A comprehensive list of significant California earthquake safety building codes and legislation enacted over the past 50 years (1975–2025). This timeline highlights key developments aimed at enhancing seismic resilience in the state:
Attachment: California Earthquake Safety Building Codes and Legislation (1975–2025) Year Legislation / Code Description
1975
California Seismic
Safety Commission
(CSSC)
Established to provide policy recommendations on earthquake safety and to coordinate seismic hazard mitigation efforts statewide.
1983
Hospital Facilities
Seismic Safety Act
(Alquist Act)
Mandated seismic safety standards for hospital facilities, requiring them to remain operational after earthquakes. 1990 Seismic Hazards
Mapping Act
Required the state to identify and map areas prone to
liquefaction, landslides, and amplified ground shaking, ensuring new developments consider these hazards.
1994 Senate Bill 1953
Amended the Alquist Act, setting deadlines for hospitals to retrofit, rebuild, or close facilities that do not meet seismic safety standards.
1997 Uniform Building Code
(UBC) Update
Incorporated lessons from the 1994 Northridge earthquake, enhancing seismic design requirements for various building types.
2001 California Building
Code (CBC) Adoption
California began adopting its own building code, incorporating and amending provisions from the International Building Code (IBC) to address state-specific seismic concerns.
2008 CBC Alignment with
IBC
The CBC was updated to align more closely with the IBC, ensuring consistent seismic safety standards across
jurisdictions.
2013
San Francisco
Mandatory Soft-Story
Retrofit Program
Required evaluation and retrofitting of wood-frame buildings with soft-story conditions to improve earthquake resilience. 2015 Los Angeles Soft-Story
Retrofit Ordinance
Mandated retrofitting of soft-story and non-ductile concrete buildings to enhance structural performance during
earthquakes.
2020 CBC Update Incorporated the latest seismic research and engineering practices to further improve building resilience.