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, upon the identification of funding by the Office of Emergency Services, require the building department of a city or county that meets specified requirements 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, as specified. By increasing the duties of local officials, this bill would create a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the office to, among other things, maintain a statewide inventory, identify funding mechanisms to offset costs to building departments and building owners in complying with these provisions, and report to the Legislature on the number of potentially vulnerable buildings and 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 provide a letter to the building department stating the licensed professional engineer's findings. 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.