Amended in Assembly August 17, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 93

Introduced by Assembly Member Holden

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(Coauthors: Assembly Members Achadjian, Alejo, Atkins, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Hadley, Roger Hernández, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, O’Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, and Wood)

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June 30, 2015

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 93—Relative to fire safety.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

ACR 93, as amended, Holden. Fire safety: municipal ordinances.

This measure would encourage all California municipalities to reexamine regulations surrounding mandatory fire suppression ordinances.

Fiscal committee: no.

WHEREAS, The first automatic sprinkler system was patented
in England in 1723 and the first fire sprinkler system was
developed in the United States in 1874.

WHEREAS, Fire suppression technology was first used in
residential construction in the state in 1932 when the Union Oil
Company constructed homes for employees in Santa Paula,
California; and

WHEREAS, The City of San Clemente, California was the first
city in the nation to adopt an ordinance requiring all new residential
dwellings to contain fire sprinklers; and

WHEREAS, Senate Bill 2579 was introduced in the California
State Senate in 1986 and would have required fire sprinklers in all
residential buildings; and

WHEREAS, In January 1988, the California State Fire Marshall
published California’s minimum design and installation standards
for fire suppression systems; and

WHEREAS, On May 4, 1988, several floors of the First
Interstate Tower, a downtown Los Angeles high-rise office tower
built without fire sprinklers, ignited killing one and injuring 40
others. Subsequent reports indicated a working fire suppression
system would have lessened the fire’s damage; and

WHEREAS, Following the First Interstate Tower fire, the City
of Los Angeles mandated automatic fire suppression systems in
all buildings over seven stories; and

WHEREAS, Buildings should be provided with built-in fire
suppression systems to offset the negative impact of excessive
response times; and

WHEREAS, On April 7, 2015, a massive fire burned through
a six floor office building in Los Angeles, a building that was
exempted from mandatory fire suppression regulations because of
its age and size; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the Legislature encourages all California
municipalities to reexamine regulations surrounding mandatory
fire suppression ordinances; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies
of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.