I have traveled to San Diego and Northern California in January and March making my rounds to the four regional organizations within SEAOC as the SEAOC President. I enjoy meeting folks from all of the regions and seeing first-hand how the different Boards work and how the dinner meetings are held. I am scheduled to travel to the Central region in March and to the Southern region in April.

The following list outlines current issues within SEAOC:

• SEAOC Board meetings were held in November in Oakland and February in San Diego. The next Board meeting will be June 14 in Sacramento.
• Financially SEAOC currently is very strong. The 2008 Budget is a balanced budget and the trends suggest that we will complete the 07-08 term in September much stronger than predicted.
• A new SEAOC roster will come out this spring. It will be in a CD format and can be loaded onto anyone’s computer for quick access. If any member would like a printed copy, a card will be included with the CD which can be sent back to the SEAOC office. Hard copies will be printed on demand and sent out to members.
• Sales of the 2006 SEAOC/ICC Structural Seismic Design Manual (3 Volume Set) have been strong and are projected to be strong for some time to come. The production cost of the documents has been recovered and we anticipate that a strong profit will be realized by SEAOC this year.
• The Structural Seismic Design Manual (SSDM) seminars have been well attended in all four regions to over 1200 attendees. SEAOC and NCSEA are in discussions regarding internet Webinars to be given in NCSEA regions. A test case webinar will be conducted by Doug Thompson, SEAOSC and if successful, more will follow. The SSDM Seminars may travel to Oregon, Washington and Nevada and potentially other regions of NCSEA in the near future. In addition, SEAOSC is looking for a second presentation of the seminar in early Summer 08.
• The Bluebook Articles are scheduled to be completed by the Seismology & Structural Standards Committee in time for the Convention in September. The project will then be closed and a hard copy of the Bluebook Articles will be printed in Fall 08.
• A SEAOC “Journal of Structural Engineering” is in discussions at the Board level.  It is anticipated that this journal could be printed one to two times per year. Articles could come from any member or from outside authors. A SEAOC steering committee will be set up along with editors to review the papers prior to publishing of each journal.

SEAOC is sponsoring two new documents which are in production.

• First, is a SEAOC Testing & Inspection Manual which will outline the requirements for a Statement of Special Inspections as required by Section 1705 in the IBC. In addition the T&I Manual will have parallel examples of the requirements for special inspections, structural observations and testing for each design example building included in the Structural Seismic Design Manual. The project is headed up by Time Hart and the SEAOC CQA Committee. This project is scheduled for completion at year end 2008.
• Second is a SEAOC Existing Buildings - Structural Seismic Design Manual. Chris Tokas and Roy Lobo are heading up an effort with a group of authors to develop a manual for retrofit five types of existing buildings in accordance with the 2006 International Existing Building Code. This document will take 2 years to complete and should be completed by year end 2009.
• Secretary Schott outlined the issues and debate at the February Board meeting surrounding the engineer’s presumed duty to warn where, in their professional opinion, there exists an imminent danger to the occupants of a building, including the possibility of collapse, during a seismic event of sufficient magnitude. Over the years, various bodies have addressed the issue, primarily in the context of attorney/client privilege, including the State Bar, Attorney General, and the California Supreme Court, resulting in conflicting decisions. As it stands, a duty to warn presumably exists for engineers, but there is no “whistleblower” protection from lawsuits for those who do warn.
• Assemblyman Blakeslee (R-San Luis Obispo), is a geophysicist and is interested in carrying legislation on the subject this session. A “spot” bill is being drafted stating legislative intent to require engineers to report dangerous structural deficiencies as a matter of the health and safety of the subject building’s occupants. Interested parties, including SEAOC, CALBO, and CELSOC as well as, perhaps, BOMA, California Apartment Association, and other owner-related groups along with the trial lawyers and State Bar are likely to show up at the table to discuss substantive content to be amended into the bill.
• SEAOC has made several recommendations for two advisory board appointments at DSA and OSHPD. Of these James Lai, SEAOSC was accepted to the DSA Advisory Board and Simin Naaseh, SEAONC was accepted to the OSHPD Hospital Building Safety Board.
• Code revisions are now occurring on a national level. SEAOC is working through NCSEA to have an effect on new code provisions in the IBC, IEBC and National Standards. The process is difficult and painful compared with the old days at ICBO. The SEAOC committees must now work through the NCSEA committees to develop national consensus to have a positive effect on code change proposals. In these efforts, James Lai, Chair and the SEAOC Code Committee has attended code hearings at ICC.
• NCSEA along with SEAOC urging has formed a new committee to interact with the ICC Evaluation Service Report process. SEAOC has placed Bill Warren and Ron Hamburger on this NCSEA committee.
• EERI is launching the Concrete Coalition. SEAOC hopes to have members assist EERI with their project to mitigate seismic hazards in existing non ductile concrete buildings.
• SEAOC has a Media Consultant, Patricia Coate, working with the Public Relations Committee in all four regions. PR media pieces are being developed both locally in each region and state with for all regions. Melissa Kroskey, SEAOSD is the Chair of the SEAOC Public Relations Committee and is performing a very energetic job in that post.
• The SEAOC Excellence in Structural Engineering Awards will be judged in July and will be presented at the Convention. Award submittals are due in June 08. See the SEAOC web site for applications.
• SEAOC is in discussion about developing a standard convention website for all four regions to use for future convention information and registration. We hope to make this project a success for all regions to use.
• SEAOC has decided to add a section to the web site for the posting of complex code proposals, such as SEAOC’s IEBC Appendix 6, which was not approved at the NCSEA Existing Building Committee meeting in January for inclusion in the IEBC. The web site section will allow large and complex code proposals and design procedures to be accessible to the public for review and comment in an effort to disseminate information and build consensus.
• Simplified Wind Provisions were developed by the Tri-States Wind Committee (Washington, Oregon, California) to simplify the ASCE-7 wind provisions. DSA had a simplified procedure which was published in DSA IR-16-7 dated 12-18-07. The Simplified Wind Provisions by the Tri-States Committee was approved by California Building Standards Committee in early March 08. A 45 day public comment period will follow and then conceivably the Simplified Wind provisions will be adopted in the 2007 California Building Code and by DSA and OSHPD. These provisions will replace the DSA IR-16-7.
• Finally, the 2008 SEAOC Convention will be September 23-27 at the Fairmont Orchid Resort on the Big Island of Hawaii. Technical presentations will be given Wednesday through Saturday, September 24-27. The Convention will open with a Welcome Reception on Tuesday, September 23 in the early evening. I encourage everyone to submit an abstract to Technical Chair, Walterio Lopez, SEAONC to present papers at the Convention. The Abstract due date was March 1, 2008, however, contact Walterio to determine if slots are still open.
• These are the current issues facing SEAOC on a State and National Level. I will write a final report on the status of SEAONC in late Summer to summarize my term as President. I hope to see many attendees at this years Convention. As always, I am honored to be SEAOC’s President.

March 24, 2008