Legislation Not Yet Passed to Extend Hospital Seismic Deadline

A downtown hospital advocate has jumped the gun on the legislation to extend the hosptial seismic retrofit deadline. See North County Times Editorial:
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/07/02/
opinion/commentary/20_25_047_1_05.txt

SB167, the hospital seismic safety bill, has been amended and is currently in the Assembly's Health Committee. The amended bill, before it becomes law, needs to go back for passage in the Senate, and then be signed by the Governor. The progress of SB167 can be tracked at:
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/postquery?
bill_number=sb_167&sess=CUR&house=S

All indications point to passage of SB167. Why? Because the California's hospital construction sector is in a mess. There are too many hospitals trying to meet the deadline, and not enough contractors willing to bid the work. Conversations with a construction supervisor that is working on a new hospital site reveals that plumbing contractors are either not willing to bid hospital jobs, or they are submitting extremely high bids. A principle reason is that the seismic regulations for hospitals are in a state of flux. Local (and familiar) building codes are preempted by statewide regulation. Allegedly, inspectors have required that entire walls be torn down and rebuilt merely because holes were drilled in the studs for wires and pipes, a standard building practice.