CEA is committed to making California communities safer, more resilient and able to recover following a damaging earthquake.
If your policyholder owns an older house (built before 1980), we encourage them to strengthen it to make it more resistant to earthquakes. This process is called a seismic retrofit.
A seismic retrofit involves bolting or bolting and bracing the house to its foundation in compliance with California Existing Building Code Chapter A3.
For properly retrofitted qualifying homes, CEA offers a premium discount of up to 25%.
CEA offers a brace + bolt grant program to help fund a seismic retrofit:
Earthquake Brace + Bolt (EBB)
Earthquake Brace + Bolt: Funds to Strengthen Your Foundation is an incentive program that offers grants of up to $3,000 to qualified homeowners with eligible houses in a select number of higher-earthquake-risk ZIP Codes.
The applicant does not need to be a CEA policyholder to be eligible for this grant.
ZIP Codes chosen for program participation are ordered by the following two criteria:
- Earthquake Hazard: Hazard was identified using the United States Geological Survey (USGS) earthquake hazard map for California.
- Earthquake Vulnerability: Vulnerability was represented by identifying the percentage of pre-1940 houses in ZIP Codes in California (US Census Data). Older houses are more likely to require earthquake bracing and bolting.
Over time we hope to get to all high hazard areas in the state with additional funding from a variety of sources.
The EBB program is currently closed. Visit the homepage and sign up to stay current on EBB news, including where and when the program will open next.
CEA Brace + Bolt (CEA BB)
The CEA BB program is now closed.
If your client was or currently is a participant of the CEA BB program and they need to access information, advise them to log in to their Policyholder Dashboard.