Olivia Burke

The bills, co-authored by state Sens. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, and Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, aim to increase safety of structures such as balconies or decks in multifamily residences, such as apartment buildings.

A memorial plaque honoring the victims who died in a balcony collapse in 2015 was unveiled Saturday at Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park.

Parties involved in the 2015 Berkeley balcony collapse that killed six people and injured seven others reached a settlement, attorneys announced Nov. 20.

A partial settlement has been reached between the plaintiffs and some of the defendants in a lawsuit related to a June 2015 balcony collapse at the Library Gardens apartment complex that killed six and injured seven others, according to a press release sent by Rains Lucia Stern, a law firm representing one of the families of a victim killed in the collapse.

The beige walls of the Library Gardens apartment complex flickered with reflections of emergency lights, a grim parallel to the red party cups littering the pale gray sidewalk, lying among the rubble. Before anyone could question what had led to the tragedy, paramedics first needed to determine who had even survived it, sifting through the wreckage of a fallen balcony.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars will go to support the families and friends of the six dead and seven injured after Tuesday morning’s balcony collapse.

The deaths of six students, five of whom were visiting from Ireland, have sent family, friends and strangers into mourning.