Bill Text: CA AB2681 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Introduced
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Seismic safety: potentially vulnerable buildings.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Vetoed) 2018-09-28 - Vetoed by Governor. [AB2681 Detail]
Download: California-2017-AB2681-Introduced.html
Bill Title: Seismic safety: potentially vulnerable buildings.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Vetoed) 2018-09-28 - Vetoed by Governor. [AB2681 Detail]
Download: California-2017-AB2681-Introduced.html
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION
| Assembly Bill | No. 2681 |
| Introduced by Assembly Member Nazarian |
February 15, 2018 |
An act to add Chapter 12.2.5 (commencing with Section 8875.100) to Division 1 of Title 2 of the Government Code, relating to seismic safety.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2681, as introduced, Nazarian.
Seismic safety: potentially vulnerable buildings.
Existing law establishes a program within all cities and all counties and portions thereof located within seismic zone 4, as defined, to identify all potentially hazardous buildings and to establish a mitigation program for these buildings. The mitigation program may include, among other things, the adoption by ordinance of a hazardous buildings program, measures to strengthen buildings, and the application of structural standards necessary to provide for life safety above current code requirements.
This bill would require each building department of a city or county to create an inventory of potentially vulnerable buildings, as defined, within its jurisdiction, based on age and other publicly available information, and submit that inventory to the Office of Emergency Services, as specified. By increasing the duties of local officials, this bill
would create a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the Office of Emergency Services to, among other things, maintain a statewide inventory, create a standard reporting form, prepare a report identifying possible funding mechanisms available to building departments and building owners in complying with these provisions, and report annually to the Legislature on the compliance of building departments with these provisions. The bill would require the owner of a building identified by a building department as a potentially vulnerable building to retain a licensed professional engineer to identify whether the building meets the definition of a potentially vulnerable building, and if it does, to complete the standard reporting form. The bill would specify the date by which each requirement must be met.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state.
Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YESBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Chapter 12.2.5 (commencing with Section 8875.100) is added to Division 1 of Title 2 of the Government Code, to read:CHAPTER 12.2.5. Earthquake Vulnerable Buildings
8875.100.
The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of the following:(a) The devastation left by hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, and the September 2017 earthquakes in Mexico is a wake-up call for California.
(b) The most recent California ShakeOut study estimates that a major quake along the San Andreas Fault could cause more than two hundred billion dollars ($200,000,000,000) in physical and economic damage, and could result in up to 1,800 or more deaths.
(c) The chronic labor and affordable housing shortages from which most cities in California already suffer would be made dramatically worse for years to come following such an
event.
(d) California contains thousands of buildings that are known to present a heightened earthquake risk of death, injury, and damage based on their age, structural system, size, and location.
(e) Protecting our state’s economy, affordable housing stock, and social fabric from the long-lasting turmoil of earthquakes is of utmost importance, and the failure to do so could impact Californians’ quality of life for decades.
(f) Because the state represents the sixth largest economy in the world, the aftershocks of such an event would have national and even global impacts.
8875.101.
For purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meaning:(a) “Building department” means the department, bureau, or officer of a city or county charged with the enforcement of laws or ordinances regulating the erection, construction, or alteration of buildings.
(b) (1) “Potentially vulnerable building” means a building that meets both of the following:
(A) The building is located in a region of the state with a peak ground acceleration equal to or exceeding 0.3g as determined by the 2008 United States Geological Survey National Seismic Hazard Model gridded data, based on 10-percent-in-50-year
probability of exceedance, or is located in the Counties of Monterey, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, or Santa Barbara.
(B) The building has one or more of the following characteristics:
(i) The design and construction of the building was approved by the city or county pursuant to the 1976 or earlier edition of the Uniform Building Code.
(ii) The design and construction of the building was approved by the city or county pursuant to the 1995 or earlier edition of the California Building Code and consists of any of the following structural systems:
(I) Steel frame buildings with moment frame connections.
(II) Soft, weak, or open front walls at the ground floor level of light framed
buildings.
(III) Concrete or masonry buildings with flexible diaphragms.
(IV) Buildings with precast, prestressed, or post-tensioned concrete.
(2) “Potentially vulnerable building” does not include any of the following:
(A) building designed and constructed for use exclusively as a dwelling by four or fewer families.
(B) A building listed in subdivision (a), (c), or (e) of Section 19100 of the Health and Safety Code.
(C) Hospitals, public schools, or buildings owned by the state or federal government.
(c) “Office” means the Office of Emergency
Services.
8875.102.
On or before January 1, 2020, each building department shall develop an inventory of potentially vulnerable buildings within its jurisdiction, based on the age of the building and other publicly available information, including, but not limited to, tax assessors record surveys and online searches.8875.103.
(a) On or before January 1, 2020, each building department shall notify the owner of any building identified by the building department as a potentially vulnerable building of the status of the owner’s building.(b) (1) On or before January 1, 2021, an owner who has received a notification from a building department pursuant to subdivision (a) shall submit a letter from a licensed professional engineer to the building department stating whether the building meets the definition of a potentially vulnerable building set forth in subdivision (b) of Section 8875.101.
(2) If the letter from a licensed professional engineer submitted by the owner of a building
pursuant to paragraph (1) states that the building does not meet the definition of a potentially vulnerable building, the building department shall remove the building from the inventory it created pursuant to Section 8875.102, and shall not include the building on the list provided to the office pursuant to Section 8875.104.
(3) If a letter from a licensed professional engineer has not been submitted by the owner of a building pursuant to paragraph (1), the building department shall assume that the building qualifies as a potentially vulnerable building and shall include the building on the inventory provided to the office pursuant to Section 8875.104.
8875.104.
(a) The office shall maintain a statewide inventory of potentially vulnerable buildings in a searchable database on its Internet Web site.(b) On or before June 1, 2021, each building department shall provide the office, in an electronic form prescribed by the office, the inventory of buildings identified by the building department as potentially vulnerable buildings pursuant to Sections 8875.102 and 8875.103.
(c) A building department shall notify the office if a building on the inventory is seismically retrofitted or replaced and the office shall remove that building from the statewide inventory.
8875.105.
(a) On or before January 1, 2020, the office shall develop a standard reporting form that addresses the expected seismic performance of the building in terms of safety, repair costs, and recovery time, when subjected to an earthquake consistent with the intensity prescribed in the most current edition of the California Building Code for new building design.(b) On or before June 1, 2021, each building department shall provide the standard reporting form to the owner of any building that remains on the building department’s list of potentially vulnerable buildings following the removal of any buildings pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 8875.103.
(c) On or
before January 1, 2024, the owner of a building identified by a building department as a potentially vulnerable building pursuant to Section 8875.103 shall retain a professional engineer to complete the standard reporting form and provide the completed standard reporting form to the building department.
(d) On or before June 1, 2024, each building department shall provide the office in an electronic form prescribed by the office, the completed standard reporting forms.
