BILL ANALYSIS �
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 1271
Author: Corbett (D), et al.
Amended: 5/25/12
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 8-1, 3/28/12
AYES: Lowenthal, Alquist, Blakeslee, Hancock, Liu, Price,
Simitian, Vargas
NOES: Huff
NO VOTE RECORDED: Runner, Vacancy
SENATE GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION COMM. : 11-2, 4/24/12
AYES: Wright, Berryhill, Calderon, Cannella, Corbett, De
Le�n, Evans, Hernandez, Padilla, Wyland, Yee
NOES: Anderson, Walters
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 5-2, 5/24/12
AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Lieu, Price, Steinberg
NOES: Walters, Dutton
SUBJECT : Field Act and seismic safety standards
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill requires the Department of General
Services (DGS) to convene a work group using existing
committees or advisory boards, as specified, to develop and
adopt recommendations for improving the oversight of school
construction projects, and report them in a specified
legislative committee hearing by January 1, 2014. Sunsets
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these provisions on January 1, 2016.
ANALYSIS : Existing law requires that K-12 school
facilities be built in compliance with specified earthquake
safety standards, commonly known as the "Field Act." The
Field Act was enacted following a severe earthquake in Long
Beach in 1933. The Field Act requires a comprehensive
design specification and construction inspection process
for "public school" educational facilities (community
college facilities may be constructed according to either
the Field Act or the California Building Standards Code).
Among other things, the Field Act requires the Division of
the State Architect (DSA) within DGS to review the
construction plans for school buildings and requires school
districts to hire onsite construction inspectors to ensure
compliance with the structural safety standards.
This bill requires DGS to convene a work group using
existing committees or advisory boards, as specified, to
develop and adopt recommendations for improving the
oversight of school construction projects, and report them
in a specified legislative committee hearing by January 1,
2014. Sunsets these provisions on January 1, 2016.
Comments
Need for the bill . In December 2011, the Bureau of State
Audits (BSA) issued a report, completed at the request of
the Joint Legislative Audit Committee (in response to a
series of disturbing news articles), which highlighted a
number of concerns with the DSA oversight of, and
implementation of the Field Act in, school facility
construction projects. It is the intent of the author to
ensure that the recommendations made in the BSA audit are
implemented so that schools are seismically safe and
parents can be assured that the buildings in which their
children are being educated are certified as safe to
occupy. The author's office notes the intent to further
inform the content of the bill as the result of an
informational hearing scheduled for April 20, 2012, by the
Senate Select Committee on Earthquake and Disaster
Preparedness, Response and Recovery.
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BSA audit . Among other things, the BSA report, Department
of General Services: The Division of the State Architect
Lacks Enforcement Authority and Has Weak Oversight
Procedures, Increasing the Risk That School Construction
Projects May Be Unsafe found that:
While the division must certify school construction
projects when they comply with the act, as of December
2010 approximately 16,400 projects statewide remained
uncertified.
Statewide, 23 percent of projects closed in the last
three fiscal years remain uncertified.
The division inconsistently used its authority to order
districts to stop work on projects after identifying a
potential threat to public safety.
The division did not effectively document its
determinations about the risk level of uncertified
projects or to use these determinations to guide its
approach to following up on those projects.
The division's level of oversight of school construction
processes is not comprehensive-of 24 projects reviewed,
three did not have evidence of any site visits by its
field engineers and eight had evidence of only one site
visit.
Although districts must submit inspectors for approval
prior to construction, for 22 of 34 projects reviewed,
the division did not approve the inspectors until after
construction began.
The division does not provide the same level of
construction oversight for fire and life safety and
accessibility as it does for structural safety even
though it reviews plans for all three disciplines.
In addition, the report notes that the Field Act hampers
the DSA's ability to ensure that projects comply with
certification requirements by expressly allowing school
district's to occupy projects regardless of whether the
division has certified them or not. According to the BSA
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audit, the Field Act grants the DSA limited tools for
encouraging districts to pursue certification, and the DSA
uses these tools infrequently and inconsistently.
According to the DSA, the division has already begun
implementation of various changes and activities in
response to the audit. The DSA reports that the 16,400
projects that were closed without certification have been
reviewed and that there are now 73 remaining projects with
"potential" life/safety issues. DSA expects that any
life/safety issues that need to be addressed with regard to
these 73 projects will be identified within six weeks, and
that all districts with uncertified projects will be
notified of the current status of their projects by the end
of June. In addition, DSA is reviewing, modifying and
streamlining a number of its existing processes and
evaluative work tools for inspectors and field staff with
the goal of increasing their ability to conduct and
complete site visits. Finally, the DSA reports that it has
implemented processes to better evaluate uncertified
projects, and to facilitate communication with school
districts and other stakeholders.
Prior Legislation
AB 300 (Corbett, Chapter 622, Statutes of 1999), enacted to
compile information on school safety seismic-risk, required
DGS to survey the state's K-12 school buildings and provide
a report, with an overview of the seismic
safety challenges those structures faced, and to quantify
the problem so that informed, cost-effective decisions
could be made to address the issue.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Workgroup: $70,000 - $100,000 General Fund in DGS
staffing costs to complete the required reviews and
recommendations, within an existing committee or
committees.
Cost pressure: The work group recommendations are likely
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to result in cost pressure to make changes to school
safety related processes, and to provide funding for
seismic upgrades for existing schools and more extensive
(and expensive) requirements for future school
construction projects.
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/22/12)
American Construction Inspectors Association
California Coalition of Professional Construction
Inspectors
California Teamsters Public Affairs Council
California's Coalition for Adequate School Housing
Community College League of California
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : Supporters state that "In the
aftermath of the Long Beach earthquake of 1933, the state
Legislature quickly passed the California Field Act. As a
result of that earthquake, 230 California public
school buildings were destroyed or made unsafe. The Field
Act mandates seismic safety standards for the design,
construction and renovation of all K-12 public school and
community college buildings in the state. California has
15,000 fault lines and experiences approximately 37,300
earthquakes each year, the equivalent of 102 earthquakes
every day. Major faults, such as the Hayward Fault and the
San Andreas Fault, run through the state's most populous
regions. Following reports that there were many school
buildings at risk of collapse during an earthquake and
concerned about the safety of public school children, then
Assemblywoman Ellen Corbett introduced AB 300."
PQ:mw 5/25/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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