This action has been in the works for a number of months. The announcement above is meant to focus actions by Washington State Governor controlled departments to focus on earthquake preparedness. The first meeting will start in January with a report on recommendations to be taken by June of 2017.
If you were looking to expedite "real action" I would have recommended the following directive/executive order be issued by the governor.
"All Washington State government departments are to read the Resilient Washington Plan and send a report as to what actions they are taking to immediately implement that plan in the next 90 days. For those items that will require additional resources to accomplish departments are to provide a list of what those resource requirements are and the results that will be delivered if those resources are provided. I am doing this now so that we might be able to brief the Washington State Legislature and have an opportunity to immediately begin making a positive impact on seismic safety in Washington State without delaying action for another 9-12 months."
The referenced plan has been around for going on five years and nothing in it has been accomplished or even addressed by Washington state. Having a subcabinet will do little to reverse the inaction that has been the hallmark of this state to date. What needs to be done is in the Resilient Washington Plan.
Just to say it one more time, "This state will not do anything about seismic safety until we are dragging dead bodies out of buildings."
