Calif. Measure Exempts Community Colleges From Tough Earthquake Standards

A little-noticed provision in a huge school-financing measure that California voters approved last November would allow community colleges to opt out of strict standards for earthquake safety that had been mandatory since 1933.

According to the Contra Costa Times, a newspaper in Walnut Creek, Calif., 59 words in the 13,651-word measure known as Proposition 1D would permit two-year colleges to adhere only to a standard state building code, rather than the stricter regulations of the Field Act, which has governed construction of California elementary and secondary schools since a 1933 earthquake in Long Beach. The act has covered community colleges because they were considered extensions of high schools.

The change, which critics say was a “stealth addition” to the measure, has not taken effect yet, because state officials are still debating the exact meaning of the 59 words. One state commission said meeting the Field Act’s stricter standards added 3 percent to 4 percent to the cost of new construction.