The Road to SB 1953

Abstract

Just as the 1933 Field Act established standards for building new schools but ignored school buildings that were built before that date, the Alquist Hospital Facilities Seismic Safety Act of 1973 established standards for building new acute care hospitals but ignored hospital buildings that were built before it was enacted. Hospitals build before 1973 were not required to meet the seismic safety standards adopted for hospitals built subsequent to that year. And, just as in the case of school buildings, decades later, many acute care hospitals built before 1973 were still in use for their original purpose. And, just as with the case of schools built before new, more rigorous standards were enacted, efforts began to remove those old acute care hospitals from use.

The law that came to be known as SB 1953 did not arise in a vacuum. Its origins lie deep within Californians’ concerns about earthquake safety and it emerged from a long series of events. The chain of events leading to SB 1953 is described in this chapter.