspector and allowing those inspectors to focus on permitting more complex projects faster.”
An analysis by San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research (SPUR), a co-sponsor of AB 1738, found that California contractors generally wait between two to six hours for in-person inspections, which can increase the cost of home upgrades.
Nineteen jurisdictions in California, including Los Angeles County, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Berkeley, Santa Rosa and Placer County, already offer remote inspections for at least some types of work. Los Angeles County estimates that 20 to 40% of all its inspections are now conducted remotely, most commonly for water heaters, solar and battery, electrical finals and minor plumbing and mechanical work. AB 1738 makes the option available to every California homeowner and preserves full discretion for inspectors to require in-person inspections when necessary.
“We have an ‘existing buildings dilemma’ in California. To meet our ambitious climate and wildfire resilience goals, we have thousands of roofs in high-risk wildfire zones to replace and heat pumps to install. Permitting and inspections quietly add time and cost to each project”, said Colleen Corrigan, sustainability and resilience policy manager at SPUR, a Bay-Area based public policy organization and co-sponsor of AB 1738. “Remote virtual inspections are a rare opportunity to save money and time for both the homeowner and the building department–it’s a win-win.”
The California Legislature also passed a bill legalizing plug-in solar that is awaiting Newsom’s signature.
News item from Permit Power