(a)  Private and public agency building owners and developers may, and are encouraged to, use the provisions of this chapter for new and existing buildings. Private and public agency building owners and developers are encouraged to consider the building standards enacted by local governments for building reconstruction pursuant to Article 4 (commencing with Section 19160) of Chapter 2 of Part 3 of Division 13.

(b)  The State Architect, using the advisory committee defined in Section 16022 shall review the suitability of the candidate buildings for earthquake hazard mitigation technologies upon request from building owners or developers, public agencies, or design professionals and shall review the adequacy of the project-specific design and earthquake performance criteria and report its findings to the appropriate public agency prior to the approval of design concepts, preliminary design criteria, geotechnical reports, and ground response reports by the appropriate public agency.

(c)  The advisory committee established pursuant to Section 16022 shall be used by the State Architect to perform a peer review of the earthquake hazard mitigation technologies for a project at the State Architect’s discretion or at the request of a building owner, design professional, or responsible public agency. The State Architect may add to the advisory committee additional peers for a particular project from a list of recognized experts in the field of earthquake hazard mitigation technologies.

(d)  An appropriate fee for all reviews by the State Architect and advisory committee shall be established by the State Architect and paid for by building owners prior to reviews. The fees established pursuant to this subdivision shall not exceed the actual costs of performing the individual peer review.

(e)  No local agency may require any private or public agency, building owner or developer, or their design professionals, to comply with the provisions of this chapter as a condition of local agency review, permitting, or approval.

(Added by Stats. 1989, Ch. 988, Sec. 1.)