BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                            Senator Kevin de León, Chair


          AB 56 (Weber) - School Facilities: Carbon Monoxide Devices
          
          Amended: July 10, 2013          Policy Vote: Education 9-0
          Urgency: No                     Mandate: No
          Hearing Date: August 30, 2013                                
          Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez                       
          
          SUSPENSE FILE. AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED.

          
          Bill Summary: AB 56 requires a K-12 public or private school  
          building that is used for educational purposes, is built on or  
          after January 1, 2014, and which has a fossil fuel burning  
          furnace located inside the building to install a carbon monoxide  
          device. This bill encourages schools with buildings built after  
          January 1, 2012, to also comply with this requirement. This bill  
          further requires the State Fire Marshal to propose appropriate  
          standards for implementation of these requirements in the next  
          code adoption cycle for the California Building Standards  
          Commission (CBSC).

          Fiscal Impact: 
              Bond funding: Likely minor, but potentially significant  
              bond pressure to install a carbon monoxide device in each  
              building of a school that contains a fossil fuel burning  
              furnace, for every school building built after January 1,  
              2014. Costs will be minor for any individual school (as part  
              of its construction) but, in aggregate, could be significant  
              pressure on state bonds for future construction.
              Implementation standards: Minor costs and workload for the  
              State Fire Marshal to develop implementation standards for  
              adoption by the CBSC during its next regular triennial  
              standards adoption cycle.

          Background: Existing law requires, under the School Facilities  
          Program, all new construction projects to include an automatic  
          fire detection, alarm, and sprinkler system, and all  
          modernization projects in excess of $200,000 to include an  
          automatic fire detection and alarm system. (Education Code  
          §17074.50)

          Existing law establishes the Carbon Monoxide Poisoning  








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          Prevention Act of 2010. Under the Act, the State Fire Marshal is  
          required to develop a certification and decertification process  
          to approve and list carbon monoxide devices and to disapprove  
          and delist previously approved devices, if necessary. Current  
          law prohibits any person from marketing, distributing, offering  
          for sale, or selling any carbon monoxide device in this state  
          unless the device and the instructions have been approved and  
          listed by the State Fire Marshal. (Health and Safety Code §  
          13263)

          Proposed Law: AB 56 requires a K-12 public or private school  
          building that is used for educational purposes, is built on or  
          after January 1, 2014, and which has a fossil fuel burning  
          furnace located inside a building to install a carbon monoxide  
          device in that building. This bill further requires the State  
          Fire Marshal to propose appropriate standards for implementation  
          of these requirements "in the next code adoption cycle for the  
          CBSC."

          Staff Comments: The costs for the State Fire Marshall to develop  
          standards for the implementation of this bill will depend, in  
          part, upon clarifying vagueness in the bill's language. This  
          bill specifies that the State Fire Marshal "propose appropriate  
          standards for implementation of this article," which takes  
          effect January 1, 2014. Standards of implementation should be in  
          effect once the bill's requirements are in effect; for practical  
          purposes, the State Fire Marshal should have "implementation  
          standards" done by the implementation date. This bill further  
          states, however, that the standards be proposed "in the next  
          adoption cycle" of the CSBC, which is in 2017. (There is an  
          interim adoption in progress, but that will be completed by the  
          time this bill would take effect). 
          It is unclear whether the author intends to wait until 2017 for  
          implementation standards that affect buildings beginning in  
          2014. The additional time would make the workload more easily  
          absorbed by the State Fire Marshal, but would leave projects  
          initiated before 2017 without standards. If the intention is to  
          have standards completed near implementation, they cannot be  
          accomplished without additional resources. 

          Another key variable in the costs of this bill is whether or  
          not, by the time the standards are to be proposed, there are  
          national building standards for carbon monoxide devices, which  
          would serve as a framework for developing state standards.  








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          According to the State Fire Marshal, the adoption of national  
          standards is currently being considered. If adopted, the State  
          Fire Marshal could likely complete state standards in a  
          streamlined process, for approximately $20,000. If the State  
          Fire Marshal has to develop state standards in the absence of  
          adopted national standards, whether in 2014 or in 2017, the  
          process will be more extensive and costly. The State Fire  
          Marshal will need to bring in outside experts, convene  
          stakeholder meetings, and staff the adoption process; the cost  
          will depend on how extensive the standards are and how much  
          consensus there is upfront about the content. The State Fire  
          Marshal anticipates it will need a .5 PY, at a cost of $85,000  
          to staff the project, and additional resources for meetings and  
          contracting experts as needed.

          
          AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED: Author's proposed amendments would  
          specify that the State Fire Marshal propose implementation  
          standards to the CSBC for adoption in its next triennial code  
          adoption cycle, and make other clarifying changes.