(a) It is the purpose of this chapter to provide for the adoption and administration of zoning laws, ordinances, rules, and regulations by cities and counties in implementation of the general plan that is in effect in any city or county. The Legislature declares that this chapter is intended to provide policies and criteria to assist cities, counties, and state agencies in the exercise of their responsibility to prohibit the location of developments and structures for human occupancy across the trace of active faults. Further, it is the intent of this chapter to provide the citizens of the state with increased safety and to minimize the loss of life during and immediately following earthquakes by facilitating seismic retrofitting to strengthen buildings, including historical buildings, against ground shaking.

(b) This chapter is applicable to any project, as defined in Section 2621.6, which is located within a delineated earthquake fault zone, upon issuance of the official earthquake fault zones maps to affected local jurisdictions, except as provided in Section 2621.7.

(c) The implementation of this chapter shall be pursuant to policies and criteria established and adopted by the board.

(Amended by Stats. 1993, Ch. 916, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 1994.)