BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1126
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 8, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Patrick O'Donnell, Chair
AB 1126
(Rendon) - As Introduced February 27, 2015
SUBJECT: School facilities: heating, ventilation, and air
conditioning: posting of inspection reports
SUMMARY: Requires each public school maintaining kindergarten
of any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to post a copy of any
heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system
inspection report on its Internet Web site and on the Internet
Web site of its school district or county office of education.
Finds and declares that many pupils and staff in California's
public schools have a variety of respiratory illnesses such as
asthma, and that documentation of inspections of HVAC systems
are often not easily available for review by staff, parents, or
pupils to make that the inspections are carried out in
accordance with law.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Defines "good repair" as a facility that is maintained in a
manner that assures that it is clean, safe, and functional.
Requires the school facility inspection and evaluation
instrument and local evaluation instruments to include
specified criteria, including the criterion that mechanical
systems, including HVAC systems, are functional and
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unobstructed and appear to supply adequate amount of air to
all classrooms, work spaces, and facilities. (Education Code
(EC) Section 17002)
2)Requires the State Allocation Board (SAB) to require school
districts to make all necessary repairs, renewals and
replacements to ensure that a project funded by state bond
funds is at all times maintained in good repair, working order
and condition. Requires a school district to establish a
restricted account within the school district general fund for
the purpose of providing moneys for ongoing and major
maintenance of school buildings. (EC Section 17070.75)
3)Requires the local control and accountability plan (LCAP) to
include actions that address eight state priorities, including
ensuring that school facilities are maintained in good repair.
(EC Section 52060)
4)Authorizes the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board
to adopt, amend or repeal occupational safety and health
standards and orders. (Labor Code Section 142.3)
FISCAL EFFECT: The Legislative Counsel has keyed this bill as a
state-mandated local program.
COMMENTS: Various sections of the law, in different Codes and
Code sections, require school facilities to be in good working
order and well maintained. In 2004, the state settled the
Williams v. California lawsuit and agreed to a number of
initiatives that will provide equal access to instructional
material, safe and decent school facilities, and qualified
teachers. The settlement resulted in an agreement to provide
funds to low performing schools (deciles 1-3), including $800
million for emergency repair of school facilities. County
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offices of education were charged with inspection of the
low-performing schools based on criteria of schools in good
repair. "Good repair" is defined as a facility that is clean,
safe and functional. The settlement also includes a lengthy
list of facilities components required to be inspected,
including gas pipes, doors and windows, fences, fire sprinklers,
fire extinguishers, alarm systems, electrical systems, lighting,
drinking fountains, roofs, gutters, and mechanical systems,
including HVAC systems.
Under the Labor Code, the Occupational Safety and Health
Standards Board (Board) is authorized to develop health and
safety requirements for the protection of workers. Regulations
adopted by the Board (Title 8, Section 5142) require HVAC
systems to be maintained and operated in accordance with the
State Building Standards Code and continuously functioning
during working hours with some exceptions (e.g., during
scheduled maintenance). The regulations also require the HVAC
system to be inspected at least annually and problems found
during the inspections to be corrected within a reasonable time.
The employer is required to document in writing the name of the
individual inspecting or maintaining the system, the date of the
inspection and/or maintenance, and the specific findings and
actions taken. The records are required to be retained for at
least five years and made available for examination and copying,
within 48 hours of a request, to the Division of Industrial
Relations, any employee of the employer and to any designated
representative of employees. This bill requires the inspection
report to be posted on a school's and school district or county
office of education's Internet Web site.
The California Federation of Teachers, the sponsor of the bill,
states that many students and staff learn and work in portable
classrooms which are extremely vulnerable to rot, mode and other
airborne-pathogens, while schools that are located in
agricultural areas, industrial areas, or urban areas have unsafe
levels of air pollution. According to the American Lung
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Association, 129,000 children with asthma miss school or day
care, resulting in 1.2 million days of missed school in
California. The author states, "There is no mechanism in
current law to ensure schools are annually servicing their HVAC
systems. Dirty HVAC systems expose children and staff to rot,
mold, and other airborne pathogens, which contribute to
respiratory illnesses."
Current law already requires annual inspection of HVAC systems
and requires employers to make the inspection reports available
upon request within 48 hours. Current law also requires the
school accountability report card to address, among others, the
safety, cleanliness and adequacy of school facilities, including
the requirement that facilities are maintained in good repair,
working order, and condition. Requiring HVAC inspection reports
to be posted on both the school and the school district's Web
site may not be necessary.
Committee amendment. Staff recommends an amendment to strike
the requirement to post the HVAC inspection report on both
schools and school districts' Web sites and instead require
schools to post the date inspections were completed and provide
information on how interested parties can access the report. If
a school does not maintain a Web site, the information would be
posted on the school district's Web site.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
California Federation of Teachers (sponsor)
Opposition
AB 1126
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None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087