Title HSC — California Health & Safety Code

Any city or county may, by ordinance, designate any department or officer, other than a department or officer mentioned in this chapter, to enforce all or any part of this chapter. (Enacted by Stats. 1939, Ch. 60.)

In any city where there is no department or officer charged with or designated for the enforcement of this chapter, the appropriate department, officer, or officers of the county in which such city is located shall enforce this chapter. In any county where there is no department …

The Division of Codes and Standards of the Department of Housing and Community Development may enforce any provision of this chapter or any building standards published in the State Building Standards Code which it finds is being violated in a building hereafter constructed, afte…

No person shall construct a building subject to this chapter unless he has obtained a written permit for that purpose from the appropriate enforcement agency.

Any person desiring a permit shall file an application therefor with the appropriate enforcement agency, which application shall contain: (a) The name and address of the applicant. (b) A detailed written statement of the work to be done.

The applicant shall file with his application: (a) A complete set of the plans of the work proposed. (b) A set of specifications describing the materials to be used in the work. (c) The fee prescribed for filing an application for a building permit.

The governing body of any county or city, including a charter city, may adopt an ordinance prescribing fees for filing applications pursuant to this chapter, but the fees shall not exceed the amount reasonably required by the local enforcement agency to issue permits pursuant to …

Where work for which a permit is required by this chapter is started or proceeded with prior to the obtaining of such permit, the fees prescribed in Section 19132.3 shall be doubled. The payment of such double fee does not relieve any person from fully complying with the requirem…

The enforcement agency shall determine the cost of the work to be done for which the applicant desires a permit, and shall be guided by approved estimating practices. The enforcement agency shall keep a permanent account of all fees received under this chapter, the names of the p…

The United States, the State of California, school or other districts, counties and cities shall not be required to pay a fee for filing an application for a building permit pursuant to this chapter.

The enforcement agency shall examine the application, plans, and specifications filed with it by an applicant, and if it appears that the work to be done will not result in a violation of this chapter, shall approve them and issue a permit to the applicant.

The enforcement agency may approve changes in any application, plans, or specifications previously approved by it.

The enforcement agency may revoke any permit if the permittee refuses, fails, or neglects to comply with any provision of this chapter, or if it finds that any false statement or misrepresentation was made in the application, plans, or specifications filed by the permittee.

The work authorized by a permit shall be performed only in accordance with the application, plans, and specifications filed by the permittee.

The issuance of a permit does not constitute approval of any violation of any provision of this chapter.

In any case where a building subject to this chapter is also subject to any permit provisions of the rules and regulations promulgated pursuant to the provision of the State Housing Law, it shall not be necessary to make duplicate filings of plans and specifications hereunder, to…

Every building or structure and every portion thereof shall be designed and constructed to resist stresses produced by lateral forces as provided in the State Building Standards Code. In areas where the Division of Codes and Standards of the Department of Housing and Community De…

The Legislature finds and declares that: (a) Because of the generally acknowledged fact that California will experience moderate to severe earthquakes in the foreseeable future, increased efforts to reduce earthquake hazards should be encouraged and supported. (b) Tens of thousan…

(a) Each city, city and county, or county, may assess the earthquake hazard in its jurisdiction and identify buildings subject to its jurisdiction as being potentially hazardous to life in the event of an earthquake. Potentially hazardous buildings include the following: (1) Unre…

(a) Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 19100 or 19150 or any other provision of law, the governing body of any city, city and county, or county may, by ordinance, establish building seismic retrofit standards applicable to the seismic retrofit of any buildings identified p…

Any local ordinance adopted pursuant to Section 19162 shall require the following: (a) Any seismic retrofit of any building identified pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 19161 as being hazardous to life in the event of an earthquake shall provide for the reas…

Except as otherwise provided in Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 129675) of Part 7 of Division 107, an ordinance adopted by a city, city and county, or county pursuant to Section 19163, may establish higher standards for the seismic retrofit of those structures or buildings whi…

Any city, city and county, or county may assign allowable working stresses to existing materials based on substantiating research data or engineering judgment. Such allowable working stresses shall be limited by a safety factor which is reasonably commensurate with the importance…

Any city, city and county, or county adopting an ordinance establishing building seismic retrofit standards for seismically hazardous buildings shall file for informational purposes with the Department of Housing and Community Development a copy of those standards and all subsequ…

Any building identified as being a seismic hazard to life and retrofitted in compliance with building seismic retrofit standards adopted pursuant to this article and properly maintained, shall not, within a period of 15 years, be identified as a seismic hazard to life pursuant to…

No city, city and county, or county, nor any employee of any such entity, shall be liable for damages for injury to persons or property, resulting from an earthquake or otherwise, on the basis of any assessment or evaluation performed, any ordinance adopted, or any other action t…

Nothing in this article shall apply to those buildings and structures governed by the provisions of Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 15000) of Division 12.5 of this code or Article 3 (commencing with Section 39140) of Chapter 2 of Part 23 of the Education Code or Article 7 (com…

Any person who violates, or causes or permits another person to violate, any provision of this chapter is guilty of a misdemeanor.

