SECTIONS 129675-129680 - California Statutes

HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE

SECTION 129675-129680

129675. This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the Alfred
E. Alquist Hospital Facilities Seismic Safety Act of 1983.

129680. (a) It is the intent of the Legislature that hospital
buildings that house patients who have less than the capacity of
normally healthy persons to protect themselves, and that must be
reasonably capable of providing services to the public after a
disaster, shall be designed and constructed to resist, insofar as
practical, the forces generated by earthquakes, gravity, and winds.
In order to accomplish this purpose, the office shall propose proper
building standards for earthquake resistance based upon current
knowledge, and provide an independent review of the design and
construction of hospital buildings.
(b) Local jurisdictions are preempted from the enforcement of all
building standards published in the California Building Standards
Code relating to the regulation of hospital buildings and the
enforcement of other regulations adopted pursuant to this chapter,
and all other applicable state laws, including plan checking and
inspection of the design and details of the architectural,
structural, mechanical, plumbing, electrical, and fire and panic
safety systems, and the observation of construction. The office shall
assume these responsibilities.
(c) Where local jurisdictions have more restrictive requirements
for the enforcement of building standards, other building
regulations, and construction supervision, these requirements shall
be enforced by the office.
(d) Each local jurisdiction shall keep the office advised as to
the existence of any more restrictive local requirements. Where a
reasonable doubt exists as to whether the requirements of the local
jurisdiction are more restrictive, the effect of these requirements
shall be determined by the Hospital Building Safety Board.
It is further the intent of the Legislature that the office, with
the advice of the Hospital Building Safety Board, may conduct or
enter into contracts for research regarding the reduction or
elimination of seismic or other safety hazards in hospital buildings
or research regarding hospital building standards.