BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2362
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 2362 (Skinner and Blakeslee)
As Amended July 1, 2010
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: | |(June 2, 2010) |SENATE: |34-0 |(August 9, |
| | | | | |2010) |
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(vote not relevant)
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|COMMITTEE VOTE: |5-3 |(August 25, 2010) |RECOMMENDATION: |Concur |
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Original Committee Reference: REV. & TAX.
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.
The Senate amendments delete the Assembly version of the bill, and
instead:
1)Clarify that redevelopment funding may be used to rehabilitate a
"soft-story building."
2)Define 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.
3)Correct cross-references to the California State Building Code.
EXISTING LAW allows redevelopment funds to be used to rehabilitate
or construct buildings in a project area to bring the building in
to seismic compliance.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill created a 10-year new
construction exclusion from property tax for improvements made to
AB 2362
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pre-1978 wood frame multi-unit residential buildings, so-called
"soft-story buildings," as specified.
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."
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. 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.
The Senate amendments delete the contents of the bill and allow
redevelopment agencies to use redevelopment funds to rehabilitate a
soft-story building as defined above, within a project area. 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; this bill adds
soft-story buildings to existing law.
AB 2362
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Analysis Prepared by : Lisa Engel / H. & C.D. / (916) 319-2085
FN:
0006769