BILL NUMBER: SB 1271 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senator Corbett
FEBRUARY 23, 2012
An act to add and repeal Section 17280.6 of the Education Code,
relating to school facilities.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1271, as introduced, Corbett. School facilities: Field Act:
seismic safety standards: workgroup.
Existing law requires the Department of General Services, under
the police power of the state, to supervise the design and
construction of any school building or the reconstruction or
alteration of or addition to any school building, if not exempted, to
ensure that plans and specifications comply with specified rules,
regulations, and building standards and to ensure that the work of
construction is performed in accordance with the approved plans and
specifications, for the protection of life and property. Existing law
authorizes the department to issue a stop work order when
construction work on a public school is not being performed in
accordance with existing law and would compromise the structural
integrity of the building, thereby endangering the public safety, but
requires the department to allow construction of incidental and
minor nonstructural additions or nonstructural alterations without
invoking its stop work authority.
Existing law establishes in the Department of General Services the
Division of the State Architect and provides that the State
Architect has general charge, under the Department of General
Services, of the erection of all state buildings.
This bill would require the Department of General Services to
convene a workgroup to develop and adopt standards, subject to the
approval of other members of the working group, with respect to the
seismic safety of schools and to make recommendations to the
Legislature on ways to amend the Field Act to make it more effective.
The bill would require the workgroup to include representatives from
the office of the State Auditor, the Superintendent of Public
Instruction, the Office of Emergency Services, and the State
Architect. The bill would require the workgroup to adopt the
standards and submit the recommendations by January 1, 2014. The bill
would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2016.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(1) California has 9,903 public schools, many of which are at risk
of not meeting the construction requirements of the Field Act and,
therefore, they may not be seismically safe.
(2) There are 15,000 fault lines that lay across California, with
the San Andreas and the Hayward Faults being significantly active
fault zones.
(3) On average, approximately 37,300 earthquakes are recorded and
analyzed per year, amounting to over 100 earthquakes per day.
(4) According to a December 2011 report by the State Auditor
concerning an audit of the Division of the State Architect, there are
significant gaps in the effective and comprehensive level of
oversight of school construction and seismic safety projects.
(5) While the Division of the State Architect must certify school
construction projects when they comply with the act, as of December
2010 approximately 16,400 projects statewide remained uncertified.
(6) The Division of the State Architect did not effectively
document its determinations about the risk level of uncertified
projects or use these determinations to guide its approach to
following up on those projects.
(7) The Division of the State Architect has been inconsistent and
ineffective in enforcing the Field Act and using its authority to
order school districts to stop work on projects after identifying a
potential threat to public safety.
(8) The Division of the State Architect does not have a process
for planning oversight for projects of similar size and complexity
and cannot demonstrate that it has provided adequate field oversight
(b) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature to ensure that
the state's public schools are seismically safe and in compliance
with the Field Act.
SEC. 2. Section 17280.6 is added to the Education Code, to read:
17280.6. (a) The Department of General Services shall convene a
workgroup to develop and adopt standards, subject to the approval of
other members of the working group, with respect to the seismic
safety of schools and shall make recommendations to the Legislature
on ways to amend the Field Act to make it more effective. By January
1, 2014, the workgroup shall adopt the standards and submit the
recommendations.
(b) The workgroup shall not exceed six members and shall include,
but not be limited to, representatives from all of the following:
(1) The office of the State Auditor.
(2) The Superintendent of Public Instruction.
(3) Office of Emergency Services.
(4) The State Architect.
(c) The workgroup shall hold a public hearing to solicit public
comments before adopting standards pursuant to subdivision (a).
(d) In developing standards for the seismic safety of schools and
recommendations on ways to amend the Field Act, the Department of
General Services and the workgroup, by January 1, 2014, shall
consider all of the following:
(1) The Division of the State Architect's use of orders to comply
and stop work orders.
(2) The Division of the State Architect's use of penalties for
school districts.
(3) Policies regarding classifying types of uncertified projects.
(4) Improved communication with school districts on uncertified
projects.
(5) Specific expectations for conducting site visits and
monitoring efforts to its planned actions.
(6) Directions for the field engineers to increase their presence
on project sites.
(7) Increasing training on current code requirements.
(8) Evaluating inspectors, including providing consistent
documentation of performance.
(9) Increased oversight by qualified individuals of
accessibility-related and fire and life safety-related issues.
(10) Increased transparence to the public of the Division of the
State Architect's actions.
(e) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2016, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2016, deletes or extends
that date.