Hospitals: seismic safety.

Existing law, the Alfred E. Alquist Hospital Facilities Seismic Safety Act of 1983, establishes, under the jurisdiction of the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, a program of seismic safety building standards for certain hospitals constructed on and after March 7, 1973. Existing law requires that, after January 1, 2008, any general acute care hospital building that is determined to be a potential risk of collapse or pose significant loss of life be used only for nonacute care hospital purposes, except that the office may grant a 5-year extension under prescribed circumstances. Existing law also allows the office to grant an additional 2-year extension in specified circumstances. This bill would clarify that a general acute care hospital building described above may be used for purposes other than nonacute care hospital purposes if an extension of the January 1, 2008, deadline has been granted and, before the end of the extension, a replacement building has been constructed or a retrofit has been performed, as specified. The bill would authorize a hospital located in the County of Sacramento, San Mateo, or Santa Barbara or the City of San Jose that has received the additional 2-year extension to the January 2008 deadline pursuant to specified provisions to request an additional extension until September 1, 2015, to obtain either a certificate of occupancy for a replacement building or a construction final for a building on which a retrofit has been performed. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Counties of Sacramento, San Mateo, and Santa Barbara and the City of San Jose. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.