State, FEMA Still Billions Apart on Quake Rebuilding Aid

Several billion dollars in federal earthquake rebuilding funds remained in limbo Thursday as federal and state officials continued to debate just what kind of repairs are necessary to make damaged hospitals, schools and other public buildings safe.

State and county officials said the Federal Emergency Management Agency was taking an inadequate “patch and paint” approach that could endanger people in future earthquakes, while federal officials argued that California is trying to get taxpayers to pay for millions more than safety requires.

FEMA officials met Thursday with representatives of Los Angeles County, the Los Angeles Unified School District and the city of Los Angeles to try to resolve differences, but the result for the most part was summed up by John P. Carey, general counsel for FEMA: “We have agreed to disagree.”

“There is no sense . . . in spending billions to bring buildings up to a standard where they are as vulnerable as before,” said Richard Andrews, director of the governor’s Office of Emergency Services.

However, Bill Tidball, chief of staff of FEMA, said the agency intends to fund rebuilding at a safe level.

Typical of the dispute is the county’s Psychiatric Hospital at County-USC Medical Center. The county and the state’s Office of Emergency Services argue that the structure needs $64 million to $65 million in rebuilding, while FEMA says it needs just $1.2 million in repairs.

Repairs at 14 county and private hospitals, including County-USC Medical Center, UCLA Medical Center and Cedars-Sinai, also are at stake in the dispute. About 143 school classrooms remain closed during the debate. About 400 county facilities have structural damage in excess of $2 billion, said Davis, while the city of Los Angeles estimates that its structures need $800 million in repairs.

Both sides agree on this much: Federal law says funding must be made available to rebuild seriously damaged buildings to their pre-earthquake condition, and also up to current local standards that might be higher than when the buildings were put up.

What the two sides cannot agree on is just what those current standards are. The state says it is asking only for building standards that are clearly stated in state law. But FEMA argues that the state is asking for repairs beyond those enumerated in state code--repairs that are interpretations of the code rather than explicitly spelled out.