Amended in Assembly May 2, 2013

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 32

Introduced by Assembly Member Lowenthal

( begin delete Coauthor: Assembly Member Rendon end delete begin insert Coauthors: Assembly Members Rendon, Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, end insert begin insert Bigelow, Bloom, Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, end insert begin insert Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, end insert begin insert Chávez, end insert begin insert Chesbro, Conway, Cooley, end insert begin insert Daly, Dickinson, end insert begin insert Fong, Fox, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gordon, end insert begin insert Grove, Hagman, end insert begin insert Harkey, Roger Hernández, Holden, end insert begin insert Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Maienschein, end insert begin insert Medina, Melendez, Mitchell, end insert begin insert Mullin, Muratsuchi, end insert begin insert Nestande, end insert begin insert Pan, Patterson, Perea, John A. Pérez, V. Manuel Pérez, end insert begin insert Quirk-Silva, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Torres, Wagner, end insert begin insert Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, end insert begin insert and Yamada end insert )

(Coauthor: Senator Wright)

March 12, 2013

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 32—Relative to Building and Safety Month.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

ACR 32, as amended, Lowenthal. Building and Safety Month.

This measure would declare May 2013, Building and Safety Month and encourage all local governments to recognize the provisions in city and county government building and safety codes regulating illegal garage conversions as “Aviles Law.”

Fiscal committee: no.

WHEREAS, In neighborhoods and workplaces across the State
of California, professionals throughout government and private
industries work to implement building safety solutions that
strengthen resilience and meet community needs; and

WHEREAS, By designing and implementing state-of-the-art
building safety, energy efficiency, and fire prevention codes and
standards, governments and laws help save lives and prevent
disruption in the wake of disasters and accidents; and

WHEREAS, Protecting our communities from fires, floods,
earthquakes, severe storms, or other disasters, building safety
professionals play a critical role in making California safe, strong,
and sustainable; and

WHEREAS, Despite established building codes, a tragedy
occurred in the City of Long Beach on December 14, 2007, in
which three young sisters, Jasmine Aviles, Jocelyn Aviles, and
Stephanie Aviles, lost their lives in a fire that occurred inside a
garage that had been illegally converted into an apartment; and

WHEREAS, Immediately following the tragedy, the city
commenced an aggressive code enforcement operation led by fire
department officials and building and safety code enforcement
investigators to identify structures that ignore rigid fire and building
code standards to eliminate the use of illegally converted garages
as living spaces; and

WHEREAS, To educate the public, reinforce the dangers of
illegal garage conversions, and memorialize Jasmine Aviles,
Jocelyn Aviles, and Stephanie Aviles, the City of Long Beach,
with the support of the Aviles family, renamed municipal codes,
recognizing those sections of the Long Beach Municipal Code
relating to the abatement of illegal garage conversions as the
“Aviles Law”; and

WHEREAS, Proper building and safety code enforcement,
including those that regulate illegal garage conversion, may save
lives; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the Legislature declares May 2013,
Building and Safety Month in the State of California and
encourages all local governments to recognize the provisions in
city and county government building and safety codes regulating
illegal garage conversions as “Aviles Law.”