BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 470
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Date of Hearing: August 25, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
David Chiu, Chair
AB 470
(Chu) - As Amended August 2, 2016
SUBJECT: Public health: pools: drownings
SUMMARY: Requires newly constructed or remodeled swimming pools
or spas at private single-family residences to incorporate at
least two of seven specified drowning prevention safety
features. It also requires home inspections conducted as part
of the transfer of a property with a pool or spa to include an
assessment of whether the pool is equipped with adequate
drowning prevention features. Specifically, this bill:
1)Makes findings regarding the prevalence of drowning as a cause
of death among young children in California, the potential for
lasting brain injuries as a result of near-drowning incidents,
the effectiveness of pool barriers as a means of preventing
drowning, and the importance of informing the public of the
risks posed by swimming pools and of reducing those risks by
promoting the installation of drowning-prevention features.
2)Requires that when a pool or spa at a private, single-family
residence is constructed or remodeled, at least two of the
drowning prevention features described in existing law must be
installed.
3)Specifies that a pool alarm includes devices that use a verbal
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warning (e.g., a repeating notification that "the door to the
pool is open") as well as devices that use an alarm noise.
4)Requires that when a property with a pool or spa is
transferred:
a) The home inspection must include a physical examination
of the pool or spa to determine which, if any, of the seven
drowning prevention features described in existing law it
is equipped with.
b) The home inspection report must identify which of these
drowning prevention features the pool or spa is equipped
with and specifically state if fewer than two are
installed.
5)Repeals the exemption in existing law for pools in
jurisdictions that adopt more stringent swimming pool safety
standards.
6)Authorizes the state to reimburse local agencies and school
districts if the Commission on State Mandates finds that this
bill imposes mandatory costs on local government entities.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Defines, pursuant to the Swimming Pool Safety Act, a "swimming
pool" as a structure intended for swimming or recreational
bathing with a water depth of over 18 inches, including
in-ground and aboveground structures, hot tubs, spas, portable
spas, and nonportable wading pools (Health & Safety Code
Section 115921).
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2)Requires, when a building permit is issued for the
construction or remodel of a swimming pool or spa at a private
single-family home, that at least one of the following seven
drowning prevention features be installed:
a) An enclosure separating home access points from the pool
and meeting specific requirements with respect to height,
gaps, latches, and any features that could serve as
handholds or footholds
b) A removable mesh fence meeting specific standards set by
the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) and
equipped with a self-closing, self-latching gate that can
accommodate a lock
c) A pool cover meeting specific ASTM standards
d) Exit alarms on all doors that provide access from the
home to the pool
e) Self-closing, self-latching devices, with release
mechanisms placed no lower than 54 inches above the floor,
on all doors that provide access from the home to the pool
f) A pool alarm designed to sound in the event of an
unauthorized entrance into the water and independently
certified as meeting specific ASTM standards
g) Another feature providing as much or more protection
than the above devices and independently verified as
meeting ASTM or American Society of Mechanical Engineers
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standards
(Health & Safety Code Section 115922)
3)Requires local building code officials to inspect drowning
prevention features installed to comply with these
requirements, and give final approval for the completion of
construction or remodeling only if no violations are found
(Health & Safety Code Section 115922).
4)Requires any person who agrees to build a swimming pool or
spa, or to engage in work on a pool or spa that requires a
permit, to give the consumer notice of the above-described
drowning prevention requirements. The Department of Health
Services is also required to make pool safety information
available on its Web site (Health & Safety Code Section
115924).
5)Exempts the following from the Act:
a) Public swimming pools
b) Hot tubs and spas with locking safety covers that meet
specified ASTM standards
c) Pools within jurisdictions that adopt a swimming pool
safety ordinance that is at least as strict as existing
state law.
d) Pools in residential settings other than single-family
homes (e.g., apartment complexes)
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(Health & Safety Code Sections 115925)
6)Defines a "home inspection" as a noninvasive physical
examination of a property, performed for a fee in association
with a home sale, designed to identify material defects in key
systems and components, and describes what must be included in
home inspection reports.
(Business & Professions Code Section 7195)
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS:
Background: California's original Swimming Pool Safety Act
(Setencich, Chapter 925, Statutes of 1996), went into effect on
January 1, 1997 and applies to structures intended for swimming
or recreational bathing containing water over 18 inches deep,
including spas and wading pools. The Act required all new
swimming pools constructed at private, single-family homes be
equipped with either a permanent fence; a pool cover meeting
certain safety standards; exit alarms or self-closing,
self-latching devices on all doors providing access to the pool;
or another safety feature providing as least as much protection
as the specified four. The Act was amended in 2006 (Mullin,
Chapter 478, Statutes of 2006) to reflect the availability of
two additional drowning prevention features: Removable mesh
fencing and pool alarms that sound when a person enters the
water. The 2006 amendment also expanded the scope of the law to
include pools that undergo a remodel requiring a building
permit.
