19160. The Legislature finds and declares that:
(a) Because of the generally acknowledged fact that California
will experience moderate to severe earthquakes in the foreseeable
future, increased efforts to reduce earthquake hazards should be
encouraged and supported.
(b) Tens of thousands of buildings subject to severe earthquake
hazards continue to be a serious danger to the life and safety of
hundreds of thousands of Californians who live and work in them in
the event of an earthquake.
(c) Improvement of safety to life is the primary goal of building
reconstruction to reduce earthquake hazards.
(d) In order to make building reconstruction economically feasible
for, and to provide improvement of the safety of life in,
seismically hazardous buildings, building standards enacted by local
government for building reconstruction may differ from building
standards which govern new building construction.
(e) "Soft story" residential buildings are a subset of multistory
woodframe structures that may have inadequately braced lower stories
that may not be able to resist earthquake motion.
(f) Soft story residential buildings are an important component of
the state's housing stock and are in jeopardy of being lost in the
event of a major earthquake.
(g) Soft story residential buildings were responsible for 7,700 of
the 16,000 housing units rendered uninhabitable by the Loma Prieta
earthquake and over 34,000 of the housing units rendered
uninhabitable by the Northridge earthquake.
(h) During an earthquake, soft story residential buildings may
create dangerous conditions as illustrated in the Northridge Meadows
apartment failure that claimed the lives of 16 residents.
(i) The collapse of soft story residential buildings can ignite
fires that threaten trapped occupants and neighboring buildings and
complicates emergency response.
(j) The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) estimates that
soft story residential buildings will be responsible for 66 percent
of the uninhabitable housing following an event on the Hayward fault.
(k) The failure of soft story residential buildings is estimated
by ABAG to be the source of a disproportionate share of the public
shelter population because they tend to be occupied by the very poor,
the very old, and the very young.
(l) The Seismic Safety Commission has recommended that legislation
be enacted to require state and local building code enforcement
agencies to identify potentially hazardous buildings and to adopt
mandatory mitigation programs that will significantly reduce
unacceptable hazards in buildings by 2020.
(m) The current nationally recognized model code relating to the
retrofit of existing buildings is Appendix Chapter A4 of the
International Existing Building Code. However, it is not the intent
of the Legislature, if other model codes relating to the retrofit of
existing buildings are developed, to limit the California Building
Standards Commission or a local government, pursuant to Section
19162, to adopting a particular model code.
(n) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature to encourage
cities and counties to address the seismic safety of soft story
residential buildings and encourage local governments to initiate
efforts to reduce the seismic risk in vulnerable soft story
residential buildings.
19161. (a) Each city, city and county, or county, may assess the
earthquake hazard in its jurisdiction and identify buildings subject
to its jurisdiction as being potentially hazardous to life in the
event of an earthquake. Potentially hazardous buildings include the
following:
(1) Unreinforced masonry buildings constructed prior to the
adoption of local building codes requiring earthquake resistant
design of buildings that are constructed of unreinforced masonry wall
construction and exhibit any of the following characteristics:
(A) Exterior parapets or ornamentation that may fall.
(B) Exterior walls that are not anchored to the floors or roof.
(C) Lack of an effective system to resist seismic forces.
(2) Woodframe, multiunit residential buildings constructed before
January 1, 1978, where the ground floor portion of the structure
contains parking or other similar open floor space that causes soft,
weak, or open-front wall lines, as provided in a nationally
recognized model code relating to the retrofit of existing buildings
or substantially equivalent standards.
(b) Structural evaluations made pursuant to this section shall be
made by an architect as defined in Section 5500 of the Business and
Professions Code, or a civil or structural engineer registered
pursuant to Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 6700) of Division 3 of
the Business and Professions Code, or staff of the enforcing agency,
as described in Section 17960, supervised by an architect or civil
or structural engineer authorized by this subdivision to make the
structural evaluations.
