BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 302 (Cristina Garcia) - Pupil services: lactation
accommodations
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|Version: July 14, 2015 |Policy Vote: ED. 7 - 1 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: Yes |
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|Hearing Date: August 17, 2015 |Consultant: Jillian Kissee |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: This bill requires schools to provide reasonable
accommodations, as specified, and a reasonable amount of time to
a lactating student to express breast milk, breast-feed an
infant child, or address other needs related to breast-feeding
on a campus. This bill also allows a complaint of noncompliance
with these requirements to be filed with the local educational
agency (LEA) under the Uniform Complaint Procedures (UCP).
Fiscal
Impact:
New lactation mandate: Unknown, potentially significant
reimbursable state mandate costs for schools to provide
required accommodations for breastfeeding needs. The bill
allows for broad interpretation of accommodation requirements
which could result in a broad range of activities determined
to be reimbursable under state mandate law. (Proposition 98)
AB 302 (Cristina Garcia) Page 1 of
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The California Department of Education (CDE) anticipates the
need for one full-time position and one part-time position and
about $147,000 to address a potential increase in appeals due
to adding a new category of potential complaints. Costs will
depend on actual complaints received and appeals filed.
(General Fund)
Expansion of existing UCP mandate: Unknown, potentially
significant reimbursable state mandate costs related to
developing procedures and local investigation of complaints.
To the extent the Commission on State Mandates determines this
bill to impose a new or expansion of an existing state
mandate, this could create pressure to increase the K-12
Mandate Block Grant to reflect their inclusion. (Proposition
98)
Background: Both state and federal law require employers to provide
reasonable accommodations to lactating employees, including
break time and the provision of private space (other than a
restroom stall) in which to express breast milk or breast-feed.
Existing law prohibits discriminatory practices in employment or
housing accommodations on the basis of sex, and defines "sex" to
include breast-feeding or medical conditions related to
breast-feeding. Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis
of sex in all aspects of education, but does not explicitly
reference breast-feeding.
Federal regulations prohibit discrimination against any student,
or exclusion of any student from its education program or
activity, including any class or extracurricular activity, on
the basis of such student's pregnancy, childbirth, false
pregnancy, termination of pregnancy or recovery therefrom.
Federal law also requires pregnant students and those recovering
from childbirth-related conditions to be provided with the same
accommodations and support services available to other students
with temporary medical conditions. (Code of Federal
Regulations, Title 34, §106.40)
Required by federal law, the UCP was established in 1991 as a
means of creating a "uniform system of complaint processing" for
educational programs. State regulations require the adoption of
the UCP by school districts, county offices of education,
charter schools receiving federal funds, and local public or
AB 302 (Cristina Garcia) Page 2 of
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private agencies which receive direct or indirect state funding
to provide school programs or special education or related
services.
Proposed Law:
This bill requires a school operated by a school district or
county office of education, the California School for the Deaf,
the California School for the Blind, and a charter school to
provide reasonable accommodations and a reasonable amount of
time to a lactating student on a campus to express breast milk,
breast-feed an infant child, or address other needs related to
breast-feeding.
Among the required accommodations is access to a private and
secure room, other than a restroom, to express breast milk or
breast-feed an infant child. This bill authorizes a school to
use an existing facility to provide reasonable accommodations.
This bill allows a complaint of noncompliance with these
requirements to be filed with the LEA under the UCP. A
complainant not satisfied with the decision of the LEA may
appeal the decision to the CDE. If a LEA or the CDE finds merit
in a complaint, the LEA shall provide a remedy to the affected
student.
Related
Legislation: There are numerous bills that expand the UCP to
include additional areas in which complaints may be filed with
LEAs.
AB 379 (Gordon, 2015) expands the UCP to include complaints of
non-compliance with certain rights and responsibilities
regarding the education of students who are in foster care or
who are homeless. AB 379 is pending in this Committee.
SB 81 (Chapter 22, Statutes of 2015) among other things, expands
the UCP to include complaints regarding an alleged violation by
a local agency of federal or state law or regulations governing
adult education programs or regional occupational centers and
programs.
AB 302 (Cristina Garcia) Page 3 of
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AB 1391 (Gomez, 2015), expands the UCP to include complaints of
non-compliance with the required minimum instructional minutes
for physical education. AB 1391 is pending in this Committee.
AB 1012 (Jones-Sawyer, 2015) prohibits a school district serving
any of grades 9 through 12 from assigning students to any course
without educational content for more than one week in any
semester, and prohibits the assignment of any student to a
course that the student has previously completed with and
received a satisfactory grade, unless specified conditions are
met. AB 1012 is pending in this Committee.
Staff
Comments: This bill requires schools to provide reasonable
accommodations for students with needs related to
breast-feeding. Schools must provide access to a private and
secure room for breast-feeding; allow students to bring
necessary equipment to school; provide access to a power source
for the necessary equipment; and a place to store expressed
breast milk safely. Each school will comply with these
requirements differently based on local needs and capacity.
Therefore costs will vary across the state.
According to the California Department of Public Health, there
were about 39,000 births in California in 2011 in which mothers
were under the age of 15 and up to age 19. There are over 4,000
schools maintaining grades 7 through 12. Schools may be
required to purchase a safe place to store milk, such as a small
refrigerator, for which costs could run into the hundreds of
thousands statewide. However, since federal and state law
require similar accommodations for employees, costs could be
mitigated to the extent schools can use the space already
established for employees.
Ultimately CDE's resulting workload is unknown, as it depends on
the number complaints made to LEAs, and of those, how many are
appealed to the CDE. The bill's requirements for reasonable
accommodations are broad and could result in additional
complaints depending upon interpretation of the law. For
example, "access to a private and secure room" could have broad
interpretations.
AB 302 (Cristina Garcia) Page 4 of
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The CDE anticipates that adding a new category of potential
complaints could increase workload and the need for additional
resources. Additional workload may include: amending existing
or developing new regulations and related activities; updating
current UCP-related documents, procedures, and policies;
increasing the CDE's monitoring role including revising the
monitoring instrument and training LEAs on compliance with the
new requirements; technical assistance; processing appeals; and
legal counsel assistance.
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