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	The California Senate has passed a new law for the construction industry following the devastating Berkeley balcony collapse.</p>
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	The bill, which passed in the senate last night with an unanimous vote of 37-0, aims to address the accountability gaps revealed by the Berkeley tragedy and will &quot;bring more oversight to the construction contractors&#39; industry&quot;.</p>
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	The balcony collapse, which occurred in June 2015, resulted in the deaths of six students and severe injuries in seven others when the balcony of a Berkeley apartment building plummeted to the ground during a birthday party.</p>
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	A statement released by the California Government read; &quot;The tragedy reverberated across the Irish community in the United States and abroad as all but one of the students who were killed and injured were visiting from Ireland.</p>
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	&quot;The sixth fatality was a 22-year-old Irish American student from Rohnert Park, California.&quot;</p>
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	The bill, which was put forward by Senator Jerry Hill and Senator Loni Hancock, will now be reviewed by Governor Jerry Brown.</p>
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	The governor has until September 30 to act on the Senate Bill.</p>
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	&ldquo;SB 465 [the bill] is in response to last year&rsquo;s tragic balcony collapse in Berkeley that killed six students and severely injured seven others,&rdquo; Hill said Wednesday evening in asking for his colleagues&rsquo; aye vote.</p>
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	&ldquo;It ensures that the state agencies tasked with overseeing the construction industry are taking appropriate steps to identify bad actors and improve building standards.&rdquo;</p>
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	According to the senator, the legislation requires contractors &quot;convicted of felonies or crimes related to their work&quot; to report that information to the Contractors State License Board (CSLB), which regulates the industry.</p>
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	The bill also requires the CSLB to determine whether receiving construction defect settlement information would be useful for them to fulfill their mission of protecting the public.</p>
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	Finally, SB 465 requires the Building Standards Commission to look at improving their safety requirements for balconies and other outdoor structures.</p>
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	The senate&#39;s statement continued: &quot;Shock over the tragedy that struck during a birthday party became outrage when it was discovered that the builder of the apartment complex had a history of construction defect settlements with payouts totaling $26.5 million.&quot;</p>
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	At the moment, state law does not require contractors to report defect settlement cases to their licensing board, even though such disclosures are routine for doctors, engineers and architects.</p>
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	Earlier this month, survivor Aoife Beary was praised by Senator Jerry Hill for sharing her story at the California State Senate.</p>
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	He said there &quot;wasn&#39;t a dry eye in the room&quot; as the young woman told her story.</p>
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	(Published by the Irish Independent on the 1st September 2016)</p>
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	<a href="http://www.independent.ie/world-news/north-america/california-senate-passes-new-construction-law-after-berkeley-balcony-collapse-35012951.html">http://www.independent.ie/world-news/north-america/california-senate-passes-new-construction-law-after-berkeley-balcony-collapse-35012951.html</a></p>