19162. (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 19100 or 19150
or any other provision of law, the governing body of any city, city
and county, or county may, by ordinance, establish building seismic
retrofit standards applicable to the seismic retrofit of any
buildings identified pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of
Section 19161 by the city, city and county, or county as being
potentially hazardous to life in the event of an earthquake.
(b) (1) Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 19100, 19150, or
any other provision of law, the governing body of any city, city and
county, or county may, by ordinance, establish building seismic
retrofit standards applicable to the seismic retrofit of any
buildings identified pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of
Section 19161 by the city, city and county, or county as being
potentially hazardous to life in the event of an earthquake. Any
standards established pursuant to this section shall apply until the
effective date of building standards adopted by the California
Building Standards Commission relating to the retrofit of existing
buildings, if any, at which time the standards adopted by the
commission as amended by the city, county, or city and county
pursuant to Section 17958.5 shall apply.
(2) A local ordinance establishing building seismic retrofit
standards applicable to soft story residential structures adopted
before January 1, 2006, shall remain in full force and effect until
the effective date of building standards adopted by the California
Building Standards Commission relating to the retrofit of existing
buildings unless the city, county, or city and county after January
1, 2006, adopts an ordinance pursuant to paragraph (1).
(c) Building seismic retrofit standards adopted pursuant to this
section may be applied uniformly throughout the city, city and
county, or county, or may be applied in specific areas designated by
the city, city and county, or county.
(d) For purposes of this chapter, "seismic retrofit" means either
structural strengthening or providing the means necessary to modify
the seismic response that would otherwise be expected by an existing
building during an earthquake, to significantly reduce hazards to
life and safety while also providing for the substantial safe ingress
and egress of the building occupants immediately after an
earthquake.
19163. Any local ordinance adopted pursuant to Section 19162 shall
require the following:
(a) Any seismic retrofit of any building identified pursuant to
paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 19161 as being hazardous
to life in the event of an earthquake shall provide for the
reasonable adequacy of all of the following:
(1) Unreinforced masonry walls to resist normal and inplane
seismic forces.
(2) The anchorage and stability of exterior parapets and
ornamentation.
(3) The anchorage of unreinforced masonry walls to the floors and
roof.
(4) Floor and roof diaphragms.
(5) The development of a complete bracing system to resist
earthquake forces.
(b) Any seismic retrofit of any building identified pursuant to
paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 19161 as potentially
hazardous shall comply with a nationally recognized model code
relating to the retrofit of existing buildings or substantially
equivalent standards. If the city, county, or city and county adopts
local amendments to those provisions, it shall determine that the
amendments are consistent with Section 17958.5.
(c) Seismic retrofit of any building or portions of any building
shall be designed to resist and withstand the seismic forces from any
direction as set forth in the building seismic retrofit standards
using the allowable working stresses adopted pursuant to this
article.
(d) The governing board of any city, city and county, or county
may establish, by ordinance, standards and procedures to fulfill the
intent of paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) without regard to the
remainder of the requirements specified above.
19163.5. Except as otherwise provided in Chapter 1 (commencing with
Section 129675) of Part 7 of Division 107, an ordinance adopted by a
city, city and county, or county pursuant to Section 19163, may
establish higher standards for the seismic retrofit of those
structures or buildings which are needed for emergency purposes after
an earthquake in order to preserve the peace, health, and safety of
the general public, including, but not limited to, hospitals and
other medical facilities having surgery or emergency treatment areas,
fire and police stations, government disaster operations centers,
and public utility and communication buildings deemed vital in
emergencies.
19164. Any city, city and county, or county may assign allowable
working stresses to existing materials based on substantiating
research data or engineering judgment. Such allowable working
stresses shall be limited by a safety factor which is reasonably
commensurate with the importance of the element in which the material
is used. In the event the local jurisdiction does not have the
ability to assign such allowable working stresses, it may employ as a
consultant the office of the State Architect. Allowable working
stresses prepared by the office of the State Architect for any city,
city and county, or county shall be subject to approval by the
Seismic Safety Commission.
19165. Any city, city and county, or county adopting an ordinance
establishing building seismic retrofit standards for seismically
hazardous buildings shall file for informational purposes with the
Department of Housing and Community Development a copy of those
standards and all subsequent amendments.
