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TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS
 

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
 

State of California
 

JOHN K. VAN DE KAMP
 

Attorney General
 

:
 

OPINION : No. 85-803
 

:
 

of : JUNE 3, 1986 

:
 

JOHN K. VAN DE KAMP :
 

Attorney General :
 

:
 

RODNEY O. LILYQUIST :
 

Deputy Attorney General :
 

:
 

THE HONORABLE JAMES F. McMULLEN, STATE FIRE MARSHAL, 

has requested an opinion on the following question: 

Does the State Building Safety Board have the duty to hear appeals with 

respect to those aspects of the construction of hospitals dealing with fire safety and its 

related details? 

CONCLUSION 

The State Building Safety Board does not have the duty to hear appeals 

with respect to those aspects of the construction of hospitals dealing with fire safety and 

its related details. 

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ANALYSIS
 

The San Fernando Valley earthquake of February 9, 1971, "although 

moderate in terms of total energy release, resulted in such total collapse or damage as 

made many hospital buildings inoperable." (Stats. 1972, ch. 1130 § 1.) To lessen the 

likelihood of a reoccurrence, the Legislature enacted a statutory scheme requiring 

hospitals to be constructed to special earthquake standards similar to those for public 

schools covered by the Field Act. (Ibid.) This legislation is now known as the Hospital 

Seismic Safety Act of 1983. (Health & Saf. Code, §§ 15000-15095; "Act".)1 

The Act requires in part that the State Fire Marshal ("Marshal") analyze 

"the fire safety and related details, as set forth in the working drawings and 

specifications, and . . . observe . . . that part of the construction of hospitals." (§ 15001.) 

Under a separate statutory scheme the Marshal is required to adopt regulations 

"establishing minimum requirements for the prevention of fire and for the protection of 

life and property against fire and panic in any . . . hospital." (§ 13143, subd. (a).) 

The question presented for analysis is whether the State Building Safety 

Board ("Board") has the duty to hear appeals with respect to those aspects of the 

construction of hospitals dealing with the Marshal's standards for fire safety and its 

related details. We conclude that it does not. 

The Board is part of the Office of Statewide Health Planning and 

Development ("Statewide Office"). (§ 15080.) It has been designated by the Legislature 

to hear certain appeals with respect to the construction of hospitals. Section 15080 states: 

"There is in the statewide office a Building Safety Board which shall 

advise and, except as provided in section 18945, shall act as a board of 

appeals with regard to seismic safety of hospitals. The Director of the 

Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, with the advice of 

the Department of General Services, shall appoint the members of the 

Building Safety Board, which shall advise and, except as provided in 

section 18945, shall act as a board of appeals in all matters relating to the 

administration and enforcement of building standards relating to hospital 

buildings during construction or alteration projects published in the State 

Building Standards Code and the other provisions of this chapter." 

(Emphases added.)2 

1 All references hereafter to the Health and Safety Code are by section number only. 

2 Section 18945 deals with the authority of the State Building Standards Commission to hear 

appeals respecting building standards: 

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In determining whether section 15080 is applicable to the Marshal's fire 

safety standards, we are guided by several well-established principles of statutory 

construction. "It is fundamental that legislation should be construed so as to harmonize 

its various elements without doing violence to its language or spirit." (Wells v. Marina 

City Properties, Inc. (1981) 29 Cal.3d 781, 788.) Interpretive constructions that render 

some words surplusage, defy common sense, or lead to mischief or absurdity are to be 

avoided. (Fields v. Eu (1976) 18 Cal.3d 322, 328.) The legislative history of a statute 

and the wider historical circumstances of its enactment are legitimate aids in construing 

its provisions. (Steilberg v. Lackner (1977) 69 Cal.App.3d 780, 785; Alford v. Pierno 

(1972) 27 Cal.App.3d 682, 688.) Moreover, we must accord "great weight and respect to 

the administrative construction" of a statute. (International Business Machines v. State 

Bd. of Equalization (1980) 26 Cal.3d 923, 931.) 

Is "fire safety and its related details" included within the term "seismic 

safety" for purposes of section 15080? While "seismic" refers only to earthquakes (see 

Webster's New Internat. Dict. (3d ed. 1971) p. 2057), it may be argued that a fire would 

be a natural consequence of an earthquake collapsing a hospital building. Water damage 

would be another "resulting" consequence. 

The language of present section 15080 was contained in former section 

15021 which initially gave the State Building Safety Board appeal hearing 

responsibilities "with regard to seismic structural safety of hospitals" and "in all matters 

affecting seismic structural safety in the administration and enforcement of this chapter." 

