BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE
Senator Dave Cox, Chair
BILL NO: AB 2362 HEARING: 6/30/10
AUTHOR: Skinner FISCAL: No
VERSION: 6/21/10 CONSULTANT: Detwiler
REDEVELOPMENT AND SEISMIC SAFETY
Background and Existing Law
In major earthquakes, soft story buildings can collapse,
killing or injuring their residents. The damaged buildings
are uninhabitable. Soft story apartment and condominium
buildings have large open spaces on the ground floor, often
used for "tuck under" parking. The 6.7 magnitude
Northridge earthquake in 1994 made 46,000 housing units
uninhabitable; about 2/3 were in soft story buildings.
About a half-million people live in soft story buildings in
the San Francisco Bay Area, mostly in central cities and
older suburban neighborhoods.
To reduce the risk of seismic damage, property owners can
retrofit their soft story buildings by strengthening the
ground floor walls or even installing steel frames.
When a redevelopment agency is rehabilitating or
constructing buildings in a project area, the agency can
provide for seismic retrofits. State law requires the
seismic retrofit work to follow the requirements of the
building codes that apply to unreinforced masonry
buildings, historical buildings, and other buildings. The
current law doesn't mention soft story buildings (AB 3556,
Cortese, 1990).
Proposed Law
Assembly Bill 2362 provides that when a redevelopment
agency assists in seismic retrofit work within a project
area, soft story buildings fall within the category of
buildings that are other than unreinforced masonry
buildings and historic buildings. AB 2362 defines "soft
story building" for this purpose.
Comments
AB 2362 -- 6/21/10 -- Page 2
1. It's our fault . Like death and taxes, earthquakes are
inevitable. Better building codes and emergency planning
can reduce the deaths, injuries, and property damage caused
by earthquakes. But new building standards don't help
reduce the risks posed by older buildings unless the
property owners invest in seismic retrofits. AB 2362
clarifies that soft story buildings are eligible for
redevelopment help under the 20-year old statute that
allows local officials to assist with seismic retrofits
within redevelopment project areas.
2. Other options . Because public spending to seismically
retrofit private property avoids future public costs of
post-disaster response, recovery, and reconstruction, the
Legislature has allowed local officials to spend public
dollars on private property. Local agencies can use 1913
Act benefit assessment bonds, Mello-Roos Act special taxes,
general obligation bonds, and geologic hazard abatement
districts, in addition to the redevelopment financing
option. On June 30, the Committee will also hear AB 1755
(Swanson) which allows contractual assessments to pay for
seismic strengthening improvements on private property.
3. Gut and amend . Until the June 16 amendments, AB 2362
would have provided a property tax exemption for
construction of seismic improvements to soft story
buildings. That provision is no longer in the bill,
replaced by the clarification to the redevelopment law.
4. Technical amendments needed . After the 1990 bill that
allowed redevelopment officials to help with seismic
retrofits, state officials changed the names of the
applicable building codes. The Committee should adopt
technical amendments to AB 2362 that substitute the
building codes' current names.
Assembly Actions
Not relevant to the June 21, 2010 version of the bill.
Support and Opposition (6/24/10)
Support : California Apartment Association.
AB 2362 -- 6/21/10 -- Page 3
Opposition : Unknown.