19166. Any building identified as being a seismic hazard to life
and retrofitted in compliance with building seismic retrofit
standards adopted pursuant to this article and properly maintained,
shall not, within a period of 15 years, be identified as a seismic
hazard to life pursuant to any local building standards adopted after
the date of the building seismic retrofit unless the building no
longer meets the seismically hazardous building retrofit standards
under which it was retrofitted.
19167. No city, city and county, or county, nor any employee of any
such entity, shall be liable for damages for injury to persons or
property, resulting from an earthquake or otherwise, on the basis of
any assessment or evaluation performed, any ordinance adopted, or any
other action taken pursuant to this article, irrespective of whether
such action complies with the terms of this article, or on the basis
of failure to take any action authorized by this article. The
immunity from liability provided herein is in addition to all other
immunities of the city, city and county, or county provided by law.
19168. Nothing in this article shall apply to those buildings and
structures governed by the provisions of Chapter 1 (commencing with
Section 15000) of Division 12.5 of this code or Article 3 (commencing
with Section 39140) of Chapter 2 of Part 23 of the Education Code or
Article 7 (commencing with Section 81130) of Chapter 1 of Part 49 of
the Education Code or any state-owned buildings or structures
located in any city, city and county, or county.
19160. The Legislature finds and declares that:
(a) Because of the generally acknowledged fact that California
will experience moderate to severe earthquakes in the foreseeable
future, increased efforts to reduce earthquake hazards should be
encouraged and supported.
(b) Tens of thousands of buildings subject to severe earthquake
hazards continue to be a serious danger to the life and safety of
hundreds of thousands of Californians who live and work in them in
the event of an earthquake.
(c) Improvement of safety to life is the primary goal of building
reconstruction to reduce earthquake hazards.
(d) In order to make building reconstruction economically feasible
for, and to provide improvement of the safety of life in,
seismically hazardous buildings, building standards enacted by local
government for building reconstruction may differ from building
standards which govern new building construction.
(e) "Soft story" residential buildings are a subset of multistory
woodframe structures that may have inadequately braced lower stories
that may not be able to resist earthquake motion.
(f) Soft story residential buildings are an important component of
the state's housing stock and are in jeopardy of being lost in the
event of a major earthquake.
(g) Soft story residential buildings were responsible for 7,700 of
the 16,000 housing units rendered uninhabitable by the Loma Prieta
earthquake and over 34,000 of the housing units rendered
uninhabitable by the Northridge earthquake.
(h) During an earthquake, soft story residential buildings may
create dangerous conditions as illustrated in the Northridge Meadows
apartment failure that claimed the lives of 16 residents.
(i) The collapse of soft story residential buildings can ignite
fires that threaten trapped occupants and neighboring buildings and
complicates emergency response.
(j) The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) estimates that
soft story residential buildings will be responsible for 66 percent
of the uninhabitable housing following an event on the Hayward fault.
(k) The failure of soft story residential buildings is estimated
by ABAG to be the source of a disproportionate share of the public
shelter population because they tend to be occupied by the very poor,
the very old, and the very young.
(l) The Seismic Safety Commission has recommended that legislation
be enacted to require state and local building code enforcement
agencies to identify potentially hazardous buildings and to adopt
mandatory mitigation programs that will significantly reduce
unacceptable hazards in buildings by 2020.
(m) The current nationally recognized model code relating to the
retrofit of existing buildings is Appendix Chapter A4 of the
International Existing Building Code. However, it is not the intent
of the Legislature, if other model codes relating to the retrofit of
existing buildings are developed, to limit the California Building
Standards Commission or a local government, pursuant to Section
19162, to adopting a particular model code.
(n) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature to encourage
cities and counties to address the seismic safety of soft story
residential buildings and encourage local governments to initiate
efforts to reduce the seismic risk in vulnerable soft story
residential buildings.