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Neither the existing Act nor this bill applies to public
swimming pools, swimming pools at apartment complexes, or hot
tubs with locking safety covers meeting specified standards.
They also do not apply to facilities regulated by the California
Department of Social Services (CDSS) that are also the private
residence of the operator. Pool safety in those facilities is
regulated by the CDSS.
Need for this bill: According to the author:
"Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death and
hospitalizations for California's children and youth ages one
to 19, and the leading cause of death for babies and infants
under the age of one. Of the eight leading causes of
childhood unintentional injury, drowning continues to be the
leading cause of death for children ages one to four,
according to data released from the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention and the California Department of Health
EPIcenter. In California, for every drowning death of a one
to four year-old, it is estimated that there are as many as
five other nonfatal submersion injuries, which lead to
emergency room visits. Fifty percent of these incidents lead
to hospitalization due to brain injury and many children
suffer severe brain damage that may result in long-term
disabilities. Residential pool drowning incidents are
preventable but many existing pools are still not covered by
the state's Pool Safety Act because the pool was built before
the Act was passed, has not been retrofitted since the passage
of the Act, or because compliance with the Act was not part of
the home inspection when a home with a pool was sold."
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This bill addresses deficiencies in California's existing
Swimming Pool Safety Act. Specifically, it makes the following
changes to existing law:
Increases the number of drowning prevention features
required under the Act from one to two;
Requires home inspectors, when a property is
transferred, to inspect pools and spas and include in the
inspection report whether the pool or spa is equipped with
at least two drowning prevention features;
Expands the types of pool door alarms that qualify as a
drowning prevention feature under the Act.
Repeals the exemption in existing law for pools in
jurisdictions that adopt more stringent swimming pool
safety standards.
The International Building Code and most states require
residential pools to have only one drowning prevention feature.
The author notes that unintentional injury prevention and public
health advocates support the use of two drowning prevention
features. The primary rationale for this position is that a
single safety feature may malfunction or become disabled. For
instance, pool entry alarms can be put into "sleep" mode when
the pool is in use, and removable fencing is, as the name
suggests, removable. Similarly, door alarms may run out of
batteries, and latches may break. A second safety feature would
provide "backup" to busy families that forget to replace an
alarm or a removable fence, or who cannot immediately fix a
malfunctioning latch or alarm.
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Staff comment:
This bill seeks to increase the number of required drowning
prevention features for pools and spas at private single-family
homes from one to two, and makes changes to the building permit
process, as well as the home buying process, to accomplish this.
The safety measures referenced in this bill encompass both low-
and high-cost features, and it is worth noting that the costs
are triggered by elective expenditures involved with building or
remodeling an existing pool or spa.
An earlier version of this bill attempted to extend the Act's
protections by requiring pools to be brought into compliance at
the time of a property sale. In response to concerns cited by
the California Association of Realtors, the author took
amendments to remove this requirement. Rather than making
pre-1997 pools comply with the Act when they are sold, the
current version of the bill imposes minor changes to the
existing home inspection process intended to inform prospective
home buyers whether a property's pool is equipped with drowning
prevention features that meet the standards in current law.
These amendments make use of the point-of-sale as an educational
opportunity without imposing additional requirements on pool
owners.
Existing law provides an exemption from the Act for local
governments that adopt more stringent pool safety requirements.
This bill removes that long-standing exemption. Local
governments would still be free to adopt their own pool safety
ordinances, but any requirements they impose would be additional
to the requirements in state law rather than a substitute for
them. Local governments would not be constrained from adopting
more stringent pool safety policies, but they would face a
disincentive to developing policies that differ strongly from
the state's approach.
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As passed by the Assembly, this bill would have required the
development of protocols to expedite the criminal background
check process for In-Home Supportive Services providers. This
bill was substantially amended in the Senate and the
Assembly-approved version of this bill was deleted.
Related legislation:
AB 2425 (Brown): Would require the State Department of Public
Health to develop standards for collecting data from
unintentional injury incidents involving children, including
drownings. This bill is pending hearing in the Senate Health
Committee.
AB 299 (Brown, 2015): Would have required the State Department
of Public Health to create a submersion incident report form
including information on key attributes of drowning events,
including barrier types in use. This bill was held on suspense
in Assembly Appropriations.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
California Coalition for Children's Safety & Health (Sponsor)
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Drowning Prevention Foundation (co-sponsor)
Advocates for Health Economics and Development
American Academy of Pediatrics
California Pool & Spa Association
Safe Kids California
Safe Kids Central Valley
Safe Kids Inland Empire
Safe Kids Los Angeles West
Safe Kids Orange County
Safe Kids San Diego
The Arc California
United Cerebral Palsy California
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Opposition
None on File
Analysis Prepared by:Rebecca Rabovsky / H. & C.D. / (916)
319-2085