BILL NUMBER: SB 575 CHAPTERED 10/11/01 CHAPTER 725 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE OCTOBER 11, 2001 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR OCTOBER 10, 2001 PASSED THE SENATE SEPTEMBER 13, 2001 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 10, 2001 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 6, 2001 INTRODUCED BY Senator O'Connell FEBRUARY 22, 2001 An act to amend Section 32001 of, to add Article 7.5 (commencing with Section 17074.50) to Chapter 12.5 of Part 10 of, and to repeal Sections 32000, 32002, 32003, and 32004 of, the Education Code, relating to school facilities. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 575, O'Connell. School facilities: automatic fire detection alarm and sprinklers. Existing law, the Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act of 1998 (the Greene Act of 1998), requires the State Allocation Board to administer the allocation of school facilities funds for public education. Existing law, relating to the construction of school buildings, requires the Department of General Services to pass upon and approve or reject all plans for the construction of, or if the estimated cost exceeds $25,000, the alteration of, any school building. This bill would, with certain exceptions relating to portable buildings, require new construction projects under the Greene Act of 1998, which require approval of the Department of General Services, to comply with prescribed automatic fire detection, alarm, and sprinkler system requirements, would require modernization projects having an estimated total cost in excess of $200,000 to comply with the automatic fire detection and alarm system requirements, and would require inclusion of amounts necessary to cover the costs of the system. The bill would require the State Allocation Board to review the adequacy of the per pupil eligibility amounts for new construction grants and modernization funding and make any adjustments determined to be necessary by July 1, 2003. Existing law requires every public, private, or parochial school building to be provided with a dependable and operative fire warning system and requires every person and public officer managing, controlling, or in charge of the school to sound the fire alarm signal upon the discovery of fire. This bill would exempt these persons from this requirement if the public, private, or parochial school building is equipped with an automatic fire detection and alarm system, which for this purpose may or may not include a sprinkler system, and would repeal related provisions regarding the California uniform fire code signal. Existing law requires the alarm to be sounded at least once every calendar month at the elementary and intermediate levels and at least twice a year at the secondary level. Existing law requires fire drills to be held at the secondary level at least twice every school year. This bill would, instead, require that the alarm be sounded at least once every month, and would require that fire drills be conducted at the elementary level at least once every calendar month and at the intermediate and secondary level at least twice every school year. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (1) Presently, schools rely solely on school staff or on pupils to detect a fire, activate the fire alarm, evacuate the school buildings, and notify the fire department, all in a timely manner. Many of the school buildings in use in this state are 20 to 30 years old or older and do not provide sufficient fire protection in the building construction, nor do these schools have an adequate fire detection system, alarm system, or automatic fire sprinkler system. (2) Without an early detection system comprised of smoke and heat detectors that can immediately and automatically detect a fire, an automatic warning system that can sound an alarm, and notify the fire department, and a suppression system that can initiate sprinklers to commence fighting the fire, fires, like the one at the Green Oaks Family Academy Elementary School, are silent killers that can move quickly through open attic space above classrooms full of children until the classrooms are suddenly ignited into inescapable infernos. (3) An early warning system would give protection to pupils and school personnel by giving them immediate warning at the earliest stage of a fire, by letting school staff focus on the immediate evacuation of the school buildings and by letting staff rely on the automatic system to immediately inform the fire department and commence suppression of the fire. (4) When school buildings are unoccupied, an automatic fire alarm system can notify the fire department and an automatic fire sprinkler system can help contain the fire within the area of origin until firefighters arrive to extinguish the fire. (5) Moreover, during times of disaster, schools are often utilized as community relocation centers for displaced persons or families. It is essential, therefore, that schools be adequately protected from fire in order to enhance their ability to survive the disaster and be available for use by the community in those times of need. (b) This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the Green Oaks Family Academy Elementary School Fire Protection Act. SEC. 2. Article 7.5 (commencing with Section 17074.50) is added to Chapter 12.5 of Part 10 of the Education Code, to read: Article 7.5. Automatic Fire Detection, Alarm, and Sprinkler Systems 17074.50. (a) On and after July 1, 2002, all new construction projects submitted to the Division of the State Architect pursuant to this chapter, including, but not limited to, hardship applications, that require the approval of the Department of General Services shall include an automatic fire detection, alarm, and sprinkler system as set forth in Section 17074.52 and approved by the State Fire Marshal. These provisions shall entitle the school district to all applicable reductions in code requirements, as provided in the California Building Standards Code (Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations). (b) On and after July 1, 2002, all modernization projects that have an estimated total cost in excess of two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) submitted to the Division of the State Architect pursuant to this chapter, including, but not limited to, hardship applications, that require the approval of the Department of General Services shall include an automatic fire detection and alarm system as set forth in Section 17074.52 and approved by the State Fire Marshal. For a modernization project that is to be completed in more than one phase, the school district may defer installation of the system until the final phase of the modernization project. Solely for purposes of this section, "modernization" means any modification of a permanent structure or construction of a new building on an existing campus. (c) The Department of General Services shall administer this section based upon the standards adopted by the State Fire Marshal pursuant to Section 17074.52. 