19161. (a) Each city, city and county, or county, may assess the
earthquake hazard in its jurisdiction and identify buildings subject
to its jurisdiction as being potentially hazardous to life in the
event of an earthquake. Potentially hazardous buildings include the
following:
(1) Unreinforced masonry buildings constructed prior to the
adoption of local building codes requiring earthquake resistant
design of buildings that are constructed of unreinforced masonry wall
construction and exhibit any of the following characteristics:
(A) Exterior parapets or ornamentation that may fall.
(B) Exterior walls that are not anchored to the floors or roof.
(C) Lack of an effective system to resist seismic forces.
(2) Woodframe, multiunit residential buildings constructed before
January 1, 1978, where the ground floor portion of the structure
contains parking or other similar open floor space that causes soft,
weak, or open-front wall lines, as provided in a nationally
recognized model code relating to the retrofit of existing buildings
or substantially equivalent standards.
(b) Structural evaluations made pursuant to this section shall be
made by an architect as defined in Section 5500 of the Business and
Professions Code, or a civil or structural engineer registered
pursuant to Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 6700) of Division 3 of
the Business and Professions Code, or staff of the enforcing agency,
as described in Section 17960, supervised by an architect or civil
or structural engineer authorized by this subdivision to make the
structural evaluations.
19162. (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 19100 or 19150
or any other provision of law, the governing body of any city, city
and county, or county may, by ordinance, establish building seismic
retrofit standards applicable to the seismic retrofit of any
buildings identified pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of
Section 19161 by the city, city and county, or county as being
potentially hazardous to life in the event of an earthquake.
(b) (1) Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 19100, 19150, or
any other provision of law, the governing body of any city, city and
county, or county may, by ordinance, establish building seismic
retrofit standards applicable to the seismic retrofit of any
buildings identified pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of
Section 19161 by the city, city and county, or county as being
potentially hazardous to life in the event of an earthquake. Any
standards established pursuant to this section shall apply until the
effective date of building standards adopted by the California
Building Standards Commission relating to the retrofit of existing
buildings, if any, at which time the standards adopted by the
commission as amended by the city, county, or city and county
pursuant to Section 17958.5 shall apply.
(2) A local ordinance establishing building seismic retrofit
standards applicable to soft story residential structures adopted
before January 1, 2006, shall remain in full force and effect until
the effective date of building standards adopted by the California
Building Standards Commission relating to the retrofit of existing
buildings unless the city, county, or city and county after January
1, 2006, adopts an ordinance pursuant to paragraph (1).
(c) Building seismic retrofit standards adopted pursuant to this
section may be applied uniformly throughout the city, city and
county, or county, or may be applied in specific areas designated by
the city, city and county, or county.
(d) For purposes of this chapter, "seismic retrofit" means either
structural strengthening or providing the means necessary to modify
the seismic response that would otherwise be expected by an existing
building during an earthquake, to significantly reduce hazards to
life and safety while also providing for the substantial safe ingress
and egress of the building occupants immediately after an
earthquake.
19163. Any local ordinance adopted pursuant to Section 19162 shall
require the following:
(a) Any seismic retrofit of any building identified pursuant to
paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 19161 as being hazardous
to life in the event of an earthquake shall provide for the
reasonable adequacy of all of the following:
(1) Unreinforced masonry walls to resist normal and inplane
seismic forces.
(2) The anchorage and stability of exterior parapets and
ornamentation.
(3) The anchorage of unreinforced masonry walls to the floors and
roof.
(4) Floor and roof diaphragms.
(5) The development of a complete bracing system to resist
earthquake forces.
(b) Any seismic retrofit of any building identified pursuant to
paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 19161 as potentially
hazardous shall comply with a nationally recognized model code
relating to the retrofit of existing buildings or substantially
equivalent standards. If the city, county, or city and county adopts
local amendments to those provisions, it shall determine that the
amendments are consistent with Section 17958.5.
(c) Seismic retrofit of any building or portions of any building
shall be designed to resist and withstand the seismic forces from any
direction as set forth in the building seismic retrofit standards
using the allowable working stresses adopted pursuant to this
article.
