Mayor Eric Garcetti and California Assemblyman Adrin Nazarian (D-Sherman Oaks) last week stood on the steps of the seismic-retrofitted Van Nuys City Hall to highlight legislation which would provide a five-year, 30 percent state seismic tax credit to property owners for safety improvements to their vulnerable buildings.

“It’s not a question of if, but rather when the next big earthquake will hit Los Angeles, and together with Assemblymember Nazarian, we’re taking action to shore up our buildings and better protect our city from the inevitable,” Garcetti said. “[Assembly Bill 428] would take an important step in making my seismic resilience plan a reality, providing a tax benefit to help building owners complete lifesaving retrofits. I urge the state legislature to pass this important legislation.”

The bill would support Garcetti’s “Resilience by Design” seismic safety and resilience plan that he created with the USGS’s Dr. Lucy Jones. Part of the plan requires retrofitting of two types of vulnerable buildings: retrofits would be required within five years at “soft-first-story” buildings built prior to 1980, and required within 25 years at “non-ductile reinforced concrete” buildings built prior to 1980. The bill would provide a powerful financial incentive for property owners to make the seismic upgrades within the next five years at a substantially reduced cost, officials said.

“We need to act decisively now to protect our state from senseless and preventable loss of life and property,” Nazarian said. “We know ‘soft-first-story’ buildings built prior to 1980, and ‘non-ductile reinforced concrete’ buildings built prior to 1980 are vulnerable. To do nothing is simply criminal.”

The bill would define an “at-risk property” as a building that is deemed hazardous and in danger of collapse in the event of a major earthquake and is certified as so by the appropriate local jurisdiction with authority for building code enforcement, including but not limited to, soft story buildings, non-ductile concrete residential buildings, and pre-1980 concrete residential buildings. It would provide that a municipality’s local agency with jurisdiction for building code and safety enforcement certify an “at-risk building” located within their area. The bill would also provide what type of seismic retrofit construction qualifies under the credit to mitigate seismic damage and it sets a sunset date of December 1, 2021.

Recent findings by UC Berkley researchers identified 1,500 concrete buildings that are seismically vulnerable in the Los Angeles area. The researchers state that in the event of a huge earthquake, 75 are likely to collapse but many more will be affected.

The U.S. Geologic Survey gives better than 99 percent odds that one or more magnitude 6.7 earthquakes will take place in California by 2038. The survey states 46 percent odds that at least one even more powerful quake, of magnitude 7.5 or greater, will take place during the same period.