17074.52. (a) For modernization projects, the automatic fire detection and alarm system required pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 17074.50 shall consist of smoke or heat detectors, or a combination thereof, as determined by the State Fire Marshall, installed in the school building. The alarm, upon activation of an initiating device, shall alert all occupants and shall transmit the alarm signal to an approved supervising station. (b) For new construction projects, the automatic fire detection, alarm, and sprinkler system required pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 17074.50, shall in addition to compliance with subdivision (a), include an automatic fire sprinkler system installed in the school building including, but not necessarily limited to, attic spaces. (c) Notwithstanding Section 17074.50 or subdivisions (a) or (b) of this section, for a stand alone portable building, the system required pursuant to this article shall consist of an automatic fire detection and alarm system. For the purposes of this subdivision a "stand alone portable building" means a portable building that is used as a single classroom and that is sited more than 25 feet from any other building, including, but not limited to, any other portable building. (d) Except as required for automatic fire detectors and waterflow detection devices, manual fire alarm boxes shall not be required throughout the school building. (e) The entire system shall be installed, tested, and maintained in accordance with the regulations of the State Fire Marshal. 17074.54. (a) A portable building that is sited with the intent that it be at the site for less than three years and is sited upon a temporary foundation in a manner that is designed to permit easy removal, is exempt from Sections 17074.50 and 17074.52 for a period of three years from the date of siting. (b) After the three-year exemption set forth in subdivision (a), a school district may request an extension of the exemption for an additional period not to exceed three additional years. The board shall grant the request if the school district presents convincing evidence demonstrating to the satisfaction of the board that the extension is necessary. (c) For purposes of this section, " portable building" means a classroom building of modular design and construction that meets all of the following criteria: (1) It is designed and constructed to be relocatable and transportable over public streets. (2) It is designed and constructed for relocation without detaching the roof or the floor from the building. (3) It has a floor area of 2,000 square feet or less when measured at the most exterior walls. 17074.56. (a) The State Allocation Board shall adjust the per-pupil grant amount set forth in Section 17072.10 as necessary to accommodate 50 percent of the increased costs due to the automatic fire detection, alarm, and sprinkler system required pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 17074.50. The board shall adjust the per-pupil grant amount set forth in Section 17074.10 as necessary to accommodate 80 percent of the increased costs due to the automatic fire detection and alarm system required pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 17074.50. The board shall establish a method to provide up to 100 percent of the increased costs of the automatic fire detection, alarm, and sprinkler, if applicable, systems for school districts which qualify for hardship assistance pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 17075.10. (b) By July 1, 2003, the board shall review the adequacy of the per-pupil grant adjustments made pursuant to subdivision (a) and shall increase or decrease those adjustments as determined to be necessary. (c) Any project submitted to the Division of the State Architect on or after September 1, 2001, that includes a qualifying fire detection, alarm, and sprinkler, if applicable, system, and that has not been fully funded prior to July 1, 2002, shall be eligible for grant or eligibility adjustments as set forth in this article. SEC. 3. Section 32000 of the Education Code is repealed. SEC. 4. Section 32001 of the Education Code is amended to read: 32001. Every public, private, or parochial school building having an occupant capacity of 50 or more pupils or students or more than one classroom shall be provided with a dependable and operative fire alarm system. Every person and public officer managing, controlling, or in charge of any public, private, or parochial school shall cause the fire alarm signal to be sounded upon the discovery of fire, unless the school is equipped with an automatic fire detection, and alarm system, which may include, but for the purposes of this section is not required to include, a sprinkler system, as described in Section 17074.52. Every person and public officer managing, controlling, or in charge of any public, private, or parochial school, other than a two-year community college, shall cause the fire alarm signal to be sounded not less than once every calendar month and shall conduct a fire drill at least once every calendar month at the elementary level and at least four times every school year at the intermediate levels. A fire drill shall be held at the secondary level not less than twice every school year. SEC. 5. Section 32002 of the Education Code is repealed. SEC. 6. Section 32003 of the Education Code is repealed. SEC. 7. Section 32004 of the Education Code is repealed.