The Legislature finds and declares that: (a) It is generally accepted that various areas of the state will experience moderate and severe earthquakes in the foreseeable future. (b) A serious threat to life and property resulting from these earthquakes is the threat of fire result…

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the governing body of any city, county, or city and county may enact an ordinance requiring the installation of earthquake sensitive gas shutoff devices in buildings open to the public. Any ordinance adopted pursuant to this section sha…

(a) The State Architect shall adopt standards governing earthquake sensitive gas shutoff devices for installation in buildings. These standards shall reasonably provide for convenient installation and maintenance of gas shutoff devices, as well as maintaining the safety of person…

Manufacturers of earthquake sensitive gas shutoff devices or other devices required by an ordinance adopted pursuant to Section 19182 shall first obtain certification, pursuant to Article 7 (commencing with Section 19200), that the device meets the standards established pursuant …

The Legislature finds and declares that existing law does not require that any new seismic gas shutoff valve sold by any person in this state shall, prior to sale, be certified by the State Architect.

As used in this article: (a) “Seismic gas shutoff device” means a seismic gas shutoff device installed on customer-owned gas piping certified by the State Architect pursuant to Section 19202. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, “seismic gas shutoff device” does not includ…

The State Architect shall establish a certification procedure for earthquake sensitive gas shutoff devices and shall establish a fee for the certification. Fees imposed pursuant to this section shall be equal to the costs associated with making the certification and are continuou…

The State Architect shall certify seismic gas shutoff devices which, as determined by the State Architect, comply with Chapter 12-23 (commencing with Section 12-23-101) of Part 12 of Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations, and which meet all of the following requirements:…

Any new seismic gas shutoff device sold by any person in this state shall, prior to sale, be certified by the State Architect.

This article is limited to the service connections of individual structures to main gas lines and to connections of appliances to gas lines and does not apply to devices within gas lines.

(a) The Legislature finds and declares that there exists a serious threat of fire, explosion, or electrocution to the people of California from water heaters that overturn or experience damage to the plumbing or electrical wiring during an earthquake, and that a large number of s…

(a) Notwithstanding Section 19100, all new and replacement water heaters, and all existing residential water heaters, shall be braced, anchored, or strapped to resist falling or horizontal displacement due to earthquake motion. At a minimum, any water heater shall be secured in a…

All water heaters manufactured for sale in California on or after July 1, 1991, shall include a statement in the installation instructions that water heater units must be braced, anchored, or strapped to resist falling or horizontal displacement due to earthquake motion. The inst…

Manufacturers shall add language to their instruction label on the front of the water heater that discloses the danger of falling or horizontal displacement due to an earthquake. The label shall contain the following language: WARNING: THIS WATER HEATER MUST BE BRACED, ANCHORED, …

Any person who violates Section 19212 or 19213 shall be deemed to have violated a provision of Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 17000) of Part 2 of Division 7 of the Business and Professions Code.

The Division of the State Architect shall prepare generic installation instructions with standard details illustrating the strapping, bracing, and anchoring of water heaters for typical installations in single-family homes that comply with the requirements of the model codes. The…

At the point of sale, the retailer may provide the consumer with generic installation instructions with standard details approved by the Division of the State Architect. If provided, these generic instructions are intended to be provided to the consumer as a guide, and are not in…

The Public Utilities Commission shall direct the investor owned gas and electrical utilities, not later than January 1, 1991, to develop an educational program for bracing, anchoring, and strapping water heaters to resist falling or horizontal displacement due to earthquakes.

The elective officers of a local hospital district shall be a board of hospital directors consisting of five members, each of whom shall be a registered voter residing in the district and whose term shall be four years, with the exception of the first board. The first board of di…

The board of hospital directors shall meet on the first Monday subsequent to 30 days after the completion of organization of the district and shall organize by the election of one of their members as chairperson or president and one as secretary.

A petition to increase the number of members of the board of directors of any district providing at least 225 hospital beds from five to seven members may be signed and filed with the board of directors at least three months prior to any general hospital district election by regi…

The election of directors to fill the additional vacancies on the board created by expansion shall be an election at large. A director elected at the election but receiving the lesser number of votes in the election shall hold office until a successor takes office pursuant to Sec…