(d) The governing board of any city, city and county, or county
may establish, by ordinance, standards and procedures to fulfill the
intent of paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) without regard to the
remainder of the requirements specified above.
19163.5. Except as otherwise provided in Chapter 1 (commencing with
Section 129675) of Part 7 of Division 107, an ordinance adopted by a
city, city and county, or county pursuant to Section 19163, may
establish higher standards for the seismic retrofit of those
structures or buildings which are needed for emergency purposes after
an earthquake in order to preserve the peace, health, and safety of
the general public, including, but not limited to, hospitals and
other medical facilities having surgery or emergency treatment areas,
fire and police stations, government disaster operations centers,
and public utility and communication buildings deemed vital in
emergencies.
19164. Any city, city and county, or county may assign allowable
working stresses to existing materials based on substantiating
research data or engineering judgment. Such allowable working
stresses shall be limited by a safety factor which is reasonably
commensurate with the importance of the element in which the material
is used. In the event the local jurisdiction does not have the
ability to assign such allowable working stresses, it may employ as a
consultant the office of the State Architect. Allowable working
stresses prepared by the office of the State Architect for any city,
city and county, or county shall be subject to approval by the
Seismic Safety Commission.
19165. Any city, city and county, or county adopting an ordinance
establishing building seismic retrofit standards for seismically
hazardous buildings shall file for informational purposes with the
Department of Housing and Community Development a copy of those
standards and all subsequent amendments.
19166. Any building identified as being a seismic hazard to life
and retrofitted in compliance with building seismic retrofit
standards adopted pursuant to this article and properly maintained,
shall not, within a period of 15 years, be identified as a seismic
hazard to life pursuant to any local building standards adopted after
the date of the building seismic retrofit unless the building no
longer meets the seismically hazardous building retrofit standards
under which it was retrofitted.
19167. No city, city and county, or county, nor any employee of any
such entity, shall be liable for damages for injury to persons or
property, resulting from an earthquake or otherwise, on the basis of
any assessment or evaluation performed, any ordinance adopted, or any
other action taken pursuant to this article, irrespective of whether
such action complies with the terms of this article, or on the basis
of failure to take any action authorized by this article. The
immunity from liability provided herein is in addition to all other
immunities of the city, city and county, or county provided by law.
19168. Nothing in this article shall apply to those buildings and
structures governed by the provisions of Chapter 1 (commencing with
Section 15000) of Division 12.5 of this code or Article 3 (commencing
with Section 39140) of Chapter 2 of Part 23 of the Education Code or
Article 7 (commencing with Section 81130) of Chapter 1 of Part 49 of
the Education Code or any state-owned buildings or structures
located in any city, city and county, or county.
19160. The Legislature finds and declares that:
(a) Because of the generally acknowledged fact that California
will experience moderate to severe earthquakes in the foreseeable
future, increased efforts to reduce earthquake hazards should be
encouraged and supported.
(b) Tens of thousands of buildings subject to severe earthquake
hazards continue to be a serious danger to the life and safety of
hundreds of thousands of Californians who live and work in them in
the event of an earthquake.
(c) Improvement of safety to life is the primary goal of building
reconstruction to reduce earthquake hazards.
(d) In order to make building reconstruction economically feasible
for, and to provide improvement of the safety of life in,
seismically hazardous buildings, building standards enacted by local
government for building reconstruction may differ from building
standards which govern new building construction.
(e) "Soft story" residential buildings are a subset of multistory
woodframe structures that may have inadequately braced lower stories
that may not be able to resist earthquake motion.
(f) Soft story residential buildings are an important component of
the state's housing stock and are in jeopardy of being lost in the
event of a major earthquake.
(g) Soft story residential buildings were responsible for 7,700 of
the 16,000 housing units rendered uninhabitable by the Loma Prieta
earthquake and over 34,000 of the housing units rendered
uninhabitable by the Northridge earthquake.
(h) During an earthquake, soft story residential buildings may
create dangerous conditions as illustrated in the Northridge Meadows
apartment failure that claimed the lives of 16 residents.
