BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                      



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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                   SB 301|
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                                    CONSENT


          Bill No:  SB 301
          Author:   DeSaulnier (D)
          Amended:  4/7/11
          Vote:     21

           
           SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE  :  9-0, 3/29/11
          AYES:  DeSaulnier, Gaines, Harman, Huff, Kehoe, Lowenthal, 
            Pavley, Rubio, Simitian


           SUBJECT  :    Seismic safety retrofits

           SOURCE  :     Author


           DIGEST  :    This bill updates the requirements dealing with 
          seismic safety retrofit rehabilitation or alterations to 
          refer to building codes currently in use in California. 

           ANALYSIS  :    Under current law, a redevelopment agency may 
          take action to rehabilitate a building to provide for 
          seismic retrofits, consistent with local, state, and 
          federal law. 

          The California Building Standards Commission (CBSC) 
          establishes building standards, including seismic 
          standards, for residential and hospital buildings, schools, 
          and state buildings.  These building codes are adopted 
          every three years.  In adopting the California Building 
          Code, the CBSC starts with international model codes and 
          makes amendments as necessary to reflect local conditions, 
          such as the need for more stringent seismic standards.
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          This bill corrects three building code references for 
          seismic retrofits:

          1. For unreinforced masonry buildings, the bill removes the 
             reference to the obsolete Uniform Code for Building 
             Conservation of the International Conference of Building 
             Officials and replaces it with a reference to the 
             current Appendix Chapter A1 of the current California 
             Existing Building Code.

          2. For historical property, the bill also cites the current 
             California Historical Building Code in addition to the 
             State Historical Building Code.

          3. For buildings other than unreinforced masonry buildings 
             and historical properties, structures subject to the 
             California Building Standards Code shall use applicable 
             provisions of that Code, and other structures shall meet 
             the requirements of the current International Existing 
             Building Code, as applicable.

          This bill does not change building standards requirements, 
          it only changes how building codes are referenced in 
          statute.

           Comments  

          According to the author's office, the author introduced 
          this bill in order to update statute with the appropriate 
          building code references.  The Uniform Code for Building 
          Conservation of the International Conference of Building 
          Officials, which is the current reference for unreinforced 
          masonry buildings, became obsolete in 2000.  The CBSC has 
          already             adopted this change, so this bill 
          updates statute with the current, applicable code.  For 
          historical property, the State Historical Building Code is 
          not a "stand alone" code.  It relies on regularly adopted 
          code, such as the latest adoption of the California 
          Historical Building Code, which was updated in 2010.  For 
          buildings other than unreinforced masonry buildings and 
          historical properties, the reference-change from the 
          obsolete Uniform Building Code to the current International 
          Existing Building Code has already been adopted by the 







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          CBSC, so the bill updates statute with the current, 
          applicable code.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :    Appropriation:  No   Fiscal Com.:  No   
          Local:  No



          RJG:mw  4/7/11   Senate Floor Analyses 

                       SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  NONE RECEIVED

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