The City Council will consider adopting the 2025 California Building Standards Code and related safety regulations, a routine but critical step to ensure that all new construction in the city meets updated statewide requirements for safety, energy efficiency and sustainability.
Under state law, local jurisdictions must adopt and enforce the new building codes by January 1.
The codes are revised every three years by the California Building Standards Commission to incorporate the latest technical and environmental standards for building, residential, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, energy, fire, and green construction.
The city’s adoption will maintain Pasadena’s long-standing emphasis on safety while aligning with updated state mandates.
Local amendments will continue to address Pasadena’s unique seismic, climatic, and topographical conditions but will remain consistent with state law, which limits new residential amendments under Assembly Bill 130 until 2031.
The City’s changes will carry forward most of the existing local amendments from the previous code cycle, with updates focused on the Building, Residential, Fire, CALGreen, and newly consolidated California Wildland-Urban Interface codes. The city is also proposing administrative cleanups to better align the Building & Safety Division and the Fire Department and remove outdated requirements.
Key updates in the CALGreen code include new measures to reduce carbon emissions and improve energy efficiency.
The Fire Code amendments will continue to provide stronger protections in Pasadena’s designated Fire Hazard Severity Zones and for large-scale public events, reflecting the city’s history of heightened fire prevention measures.
The City Council’s Public Safety Committee reviewed the proposal in September and unanimously supported the adoption. If approved, the city’s Building Official will file the ordinance and supporting documentation with the California Building Standards Commission for final acceptance.
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