(i) The collapse of soft story residential buildings can ignite
fires that threaten trapped occupants and neighboring buildings and
complicates emergency response.
(j) The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) estimates that
soft story residential buildings will be responsible for 66 percent
of the uninhabitable housing following an event on the Hayward fault.
(k) The failure of soft story residential buildings is estimated
by ABAG to be the source of a disproportionate share of the public
shelter population because they tend to be occupied by the very poor,
the very old, and the very young.
(l) The Seismic Safety Commission has recommended that legislation
be enacted to require state and local building code enforcement
agencies to identify potentially hazardous buildings and to adopt
mandatory mitigation programs that will significantly reduce
unacceptable hazards in buildings by 2020.
(m) The current nationally recognized model code relating to the
retrofit of existing buildings is Appendix Chapter A4 of the
International Existing Building Code. However, it is not the intent
of the Legislature, if other model codes relating to the retrofit of
existing buildings are developed, to limit the California Building
Standards Commission or a local government, pursuant to Section
19162, to adopting a particular model code.
(n) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature to encourage
cities and counties to address the seismic safety of soft story
residential buildings and encourage local governments to initiate
efforts to reduce the seismic risk in vulnerable soft story
residential buildings.
19161. (a) Each city, city and county, or county, may assess the
earthquake hazard in its jurisdiction and identify buildings subject
to its jurisdiction as being potentially hazardous to life in the
event of an earthquake. Potentially hazardous buildings include the
following:
(1) Unreinforced masonry buildings constructed prior to the
adoption of local building codes requiring earthquake resistant
design of buildings that are constructed of unreinforced masonry wall
construction and exhibit any of the following characteristics:
(A) Exterior parapets or ornamentation that may fall.
(B) Exterior walls that are not anchored to the floors or roof.
(C) Lack of an effective system to resist seismic forces.
(2) Woodframe, multiunit residential buildings constructed before
January 1, 1978, where the ground floor portion of the structure
contains parking or other similar open floor space that causes soft,
weak, or open-front wall lines, as provided in a nationally
recognized model code relating to the retrofit of existing buildings
or substantially equivalent standards.
(b) Structural evaluations made pursuant to this section shall be
made by an architect as defined in Section 5500 of the Business and
Professions Code, or a civil or structural engineer registered
pursuant to Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 6700) of Division 3 of
the Business and Professions Code, or staff of the enforcing agency,
as described in Section 17960, supervised by an architect or civil
or structural engineer authorized by this subdivision to make the
structural evaluations.
19162. (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 19100 or 19150
or any other provision of law, the governing body of any city, city
and county, or county may, by ordinance, establish building seismic
retrofit standards applicable to the seismic retrofit of any
buildings identified pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of
Section 19161 by the city, city and county, or county as being
potentially hazardous to life in the event of an earthquake.
(b) (1) Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 19100, 19150, or
any other provision of law, the governing body of any city, city and
county, or county may, by ordinance, establish building seismic
retrofit standards applicable to the seismic retrofit of any
buildings identified pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of
Section 19161 by the city, city and county, or county as being
potentially hazardous to life in the event of an earthquake. Any
standards established pursuant to this section shall apply until the
effective date of building standards adopted by the California
Building Standards Commission relating to the retrofit of existing
buildings, if any, at which time the standards adopted by the
commission as amended by the city, county, or city and county
pursuant to Section 17958.5 shall apply.
(2) A local ordinance establishing building seismic retrofit
standards applicable to soft story residential structures adopted
before January 1, 2006, shall remain in full force and effect until
the effective date of building standards adopted by the California
Building Standards Commission relating to the retrofit of existing
buildings unless the city, county, or city and county after January
1, 2006, adopts an ordinance pursuant to paragraph (1).
(c) Building seismic retrofit standards adopted pursuant to this
section may be applied uniformly throughout the city, city and
county, or county, or may be applied in specific areas designated by
the city, city and county, or county.
