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SALT LAKE CITY -- Last week's devastating earthquake in Japan has one Utah lawmaker hoping his legislation on assessing schools for quakes will eventually see the light of day.
For five years, Rep. Larry Wiley, D-Salt Lake City, has been trying to get the state to fund a study of schools statewide, to help identify those schools that would be most vulnerable to a quake.
Wiley believes rural districts that can't necessarily afford studies of their own could benefit most.
"School districts, especially in world areas, don't have the resources that we do along the Wasatch Front, to mitigate or even take action to start to mitigate some of these concerns," he said.
But the bill has run into roadblocks, in spite of several quakes near and far. Wiley says some lawmakers are concerned that if a database were put together, the state would assume responsibility for school buildings that really is the districts'.
A walk-by study released last month showed 60 percent of school buildings would suffer major damage in a big quake.
E-mail: mgiauque@ksl.com