(Stats. 1972, ch. 1130, § 3.) In 1978 the Legislature deleted the word "structural" from 

the statutory language. (Stats. 1978, ch. 835, § 3.) In 1979 the two phrases "except as 

provided in section 18945" were added to the statute as was the reference to "building 

standards." (Stats. 1979, ch. 1152, § 44.) In 1982 former section 15021 was repealed 

"(a) Any person adversely affected by any regulation, rule, omission, 

interpretation, decision, or practice of any state agency respecting the 

administration of any building standard may appeal the issue for resolution to the 

commission. 

"(b) If any local agency having authority to enforce a state building standard 

and any person adversely affected by any regulation, rule, omission, 

interpretation, decision, or practice of such agency respecting such building 

standard both wish to appeal the issue for resolution to the commission, then both 

parties may appeal only if the commission determines that the issues involved in 

such appeal have statewide significance." 

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and its language incorporated into section 15080 with minor modifications. (Stats. 1982, 

ch. 303, § 2.)3 

Looking at the declaration of legislative intent contained in section 15001, 

we find that the purpose of the Act is to require hospitals to "be designed and constructed 

to resist, insofar as practical, the forces generated by earthquakes, gravity, and winds." 

More importantly, section 15001 distinguishes between the structural safety and the fire 

safety elements of hospital construction: 

"It is further the intent of the Legislature that the Department of 

General Services, through a contract with the Office of Statewide Health 

Planning and Development, shall analyze only the structural systems and 

related details as set forth in the working drawings and specifications, and 

shall observe only that part of the construction of hospital projects and 

report the findings of such analysis to the Office of Statewide Health 

Planning and Development. Further, it is the intent of the Legislature that 

the Office of the State Fire Marshal, through a contract with the Office of 

Statewide Health Planning and Development, shall analyze only the fire 

safety and related details, as set forth in the working drawings and 

specifications, and shall observe only that part of the construction of 

hospital projects, and report the findings of such analysis to the Office of 

Statewide Health Planning and Development." 

Hence by express legislative design the plan-checking and buildinginspection functions for hospital construction have been divided between two public 

agencies. The Department of General Services is made responsible for "the structural 

systems and related details," while the Marshal is responsible for "the fire safety and 

related details." (See also § 15051, subd. (d).) 

The dichotomy between the structural and fire safety elements of hospital 

construction is found throughout the Act. Section 15040 states that the Statewide Office 

shall observe "the construction of the structural elements" through its contract with the 

Department of General Services. The Statewide Office is to review "the structural 

systems and related details, which shall include the independent review of the geological 

3 In examining the legislative history of section 15080, we have found only one obliquely 

relevant statement with respect to appeal hearing responsibilities. In the Legislative Counsel's 

Digest concerning the legislation that amended former section 15021 in 1979 (Stats. 1979, ch. 

1152), it is stated that the State Building Standards Commission is given authority by the 

legislation "to consider appeals from affected parties with respect to interpretation or 

enforcement of a building standard by a state agency." 

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data," through its contract with the Department of General Services. (§ 15043.) Section 

15055 provides that the Statewide Office is to adopt rules and regulations "with the 

advice of the Department of General Services" to carry out the provisions of the Act. 

Section 15055 mandates that the Statewide Office adopt building standards "relating to 

seismic structural safety for hospital buildings." 

On the other hand, the plans and specifications for hospital construction 

must meet "the fire and panic safety requirements of the State Fire Marshal" in addition 

to complying "with this chapter and the requirements prescribed by the statewide office." 

(§ 15050.) 

These provisions of the Act demonstrate a legislative intent to treat the fire 

safety elements of hospital construction in a manner different from the seismic structural 

safety elements. Not only are the plan-checking and building-inspection functions 

divided on the basis of the structural systems and fire safety, so also is the rule- making 

authority with respect to hospital construction. The Statewide Office is responsible for 

the regulations "relating to seismic structural safety" (§ 15055), while the Marshal is 

responsible for the regulations "establishing minimum requirements for the prevention of 

fire and for the protection of life and property against fire and panic." (§ 13143, subd. 

(a).) 

The regulations of the Statewide Office are instructive on the issue of 

whether fire safety and its related details are within "seismic structural safety" for 

purposes of the Act. California Administrative Code, title 22, section 94001 states: 

"These regulations are intended to establish a level of structural 

safety to provide that hospital buildings will remain, insofar as practicable, 

completely functional to perform all necessary services to the public after a 

disaster and will protect life and property by resisting, insofar as 

practicable, the forces generated by earthquakes, gravity and winds." 

