Seismic Retrofit Incentive Programs
A Handbook for Local Governments
In 1992, the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) produced a report for the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (OES) on financial incentives for retrofit of privately owned buildings. The report is currently out of print. It is reproduced here as an Adobe Acrobat (PDF) file as a service to local governments and others interested in the report. Note: this is a 1992 publication. No attempt has been made to update or confirm any contact information by either OES or ABAG.

The financing of hazard mitigation continues to be one of the more difficult impediments to creating a seismically safe environment for Californians. Both State and local governments have undertaken mitigation utilizing a variety of funding mechanisms.

This Handbook grew out of a research project initiated by the California Seismic Safety Commission. That project explored the feasibility of utilizing Special Assessment district and other bond funding mechanisms available to most municipalities to finance retrofit of privately owned seismically hazardous structures. Making these financing tools available to private building owners will help local governments reduce or eliminate the hazard of potential collapse posed by these buildings.
Download Handbook -
The following are links to Adobe Acrobat files. If you do not already have this FREE software, you can download it directly from Adobe with this link. Because of the size of these files, you have the option of downloading the complete report all at once, or as 11 separate files.
Complete Report (52.6 MB)
Part 1 (6.4 MB) - Cover, Table of Contents, Preface, Forward, Executive Summary, and Perspective sections
Part 2 (7.7 MB) - Case Study - Fullerton
Part 3 (5 MB) - Case Study - Long Beach
Part 4 (12.6 MB) - Case Study - Palo Alto
Part 5 (6.6 MB) - Case Study - Sonoma
Part 6 (8.5 MB) - Case Study -Torrance
Part 7 (6.9 MB) - Case Study - Upland
Part 8 (1.2 MB) - Case Study - West Hollywood
Part 9 (3.4 MB) - Program Highlights and Using Zoning as an Incentive to Retrofit
Part 10 (7.3 MB) - Local Government Financing Options
Part 11 (5.6 MB) - California State Seismic Legislation, Liability Implications and Considerations, Contacts, and Index


ABAG, the Association of Bay Area Governments, is the regional planning and services agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding agencies.

This page was last updated 12/31/03 by jbp.