In response to the January 1994 Northridge earthquake, the California Legislature passed, in November of that same year, SB 1953, the Hospital Facilities Seismic Safety Act. The Northridge earthquake caused 23 hospitals to suspend some or all of their services and caused more than $3 billion in hospital-related damages.

SB 1953 requires hospitals to meet three deadlines. By 2002, they were required to brace major non-structural systems such as backup generators, exit lighting and other features. By 2008, all general acute-care inpatient buildings at risk of collapsing during a strong earthquake must be rebuilt, retrofitted or closed. By 2030, all hospital buildings must be operational following a major earthquake.

Initially, the cost of complying with SB 1953 was estimated at $14 billion statewide by 2030. However, the specific regulations of the law were not finalized until a few years after the law’s passage, and the estimate of compliance costs has grown to $24 billion — a sum equivalent to the total combined, undepreciated assets of all California hospitals.

The law is an unfunded mandate, meaning that no state or federal funds were allocated to help hospitals pay for the necessary improvements. Hospitals that cannot afford to comply with SB 1953 by the prescribed deadlines will be forced to close or reduce patient care services.

The acute care portion of UC Davis Medical Center consists of 12 buildings. With one exception, medical center planners and officials have determined that they can bring all of the buildings into compliance with the 2008 deadline with upgrades. The exception is the oldest building, the North-South Wing. The medical center plans to demolish it and move the functions housed there into the Davis Tower and the Surgical and Emergency Services Pavilion.