Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 16, § 166 - Continuing education requirement for coursework in zero net carbon design
(a) For
purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
(1) "Trainers or educators with knowledge and
expertise in zero net carbon design" means a person with a minimum of three
projects within the last ten years in the designing of carbon neutral
architecture and who meets one of the three additional requirements of
subsection (f), or an architect or engineer of a regulatory authority
responsible for promulgation of building standards in the Title 24, Part 6,
California Energy Code, or Title 24, Part 11, California Green Building
Standards Code (CALGreen).
(2)
"Zero net carbon design" means architectural designs including resilient
designs of new construction and/or existing facilities that produce on-site, or
equitably procure from offsite, enough carbon-free renewable energy to meet
building operations energy consumption over the building project's life-cycle.
This also includes architectural design responsive to embodied carbon reduction
and resilient performance of a facility that results in reduced embodied carbon
or minimized carbon.
(A) For the purposes of
this section, "resilient performance" describes the capacity of a system, for
example: a community, society, or ecosystem, to withstand physical calamities
and continue to function.
(B) For
the purposes of this section, "equitably procure from offsite" shall refer to
consideration of environmental justice goals.
(b) As a condition of renewal, a licensee
shall complete five hours of continuing education (CE) coursework on the
subject of zero net carbon design that meets the criteria specified in this
section during each two-year license renewal period prior to the license
expiration date, or, if the license is delinquent, during the 24 months
immediately preceding the date on which the licensee submits their delinquent
renewal application. The board shall consider CE coursework incomplete and the
licensee not in compliance with this section if, within 15 days of the board's
notice of audit and written request, the licensee does not make available to
the board the proof required by this section. For the purposes of this section
"proof" shall mean any of the following:
(1)
a certificate of completion described in subsection (i),
(2) attendance or course completion records
from the course provider as described in subsection (j), or,
(3) other records of completion that contain
the information specified in Section 5600.05 of the code.
(c) All CE course topics, subject matters,
and course materials shall be pertinent to the practice of architecture as
defined in Section 5500.1 of the code and the provision of an architect's
professional services relating to zero net carbon design. Examples of zero net
carbon CE coursework topics or subjects may include any one or combination of
the following: energy efficient building systems, deep energy efficient
retrofits of existing buildings, adaptive reuse, natural ventilation,
daylighting, solar harvesting design, advanced energy efficiency strategies,
including energy modeling, renewable energy strategies, embodied carbon
analysis, CALGreen -- Title 24, Part 11, of the California Code of Regulations,
renewable energy systems, climate sustainability, resilient design, and
environmental justice.
(d) In
addition to the requirements of subsection (c), CE courses shall meet the
following requirements:
(1) have curriculum
that meets the educational objectives of providing training to licensees on the
subject matter listed in subsection (c),
(2) have subject areas or modules that are
presented in a logically organized manner or sequence to participants, and
(3) be presented by trainers or
educators who meet the qualifications in subsection (f).
(e) A provider shall only issue a certificate
of completion to a participant who:
(1)
completes an in-person or live webinar course, or
(2) takes a recorded course not presented
live or which is presented by recorded webinar and successfully passes a test
of the participant's knowledge and understanding of the CE coursework at the
end of the period of instruction ("post-course test"). "Successfully passes"
shall mean a minimum cumulative passing score of at least seventy percent
(70%).
(f) A provider
must use trainers or educators with knowledge and expertise in zero net carbon
building design or in the designing of carbon neutral and/or high-performance
buildings or groups of buildings or structures and meet at least one of the
following criteria:
(1) Hold a license or
registration issued by a United States jurisdiction as an architect or a
professional, civil, mechanical, or structural engineer with a minimum of three
years of demonstrable direct experience in the designing of carbon neutral
and/or high-performance buildings or groups of buildings and
structures.
(2) Have a qualifying
faculty appointment at an accredited educational institution, or an educational
institution approved by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education. To be
considered "qualifying" under this subsection, faculty must be directly
responsible for the teaching of carbon reduction, carbon neutral, and/or high
performance or passive building topics. For the purposes of this section,
"accredited" means recognition from an accrediting agency recognized by the
Secretary of the United States Department of Education.
(3) Hold a current, unexpired certification
from the International Code Council ("ICC") California Certification Program
and have a minimum of three years of demonstrable direct experience in the
designing, examining, or inspecting of carbon neutral and/or high-performance
buildings or groups of buildings and structures as one of the following:
(A) CALGreen Inspector/Plans
Examiner.
(B) California Commercial
Building Inspector.
(C) California
Building Plans Examiner.
(4) For purposes of this section,
"demonstrable direct experience" is experience, established by documentary
evidence such as signed plans, work contracts, or other documents that
establish the individual's direct involvement in the design process.
(g) An architect shall not certify
completion of the CE requirement of this section through self-teaching or
self-directed activities. Teaching, instructing, or presenting a course on zero
net carbon requirements shall not qualify as credit for fulfillment of the CE
requirement of this section.
(h) A
provider shall maintain for at least three years from the date of course
completion records of participant attendance and course completion, including
the information specified in section 5600.05(b) of the code, for each CE course
participant.
(i) Within ten days
from the completion of the course, a provider shall issue a certificate of
completion to each participant, subject to the requirements of subsection (e).
The certificate of completion shall include the information specified in
section 5600.05(b) of the code.
(j)
Upon written request by a licensee who is the subject of a CE audit, a provider
shall issue within ten days of the date of the request a copy of the records
specified in subsection (h). It shall be the responsibility of a licensee to
obtain the records from providers if records are requested by the board and
make those records available to the board. In addition, the licensee shall
cooperate in the audit and investigation of the licensee's compliance with this
section, including taking all steps required by the CE provider to authorize
the release of information to the Board, including signing any authorization or
consent to release the licensee's records of completion or coursework to the
Board.
(k) A licensee not in
compliance with this section shall remedy any deficiency of the CE requirements
of this section by completing the coursework prescribed by this section for the
prior renewal period during the current renewal period, in addition to
completing the CE coursework required in this section for the current renewal
period. Before the end of the current renewal period, the licensee shall
provide to the board proof, as described in subsection (b), that the deficiency
of CE credits has been remedied as prescribed by this section.
Notes
Note: Authority cited: Sections 5526 and 5600.05, Business and Professions Code. Reference: Sections 5560, 5578 and 5600.05, Business and Professions Code.
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