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Executive Order 12941 Constitutional Fidelity (+0.23)

Executive Order 12941—Seismic Safety of Existing Federally Owned or Leased Buildings

William J. Clinton William J. Clinton
•
Thursday, December 1, 1994
•
2 min read (385 words)

Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis

Early Statesman synthesis distilling legal jargon into practical meaning, statutory anchors, and structural constitutional impacts.

This executive order, signed by President William J. Clinton on 1994-12-01, establishes federal administrative policy concerning "Seismic Safety of Existing Federally Owned or Leased Buildings." It outlines operative directives for executive department officers, delegating enforcement responsibilities and establishing official governance guidelines.

Constitutional Assessment: Evaluated against the Fifth Amendment, this action touches upon property or economic rights. An early statesman would insist upon strict adherence to due process of law and the constitutional guarantee that private holdings shall not be encumbered or taken for public purposes without just compensation and lawful process.

Key Directives & Operative Actions

▪ The Standards shall be applied, at a minimum, to those buildings identified in the Standards as requiring evaluation and, if necessary, mitigation.
▪ For the purposes of this order, buildings are defined as any structure, fully or partially enclosed, located within the United States as defined in the Earthquake Hazards Reduction Act of 1977, as amended, (42 U.S.C.
▪ Each agency that owns or leases buildings for Federal use shall, within 4 years of the issuance of this order, develop an inventory of their owned and leased buildings and shall estimate the costs of mitigating unacceptable seismic risks in those buildings.
▪ The cost estimate shall be based on the exemptions and evaluation and mitigation requirements in the Standards.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners
Total Words
385
2,484 characters
Estimated Read Time
2 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
17
Post-Grad reading level
Constitutional Polarity
+0.23
Framers' Alignment index
📜

Scholarly & Legal Citations 

Exec. Order No. 12941, William J. Clinton (Dec 1, 1994). Available at https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-12941-seismic-safety-existing-federally-owned-or-leased-buildings.

Official Document Text

Source: The American Presidency Project (UCSB Archive)

Original Source →
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in furtherance of the Earthquake Hazards Reduction Act of 1977, as amended by Public Law 101–614, which requires the President to adopt "standards for assessing and enhancing the seismic safety of existing buildings constructed for or leased by the Federal Government which were designed and constructed without adequate seismic design and construction standards" (42 U.S.C. 7705b(a)), it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. Adoption of Minimum Standards. The Standards of Seismic Safety for Existing Federally Owned or Leased Buildings (Standards), developed, issued, and maintained by the Interagency Committee on Seismic Safety in Construction (ICSSC), are hereby adopted as the minimum level acceptable for use by Federal departments and agencies in assessing the seismic safety of their owned and leased buildings and in mitigating unacceptable seismic risks in those buildings. The Standards shall be applied, at a minimum, to those buildings identified in the Standards as requiring evaluation and, if necessary, mitigation. Evaluations and mitigations that were completed prior to the date of this order under agency programs that were based on standards deemed adequate and appropriate by the individual agency need not be reconsidered unless otherwise stipulated by the Standards. For the purposes of this order, buildings are defined as any structure, fully or partially enclosed, located within the United States as defined in the Earthquake Hazards Reduction Act of 1977, as amended, (42 U.S.C. 7703(5)), used or intended for sheltering persons or property, except for the exclusions specified in the Standards. Sec. 2. Estimating Costs of Mitigation. Each agency that owns or leases buildings for Federal use shall, within 4 years of the issuance of this order, develop an inventory of their owned and leased buildings and shall estimate the costs of mitigating unacceptable seismic risks in those buildings. The cost estimate shall be based on the exemptions and evaluation and mitigation requirements in the Standards. Guidance for the development of the inventory and cost estimates will be issued by the ICSSC no later than 1 year after the signing of this order. Cost estimates with supporting documentation shall be submitted to the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) no later than 4 years after the signing of this order.