Section 94005 of the same title provides: 

"(a) These rules and regulations are issued under the authority 

contained in Sections 15000 and 15023 inclusive of the Health and Safety 

Code as enacted in Chapter 1130, Statutes of 1972, and subsequently 

amended. 

"(b) Hospital buildings, constructed pursuant to these rules and 

regulations which have been adopted by the Department with the advice of 

the Department of General Services based on the current state of the art of 

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earthquake engineering, are deemed to comply with the intent of the 

Legislature as set forth in Section 2, Chapter 1130, of the Statutes of 1972. 

"(c) The Department has contracted with the Department of General 

Services to carry out the provisions of the Statute, including the 

enforcement of certain of these regulations. The powers and responsibility 

to carry out these regulations have been delegated to the Chief Structural 

Engineer, Office of the State Architect."4 

Accordingly, the administrative construction of the Act by the Statewide Office as 

indicated by its regulations is that "seismic structural safety" does not include fire safety 

and its related details. 

Even more illuminating in resolving this issue is the Statewide Office's 

regulation dealing with the appeal responsibilities of the Board: 

"(a) The Building Safety Board shall act as a board of appeals with 

regard to seismic structural safety of health facilities. 

"(b) In the event of disagreement with the rulings, orders, decisions 

or acts of the Department or the Department of General Services, acting 

within the scope of Division 12.5 (commencing with Section 15000) of the 

Health and Safety Code, an appeal may be made by the current or 

prospective licensee of a health facility to the Building Safety Board. Such 

appeal shall be considered by the Building Safety Board only following the 

failure of a conference, held to resolve the appeal in accordance with 

Section 94083." (Cal. Admin. Code, tit. 22, § 94081.) 

The Statewide Office thus views the appellate jurisdiction of the Board as 

concerning the rulings, orders, decisions and acts of the Statewide Office and the 

Department of General Services. No mention is made of hearing appeals with respect to 

the rulings, orders, decisions and acts of the Marshal regarding fire safety and its related 

details. 

This administrative interpretation of the Act by the Statewide Office is 

consistent with the legislative intent to distinguish the fire safety element from the 

seismic safety element in the construction of hospitals. 

"The Department" for purposes of these regulations is "the Division of Facilities 

Development of the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development." (Cal. Admin. 

Code, tit. 22, § 94021, subd. (a).) 

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While it is true that section 15080 also gives the Board appellate 

jurisdiction over "all matters relating to the administration and enforcement of building 

standards," except as provided in section 18945, such language must be viewed in light of 

the dichotomy created by the Legislature between fire safety and seismic structural 

safety. The Act, the Statewide Office, and the Board have as their goal seismic structural 

safety. As we have seen, a building standard adopted by the Marshal for fire safety does 

not address this purpose but is treated separately by the Legislature. The second sentence 

of section 15080 must be interpreted as an elaboration upon the sentence that precedes it. 

In such manner the administrative regulations are duly regarded, the Act is given effect, 

and the various provisions are harmonized. 

As a consequence of our analysis of section 15080, the duty to hear appeals 

with respect to those aspects of the construction of hospitals dealing with fire safety and 

its related details falls upon the State Board of Fire Services except for building 

standards, which come within the authority of the State Building Standards Commission. 

(§§ 13142.6, 18945.) The State Board of Fire Services is part of the Marshal's Office 

(§ 13140) and hears appeals under section 13142.6: 

"(a) The board, under the direction of the vice chairman, shall sit as 

a board of appeals on the application of the State Fire Marshal's 

regulations excepting application of building standards published in the 

State Building Standards Code, by the State Fire Marshal or his salaried 

assistants. When any affected person believes that such regulations, 

excepting building standards, are being applied incorrectly, such person 

may appeal the decision of the State Fire Marshal to the board. The board 

shall not consider any such appeal unless the matter has come to the 

attention of the State Fire Marshal and he has rendered a decision in 

writing. Any appeal to the Board shall be made by the affected person or 

his agent in writing in the form and manner prescribed by the board. The 

decision of the board shall be binding upon the State Fire Marshal. Any 

decision made by the board shall not be construed as setting precedent for 

general application. 

"(b) When any affected person believes that such building standards 

are being applied incorrectly by the State Fire Marshal or his salaried 

assistants, such person may appeal to the State Building Standards 

Commission pursuant to Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 18945) of 

Part 2.5 of Division 13 of this code." (Emphases added.) 

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We thus conclude in answer to the question presented that the Board does 

not have the duty to hear appeals with respect to those aspects of the construction of 

hospitals dealing with fire safety and its related details. 

***** 

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