HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, enacts as follows:

Definitions

1  In this Act:

"local government" means

(a) the City of Vancouver,

(b) a municipality as defined in the Community Charter, or

(c) a regional district;

"Provincial government" means that part of the government reporting entity referred to in paragraph (a) [government as reported through the consolidated revenue fund] of the definition of "government reporting entity" in section 1 (1) of the Budget Transparency and Accountability Act;

"provincially funded building" means

(a) a building, or

(b) an addition to a building that increases the size of the building,

with respect to which the Provincial government contributed money, other than through a contribution by an unconditional grant to a local government, to fund its design or construction.

Purpose

2  The purpose of this Act is to facilitate a culture of wood by requiring the use of wood as the primary building material in all new provincially funded buildings, in a manner consistent with the British Columbia Building Code.

Best practices

3  In order to promote the use of wood in provincially funded buildings, the minister may do the following:

(a) recommend best practices for the use of wood in provincially funded buildings in a manner consistent with the British Columbia Building Code;

(b) advise on the form and content of agreements and other arrangements for the design or construction of provincially funded buildings;

(c) carry out prescribed responsibilities.

Power to make regulations

4  (1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations referred to in section 41 of the Interpretation Act.

(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations as follows:

(a) requiring reports on the use of wood in provincially funded buildings;

(b) respecting the preparation of reports required under paragraph (a), including, without limitation, the timing, form and content of the reports, and respecting records that must be maintained in relation to those reports and access that must be provided to those records;

(c) prescribing responsibilities for the purpose of section 3 (c);

(d) defining a word or expression used but not defined in this Act.

Commencement

5  This Act comes into force on the date of Royal Assent.