Blake,
I'm wandering if this code revision to the shear wall building you mention is the result of some efforts of the industry to "lighten-up" the requirements of reinforced concrete shear walls? I've been reading for the past year or so about some new research within the universities that current ACI provisions for reinforced concrete shear walls was too conservative, but have not investigated this myself.
I do have concerns over the situation you mention in your project. I'm not sure CA is ready for that or should be either.
Regards,
BSM Consulting Engineers, Inc.