BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, 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
AB 56 (Weber)
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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.