Optimum Seismic, Inc. will be a major sponsor of the California Special Districts Association’s Emergency Preparedness Summit 2023. The virtual summit is a professional development program presented by the USC Price EXED Forum from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 24.

Assemblymember Freddie Rodriguez, D-Pomona, chair of the Assembly Emergency Management Committee, will address new legislation, AB 1505, designed to restore $250-million in grant funding to the California Residential Mitigation Program (CRMP).  The grants will help protect Californians living in older apartments by covering a portion of the costs for owners to construct seismic retrofits on vulnerable soft-story apartment buildings. The CRMP is administered by the state Office of Emergency Services and the California Earthquake Authority. The bill would take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

“The 7.8 magnitude earthquake that caused complete devastation in Turkey and Syria is a warning to California as to what would happen if an earthquake of a similar scale struck the State. Those living in soft-story buildings are in great danger of being killed or displaced in an earthquake, and we must invest in protecting these vulnerable populations by improving our infrastructure.”

A keynote presentation will be delivered by Senator Angelique V. Ashby of the Joint Legislative Committee on Emergency Management.

Key topics to be covered during the summit include: Wildfire Prevention and Recovery; Drought; Cybersecurity; and Active Shooter Prevention and Response.

Wildfire Prevention and Recovery
Noele Richmond, Program Manager
Emergency Functions Planning Unit, CAL OES
Bob Stiens, Senior Advisor, Southern California Edison (SCE)

Drought
Jeanine Jones, Interstate Resources Manager, California Department of Water Resources
Brad Coffey, Manager, Water Resources Management Group, MWD
Kassy D. Chauhan, P.E., Special Project Manager, Fresno Irrigation District
Executive Officer of the North Kings Groundwater Sustainability Agency

Cybersecurity
Michael D. Orosz, Ph.D.. Research Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Spatial Sciences, Information Sciences Institute Viterbi School of Engineering University of Southern California
Peter J. Kampa, General Manager, Groveland Community Services District
Corey Kaufman, General Manager, VC3 Team California

Active Shooter Prevention and Response
Thomas Ropel, FBI
Ralph R. Roseli, Jr., FBI National Academy 282, University of Southern California, Department of Public Safety, Training Division – Sergeant

The summit is free to California Special District Association members and $340 for non-members. To register visit lnkd.in/gKGn9kaP. Those who complete the Summit on the 24th will earn a certificate from USC Price Executive Education. This course is also eligible for SDRMA Credit Incentive Points.