A California State Senate committee will hold a hearing to determine what state agencies and the building industry have done to tighten regulations in the wake of the Berkeley balcony collapse.
The oversight committee will hear from multiple state agencies and regulatory bodies about what they have done to change regulations since the tragedy took place last year.
Berkeley city officials and trade licensing bodies representing contractors, architects and engineers will also appear before the California Senate Committee on Business Professions and Economic Development later today.
On 16 June last year, an apartment balcony at the Library Gardens complex collapsed as young people celebrated a 21st birthday.
Six young people were killed, including five Irish students. Eoghan Culligan, Lorcán Miller, Niccolai Schuster, Eimear Walsh, Olivia Burke and Ms Burke's Irish-American cousin Ashley Donohoe died in the collapse.
Last week, the California Building Standards Commission voted to assemble a committee to examine the facts of the case and to see where the building code needed to be updated.
Investigations have shown that the balcony collapsed because the wooden joists holding the deck in place had severe and extensive dry rot.
Forensic destructive testing of the balcony showed that this water damage was likely caused because of the way the waterproof coating was applied to the wood during the construction phase, although the materials used were not prohibited by regulations at the time.
The agenda for today's hearing points out that current California state law does not require contractors to report prior defective construction settlements, and it states that over the three years prior to the tragedy, the Segue Construction company had paid out $26.5 million in construction defect settlements.
While contractors do not report such settlements to the Contractors State License Board, other trade professions including engineers, surveyors and architects do.
Two members of the California State Senate - Jerry Hill and Loni Hancock - are attempting to introduce new legislation that would require prior settlements to be reported.
That bill is currently pending.
For today's hearing, members of the California Senate oversight committee have asked those appearing before it to explain what they feel should be done so that homeowners, building officials and the general public are aware of previous contractor settlements.
There has been some opposition to the measure that would compel contractors to declare any defective construction settlements and the members of the Senate committee will be investigating the reason for such opposition.
As a result of the tragedy, Berkeley city officials changed the building code in relation to the types of materials that can be used for outdoor structures like balconies and decks, and mandated more frequent inspections.
The Alameda County District Attorney last month ruled out bringing criminal manslaughter charges against any individual or entity.
However the Contractors State License Board has asked the California Attorney General's Office to investigate bringing administrative charges against five contracting companies involved with the Library Gardens development which it feels were in "probable violation of the law" which if found guilty could lead to the loss of their licences.
