Filing an Appeal

Building Standards Law contains provisions for an appeal to the BSC respecting the administration of building standards is in the Health & Safety Code Section 18945 as follows:

18945 Right to Appeal.

(a) Any person adversely affected by any regulation, rules, omission, interpretation, decision or practice of any state agency respecting the administration of any building standard may appeal the issue for resolution to the commission.

(b) If any local agency having authority to enforce a state building standard and any person adversely affected by any regulation, rules, omission, interpretation, decision or practice of such agency respecting such building standard both wish to appeal the issue for resolution to the commission, then both parties may appeal to the commission. The commission may accept such appeal only if the commission determines that the issue involved in such appeal have statewide significance.

See Health & Safety Code Section 18946 for Hearing, reference, decision information.

Also, BSC has provisions for the appeal process set forth in Articles 1-6 and 1-8 of the California Code of Regulations, Title 24, Part 1 California Administration Code.

Rules for Appeals
An appellant must exhaust the appeal processes of state or local agencies before appealing to the BSC.

The BSC may not resolve appeal matters of a local agency if the local agency does not agree to have the BSC resolve the matter and the matter does not have statewide significance.

The BSC only accepts appeals within six months of when the act, interpretation, decision, or practice occurred.

The appeal must be in writing and accompanied by a nonrefundable fee of $450.

The appeal must specifically describe all of the following:

  • The exact regulation, rule, interpretation, or decision that is the subject of the appeal
  • The date of any act, interpretation, or decision that is the subject of the appeal
  • The nature of any act, interpretation, or decision related to the complaint
  • The reasons for the appeal
  • Documentation of the official action of the applicable state or local agency with respect to the agency's final decision
  • Identification of witnesses, experts, and other representatives of the appellant