Sprinkler Retrofit Bill Passed by State Senate

Legislation requiring that older high-rise buildings install automatic sprinkler systems to avert fires such as the inferno that destroyed four floors of the First Interstate Bank building in Los Angeles was passed by the Senate on Thursday.

And, in an act more symbolic than substantive, the Senate also voted to give schools a $170.8-million cost-of-living increase even though, in the state’s current bleak financial situation, there is no money in sight to pay for it.

The Senate and the Assembly both plowed through long agendas to meet the deadline for each house to pass its own bills.

The Assembly on Thursday night unanimously passed a bill requiring life imprisonment without possibility of parole for someone convicted of a gang drive-by shooting that results in death or serious injury.

A 63-0 vote sent the bill by Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach) to the Senate.

But the Assembly, on a 38-31 vote, rejected legislation by Assemblyman Terry B. Friedman (D-Los Angeles) aimed at curbing secret lobbying of California Coastal Commission members. The bill required 41 votes for passage.

After the vote, Friedman denounced “special interests” for behind-the-scenes lobbying against the measure.

But Assembly Republican Leader Pat Nolan of Glendale, who urged GOP lawmakers to oppose the proposal, labeled Friedman’s assertion as “nonsense.”

By a 43-28 margin, the Assembly also rejected a proposed constitutional amendment to allow school districts to pass local bond measures by a simple majority, instead of a two-thirds vote.

The measure by Assemblyman Jack O’Connell (D-Carpinteria) required 54 votes for passage. The bill also would have repealed developer fees established by the Legislature to help districts raise money for school construction.

The sprinkler bill, by Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles), went to the Assembly on a 31-1 vote over the opposition of the California Hotel and Motel Assn. The organization contends that the stiff costs of retrofitting older high-rises could put owners out of business.

Torres told the Senate that the association wants financial relief to at least partially offset retrofit costs. He said he would consider amending the measure in the Assembly to provide high-rise owners with a sales-tax break on construction materials purchased for installing fire-extinguishing systems.

Since 1974, new high-rises in California have been required to include automatic sprinkler and smoke detection systems. The First Interstate building was constructed before 1974 and was in the process of voluntarily installing automatic sprinklers when the fire broke out May 4.

But exempted from the requirement would be state government high-rise buildings. Torres noted that there appears now to be no funds to pay the estimated $92-million cost of retrofitting state structures, but the bill would require the development of a priority list of buildings to be retrofitted when funds became available.

For six of its high-rise buildings, the Los Angeles City Council has ordered the drafting of a bond issue that would provide at least $30 million to pay for retrofitting sprinklers, removal of asbestos and other safety steps.

A 23-1 vote sent the $170.8-million school finance bill to the Assembly over warnings that the action represented an exercise in futility because there is no money available as state government struggles with a two-year, $2-billion revenue shortfall and Gov. George Deukmejian has abandoned his tax increase plan.

“Where are we going to get the money?” asked Sen. Robert B. Presley (D-Riverside), chairman of the Appropriations Committee who ended up voting for the measure. “To vote to just move this bill along is almost meaningless or almost irresponsible.”

The author, Sen. Daniel Boatwright (D-Concord), who has been campaigning for reelection as a fiscal conservative, conceded that he did not have the answer but “we might very well find some money.”

The Assembly, meantime, passed on a 64-13 vote and sent to the Senate a bill aimed at reducing the error rate of laboratory technicians who examine Pap smears to detect cervical cancer.

The law now limits to 75 the number of slides a laboratory can ask a technician to read each day. But the technicians can volunteer to read more for extra pay, although the extra work causes errors, supporters of the bill argue.

The bill by Assemblywoman Sally Tanner (D-El Monte), a compromise of five competing measures, would limit the number of lab slides a technician could read to 80 a day and 19,000 a year.

The Assembly also approved a bill by Assemblyman Mike Roos (D-Los Angeles) to ban the manufacture, sale, importation or possession of plastic firearms.

The bill went to the Senate on a 63-3 vote.

The Assembly rejected, however, a Roos bill that would require purchasers of semi-automatic rifles, including military assault weapons such as the Uzi, to wait for 15 days before taking possession of the firearms. This would allow law enforcement officials to investigate the purchasers’ backgrounds, as has been done for years with handgun buyers.

Law enforcement officials supported the bill, contending that Uzis and Soviet-style AK-47s have become the weapons “of choice” of California street gangs and drug dealers.

Times staff writer Jerry Gillam contributed to this story.