California Regulators To Ease Access To State Seismic Retrofit Funding

The San Jose Mercury News (4/29, Perez, Johnson) reports that regulators in California announced Wednesday that they "will loosen the criteria for schools to access millions in unspent seismic repair funds and make several other changes to the school building inspection process," promising "to speed the process for certifying school projects under the Field Act seismic safety law. Scott Harvey, acting chief of the Department of General Services, said the agency has sent letters to school superintendents alerting them to campus buildings that have been red-flagged with safety defects." The piece notes that a legislative hearing this week "was scheduled in response to a California Watch investigation this month. The series revealed that the Division of the State Architect routinely failed to enforce the Field Act, California's landmark earthquake safety law for public schools."