BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2362
Page 1
Date of Hearing: August 25, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Norma Torres, Chair
AB 2362 (Skinner) - As Amended: July 1, 2010
SUBJECT : Redevelopment funds: soft-story building seismic
retrofits
SUMMARY : Allows redevelopment funding to be used to
rehabilitate a "soft-story building." Defines a "soft-story
building" as a wood frame, multi-unit residence built prior to
January 1, 1978, where the ground floor of the structure
contains parking or other open floor space that causes soft,
weak, or open front wall lines.
EXISTING LAW permits a redevelopment agency, within a project
area, to take actions to bring unreinforced masonry buildings,
historic properties and other buildings that require upgrades to
the current buildings standard, in order to comply with seismic
safety.
FISCAL EFFECT : None.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "The United States
Geological Society, California has said that there is a 99.7%
chance that it will be hit by an earthquake of 6.7 magnitude or
higher in the next thirty years. Wood-frame, multi-unit
residential buildings with soft, weak or open-front first
stories, commonly known as soft-story buildings, have a great
likelihood of collapse if an earthquake of 6.7 magnitude or
higher occurs. Of the 16,000 housing units that were rendered
uninhabitable by the Loma Prieta earthquake, 7,700 housing units
were in soft-story buildings. Thirty-four thousand housing
units that were rendered uninhabitable in the Northridge
earthquake were soft-story buildings. Soft-story buildings have
made up a large majority of the buildings that are destroyed by
a major earthquake. Moreover, major earthquakes often make
these buildings uninhabitable for residents and therefore
displace hundreds of thousands of residents. According to the
State of California, Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan of 2007, there
are 46,000 soft-story buildings in seismically unstable areas of
the state. Those buildings have over 730,000 residential units
and over a million residents."
AB 2362
Page 2
As passed by the Assembly, this bill would have allowed for an
exclusion from property tax assessment for the portion of
reconstruction or improvement made to a soft-story building
The Senate amendments delete the contents of the bill and
clarify that redevelopment agencies can use redevelopment funds
to rehabilitate a soft-story building as defined, within a
project area. A soft-story building is defined as a wood frame,
multi-unit residential building constructed before January 1,
1978, where the ground floor portion of the structure contains
parking or other similar open floor space. 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 does
not specifically mention soft-story buildings; this bill adds
soft-story buildings to the existing law.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Apartment Association
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Lisa Engel / H. & C.D. / (916) 319-2085