Rural Land Use Planning Clearinghouse

Laws that apply to the code enforcement staff

There are several laws and regulations that apply to code enforcement officials but first lets define what a code enforcement official is and is not.

1.They are not general law enforcement officers although they do have code enforcement authority.

 

2.They work for incorporated cities and counties determining violations of, and seeking compliance with, building codes and zoning ordinances.

 

3.Their domain of enforcement is local ordinances that are implementations of the California Code of Regulations (CCR), Title 24 of the Health and Safety code of California.

 

There was a time when cities and counties had few or no building codes and zoning ordinances and those they had, they wrote as they chose. However, Since the early eighties, all local ordinances have to be based on title 24 of the Health and Safety code of California and that in turn is based on a standard called the Uniform building code(UBC). Recently the UBC has been revised and readopted by California as the International Building Code(IBC).

Currently “the 2007 triennial edition of the California Code of Regulations, Title 24 (California Building Standards Code) applies to all occupancies that applied for a building permit on or after January 1, 2008, and remains in effect until the effective date of the 2010 triennial edition.” ⁠¹⁠

The CA.gov Building Standards Commission page shows the history of building and zoning codes in California.²⁠

 

Some Laws and regulations that code enforcement officials need to comply with

 

There are more regulations than this but these are some laws and regulations that protect builders and owners.

 

1. State law says inspectors, plan examiners and building officials are required to be certified in the applicable codes, plus complete 45-hours of continuing education in every three years of employment. ³⁠

2. Humboldt County Code says that code enforcement officials “may enter and inspect any building or premises whenever necessary to secure compliance with, or prevent a violation of, any provision of” building standards which “the enforcement agency has the power to enforce.” However, they may not “enter any dwelling between the hours of 6 o'clock p.m. of any day and 8 o'clock a.m. of the succeeding day, without the consent of the owner or of the occupants of the dwelling, nor enter any dwelling in the absence of the occupants without a proper written order executed and issued by a court having jurisdiction to issue the order.”⁴⁠

3. Humboldt County Code says that code enforcement officials “shall maintain records of all administrative costs associated with processing violations and enforcement.” Also if any violations have been found the code enforcement officials shall notify the owner or person in possession by mail 0f their intent to charge the property owner for all administrative costs, and of the owner's right to a hearing. (Ord. 2096, § 1, 11/14/1995; Ord. No. 2271, 04/23/2002)⁵⁠

 

To comply with certification and continuing education laws, the California Association of Code Enforcement Officers (CACEO) has a well regarded certification program as well as courses and instructional materials to study both for the certification test and meet the continuing education requirement. Two study topics that look particularly worth looking at are ethics and inspection protocol. ⁶⁠

 

A source of confusion concerning entry permission is that this ordinance assumes that there is a permit in place at the building or premises and that if an official is refused entry, the permit is canceled. Part of applying for a permit is giving consent for reasonable entry. If there is no permit, there is no consent and the forth amendment holds sway.

The records requirement effectively means that investigations will not be in secret and that any determinations of those investigations will be communicated by mailed notices and hearings.