(d) For purposes of this chapter, "seismic retrofit" means either
structural strengthening or providing the means necessary to modify
the seismic response that would otherwise be expected by an existing
building during an earthquake, to significantly reduce hazards to
life and safety while also providing for the substantial safe ingress
and egress of the building occupants immediately after an
earthquake.
19163. Any local ordinance adopted pursuant to Section 19162 shall
require the following:
(a) Any seismic retrofit of any building identified pursuant to
paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 19161 as being hazardous
to life in the event of an earthquake shall provide for the
reasonable adequacy of all of the following:
(1) Unreinforced masonry walls to resist normal and inplane
seismic forces.
(2) The anchorage and stability of exterior parapets and
ornamentation.
(3) The anchorage of unreinforced masonry walls to the floors and
roof.
(4) Floor and roof diaphragms.
(5) The development of a complete bracing system to resist
earthquake forces.
(b) Any seismic retrofit of any building identified pursuant to
paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 19161 as potentially
hazardous shall comply with a nationally recognized model code
relating to the retrofit of existing buildings or substantially
equivalent standards. If the city, county, or city and county adopts
local amendments to those provisions, it shall determine that the
amendments are consistent with Section 17958.5.
(c) Seismic retrofit of any building or portions of any building
shall be designed to resist and withstand the seismic forces from any
direction as set forth in the building seismic retrofit standards
using the allowable working stresses adopted pursuant to this
article.
(d) The governing board of any city, city and county, or county
may establish, by ordinance, standards and procedures to fulfill the
intent of paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) without regard to the
remainder of the requirements specified above.
19163.5. Except as otherwise provided in Chapter 1 (commencing with
Section 129675) of Part 7 of Division 107, an ordinance adopted by a
city, city and county, or county pursuant to Section 19163, may
establish higher standards for the seismic retrofit of those
structures or buildings which are needed for emergency purposes after
an earthquake in order to preserve the peace, health, and safety of
the general public, including, but not limited to, hospitals and
other medical facilities having surgery or emergency treatment areas,
fire and police stations, government disaster operations centers,
and public utility and communication buildings deemed vital in
emergencies.
19164. Any city, city and county, or county may assign allowable
working stresses to existing materials based on substantiating
research data or engineering judgment. Such allowable working
stresses shall be limited by a safety factor which is reasonably
commensurate with the importance of the element in which the material
is used. In the event the local jurisdiction does not have the
ability to assign such allowable working stresses, it may employ as a
consultant the office of the State Architect. Allowable working
stresses prepared by the office of the State Architect for any city,
city and county, or county shall be subject to approval by the
Seismic Safety Commission.
19165. Any city, city and county, or county adopting an ordinance
establishing building seismic retrofit standards for seismically
hazardous buildings shall file for informational purposes with the
Department of Housing and Community Development a copy of those
standards and all subsequent amendments.
19166. Any building identified as being a seismic hazard to life
and retrofitted in compliance with building seismic retrofit
standards adopted pursuant to this article and properly maintained,
shall not, within a period of 15 years, be identified as a seismic
hazard to life pursuant to any local building standards adopted after
the date of the building seismic retrofit unless the building no
longer meets the seismically hazardous building retrofit standards
under which it was retrofitted.
19167. No city, city and county, or county, nor any employee of any
such entity, shall be liable for damages for injury to persons or
property, resulting from an earthquake or otherwise, on the basis of
any assessment or evaluation performed, any ordinance adopted, or any
other action taken pursuant to this article, irrespective of whether
such action complies with the terms of this article, or on the basis
of failure to take any action authorized by this article. The
immunity from liability provided herein is in addition to all other
immunities of the city, city and county, or county provided by law.
19168. Nothing in this article shall apply to those buildings and
structures governed by the provisions of Chapter 1 (commencing with
Section 15000) of Division 12.5 of this code or Article 3 (commencing
with Section 39140) of Chapter 2 of Part 23 of the Education Code or
Article 7 (commencing with Section 81130) of Chapter 1 of Part 49 of
the Education Code or any state-owned buildings or structures
located in any city, city and county, or county.
