(TNS) -- A Los Angeles lawmaker says California needs new statewide laws that boost earthquake safety, and wants to toughen rules on how strong new buildings should be and require cities to identify buildings at risk of collapse.

Assemblyman Adrin Nazarian (D-North Hollywood) said the bills are important for keeping California functioning after a major earthquake.

California's construction requirements are so minimal that even a new building can be legally built to a weakness that would leave it severely damaged in an earthquake — so much that it would have to be torn down, Nazarian said.

"If new buildings need to be demolished and rebuilt, you can imagine that, in a place like downtown L.A., what a standstill the economy will come to, and how many years it will take to rebuild and how daunting and taxing it will be," Nazarian said.

Others defend the current building standard as appropriate — even though a new building may be so weak it must be demolished, it is still designed to prevent death and avoid a catastrophic collapse.

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