Advocacy at USGBC California
At USGBC California, advocacy is our mission in action. We champion climate-forward, people-centered solutions by influencing policy, amplifying community voices, and building coalitions across the state.
Whether we’re supporting legislation, convening stakeholders, or hosting trainings, advocacy runs through everything we do. From our members to our events, from local governments to national partners, we believe in the power of collective action.
We advocate for:
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Sustainable, high-performance buildings
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Climate resilience and carbon reduction
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Equitable access to green infrastructure
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Public and private sector innovation
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Policies that reflect the voices of the people most impacted
Current Priorities & Core Strategy
USGBC California has identified the following as Current Priorities in our policy and advocacy work:
Our Core Strategy is anchored in the following:
- Furthering relationships with public agencies, local governments, the state legislature, and mission-aligned organizations in California
- Interweaving advocacy efforts throughout all of USGBC California’s programs, events, & culture
- Educating USGBC California members on our advocacy priorities and inviting their ideas and involvement in our initiatives
- Bringing awareness of climate policies, initiatives, and new technologies to our community
- Working with Regional Leadership Advisory Boards and Committees throughout the State of California to fortify a strong volunteer network for advocacy and policy initiatives
- Organizing ‘California Advocacy Day’
- Fostering dialogue between our membership and public agencies related to code updates, code implementation efforts, and our advocacy + policy priorities
- Collaborating with the Advocacy Team at USGBC National to coordinate and deliver resources to our collective membership base
Advocacy Day
The annual California Green Building Advocacy Day (Advocacy Day) is a day for USGBC California, its members, and other mission-aligned partner organizations to convene in Sacramento and advocate for legislation related to shared industry priorities. We mobilize our community to ensure our collective voices are heard by the Legislature and other decision-makers who can shepherd green building policies for a more sustainable, resilient, and equitable California.
Our main objectives for Advocacy Day are to update Legislators on current issues, concerns, and perspectives related to green building and sustainable development, influence state-level policymaking by bringing awareness on how bills in the Legislature impact the community on the ground, and establish ourselves as an ongoing technical resource for these leaders and their teams.
How to Join Advocacy Day 2026
This year, USGBC-CA’s California Green Building Advocacy Day will take place on April 15, 2026 and we’d love to have you join us for this fun, interactive signature event. More than ever, this is a moment in time to let your voice be heard and be an advocate for the issues and priorities that matter to our organization, to our industry, and within our community. See our member testimonials HERE.
Key Dates for Advocacy Day 2026:
- January 21st – Be the Change in 2026: A Conversation on Advocacy and Policy
- February 20th – 2026 CA Legislature: Last Day for Bills to Be Introduced
- Late February – USGBC-CA State Bill Review Sessions with Membership
- March 2nd – “45 Days of Advocacy” Remote Campaign
- March 11th – Sacramento Region Mixer Event
- March 31st – Advocacy Day Virtual Training (for Advocacy Day Participants Only)
- April 15th – Advocacy Day + Gratitude Happy Hour
- May 13th – Advocacy Day Virtual Recap and Next Steps – Click here to register
If interested in participating, please complete this expression of interest form no later than Monday, March 2nd. Limited slots are available, so please let us know of your interest as soon as possible.
We anticipate responding back to all who express interest no later than Monday, March 9, 2026.
Other Ways to Get Involved with USGBC California Advocacy
- Become an Advocacy Lead for one of our RLABs or Committees
- Join our Advocacy + Policy Community Hub Channel
- Participate in “45 Days of Advocacy” Campaign starting March 2nd
- One-click campaign generating letters to State Legislature from USGBC-CA members about Advocacy Day and bills of interest this year
- Attend our Sacramento Mixers
- March 11, 2026
- April 15, 2026 – 5:00pm to 8:00pm at Iron Horse Tavern – Sponsored by Knauf – Register here
For more information about these events and more, please check out our Events page or contact the USGBC California Advocacy + Policy Team at advocacy@usgbc-ca.org
Advocacy + Policy Resources
This living resource is intended to serve as a clearinghouse for tools, information, technical resources, funding opportunities, and more. It will evolve and be updated frequently, stay tuned!
- California Building Performance Standards Peer Learning Collaborative (CalBPS PLC)
- California Building Performance Hub
- Building Performance Partnership
- Institute of Market Transformation Resource Library
- New Buildings Institute – Codes & Policy
- Building Decarbonization Coalition Resource Library
- Rewiring America
Policy Spotlights
Replacing gas furnaces with heat pumps is one of the most powerful actions a homeowner can take to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. California has established a goal of installing six million heat pumps by 2030, but we are not on track to meet this goal. For new construction, the state building code that went into effect in January 2026 strongly encourages heat pumps. But the policy to transition furnaces in existing buildings to heat pumps has largely stalled.
Counterintuitively, the most cost-effective policy for transitioning to clean heating may be to focus on air conditioners. Heat pumps, also known as 2-way ACs, are essentially a conventional air conditioner with the addition of a reversing valve that allows it to switch from cooling to heating. Because of this, 2-way ACs have similar manufacturing and installation costs as conventional 1-way ACs, and can be installed within the same space and using the same electric wiring.
Proposed AC to Heat Pump policies (known colloquially as AC2HP), which require air conditioner replacements to have a heating mode, are popping up in cities across the state. These policies can help residents save money (by eliminating future furnace replacements) while helping clean the air and address climate change.
If you want to help advocate for an AC2HP policy in your community, please fill out our form.
Balcony solar, also called plug-in solar, is a new alternative to rooftop solar that empowers everyday people to produce their own power without the need to spend tens of thousands of dollars, hire an installer, get permits, apply for rebates, or even own their own roof.
The trick of these systems is that they are small enough to hang from a balcony (hence the name) or any other sunny location. They don’t provide nearly as much electricity as a rooftop system, but they are much less expensive than rooftop systems and cut out many of the challenges associated with rooftop solar. Combined with portable batteries, they can offset some household electricity usage when electricity is most expensive.
Like rooftop solar, plug-in solar scaled up first in Germany, where more than a million individual panels have been plugged into household outlets across the country. In the U.S., plug-in solar kits are beginning to be available but fall into a legal gray zone. The non-profit Bright Saver is working to make plug-in solar affordable, accessible, safe, and legal.
In 2025, Utah enacted the first state policy defining safety standards for plug-in solar and establishing the right of households to use the systems without a permit. Underwriters Laboratories (UL) is working to begin certifying the systems, and legislators in more states are planning to propose similar policies. This includes California, where Senator Scott Wiener has introduced legislation (SB 868: Electricity: portable solar generation devices).
