Bill to Extend Hospital Seismic Work Advances

State lawmakers are working to give hospitals more time to renovate or rebuild their facilities to resist the effects of a major earthquake.

The Assembly Health Committee voted 11 to 0 Wednesday to give hospitals up to five more years, until 2013, to meet state seismic requirements.

If they don’t meet the previous deadline of 2008, hospitals would be required to reach milestones set out in an agreement with the state or be fined.

All Democrats voted for the bill while Republicans abstained. Legislators are trying to pair the bill with a proposal that provides general obligation bonds to help hospitals rebuild. A different version has passed the Senate.

Within months of the 1994 Northridge earthquake, hospitals supported seismic standards being developed by the Legislature.

According to the law, hospitals by 2008 must be strengthened enough to stay standing after a major quake and by 2030 be strong enough to remain operational.

But hospital officials have been pushing for more time and money, especially after learning earlier this year that nearly 40% of their buildings are structurally vulnerable. The cost of repairs and reconstruction would total more than $10 billion, according to some estimates.

State Sen. Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough) said she wrote the time-extension bill because construction costs far exceeded expectations.

“We had no concept of what this really entailed,” she said.

The Service Employees International Union, which represents nurses, had opposed the time extension because the bill initially applied to all hospitals.

Union leaders said they support the revised bill because it gives state regulators the power to approve hospital seismic work plans and require changes when appropriate.

In the Northridge quake, 23 hospitals were forced to suspend some or all services, and they incurred more than $3 billion in damage.

“I well remember talking to nurses who evacuated patients down flights of stairs . . . never knowing if there would be another aftershock that would send the hospitals tumbling down,” said Beth Capell, the union’s legislative advocate in Sacramento.

“We believe these places should be safe, and they’ve had plenty of time to abide by the law.”

The California Nurses Assn. opposed the bill.

Hospitals said they need relief now because it takes five years or more to design and rebuild a facility. If hospitals are not given an extension, some will be forced to close, said Jan Emerson, spokeswoman for the California Healthcare Assn., the industry trade group.