BILL NUMBER: SB 334 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JULY 9, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 3, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 20, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Senator Leyva
(Coauthors: Senators Leno and Pavley)
FEBRUARY 23, 2015
An act to amend Section Sections 32242 and
38086 of, to add Sections 32241.5, 32246, 32247, 32248, and
32249 to, and to add Article 13 (commencing with Section 49580) to
Chapter 9 of Part 27 of Division 4 of Title 2 of, the Education Code,
relating to pupil health.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 334, as amended, Leyva. Pupil health: drinking water.
(1) Existing law requires a school district to provide access to
free, fresh drinking water during meal times in school food service
areas, unless the governing board of a school district adopts a
resolution stating that it is unable to comply with this requirement
and demonstrating the reasons why it is unable to comply due to
fiscal constraints or health and safety concerns. Existing law
requires the resolution to be publicly noticed on at least 2
consecutive meeting agendas and approved by at least a majority of
the governing board of the school district.
This bill would delete the provision authorizing a school district
to adopt a resolution stating that it is unable to provide access to
free, fresh drinking water during meal times. The bill would instead
specify that a school district shall provide access to free, fresh,
and clean drinking water during meal times through the use of
drinking water access points, as defined. By imposing additional
duties on school districts, this bill would impose a state-mandated
local program.
This bill would require a school district that has drinking water
sources with drinking water that does not meet the United States
Environmental Protection Agency drinking water standards for lead or
any other contaminant to close access to those drinking water
sources, to provide alternative drinking water sources, as specified,
and to notify specified persons if the school district is required
to provide those alternative drinking water sources. By imposing
additional duties on schools and school districts, this bill would
impose a state-mandated local program.
(2) Under existing law, known as the Lead-Safe Schools Protection
Act, the State Department of Public Health is required to perform
various activities related to reducing the risk of exposure to lead
hazards in public schools. schools,
including, among other activities, working with the State Department
of Education to develop voluntary guidelines to ensure that lead
hazards are minimized in the course of school repair and maintenance
programs and abatement procedures.
This
This bill would repeal the requirement that the State
Department of Public Health develop voluntary guidelines. The
bill would instead require the State Department of
Education to work with the State Department of Public Health to
develop guidelines and best practices to ensure that lead hazards are
minimized in the course of school repair and maintenance and
abatement procedures. The bill would prohibit drinking water that
does not meet the United States Environmental Protection Agency
drinking water standards for lead from being provided at a school
facility, and would require a school district that has such drinking
water to identify the most urgent mitigation needs and develop a
protocol or plan for mitigation. The bill would require the State
Department of Public Health to test drinking water sources
sources, as defined, at a sample of schoolsites,
as specified, for lead in the drinking water, and would require the
data collected through this testing to be posted on the Internet Web
sites of the State Department of Education and the State Department
of Public Health. The bill would require a public school that has
lead-containing plumbing components to flush all drinking water
sources at the beginning of each schoolday, except as provided. By
imposing additional duties on public schools and school districts,
this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
(3) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse
local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these
statutory provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 32241.5 is added to the Education Code, to
read:
32241.5. The department shall work with the State Department of
Public Health to develop guidelines and best practices to ensure that
lead hazards are minimized in the course of school repair and
maintenance and abatement procedures. The data gathered pursuant to
subdivision (b) of Section 32247 shall be considered in the
development of the guidelines and best practices.
SEC. 2. Section 32242 of the Education
Code is amended to read:
32242. The department State Department of
Public Health shall do all of the following:
(a) Design and implement a strategy for identifying the
characteristics of high-risk schools and provide a basis for
statewide estimates of the presence of lead in schools attended by
young children.
(b) Conduct a sample survey, as described in Section 32241, to
determine the likely extent and distribution of lead exposure to
children from paint on the school, soil in play areas at the school,
drinking water at the tap, and other potential sources identified by
the department State Department of Public
Health for this purpose. To the maximum extent possible,
limited sample testing shall be used to validate survey results. The
department State Department of Public Health
shall compile and summarize the results of that survey and
report those results to the Legislature and the State
Department of Education. department.
(c) Within 60 days of the completion of testing a schoolsite, the
department State Department of Public Health
shall notify the principal of the school or director of the
schoolsite of the survey results. Within 45 days of receiving the
survey results, the principal or director, as the case may be, shall
notify the teachers and other school personnel and parents of the
survey results.
(d) Make recommendations to the Legislature and the State
Department of Education, department, based on
the survey results and consideration of appropriate federal and state
standards, on the feasibility and necessity of conducting statewide
lead testing and any additional action needed relating to lead
contamination in the schools.
(e) As deemed necessary and appropriate in view of the survey
results, develop environmental lead testing methods and standards to
ensure the scientific integrity of results, for use by schools and
contractors designated by schools for that purpose.
(f) Evaluate the most current cost-effective lead abatement
technologies.
(g) Work with the State Department of Education to develop
voluntary guidelines for distribution to requesting schools to ensure
that lead hazards are minimized in the course of school repair and
maintenance programs and abatement procedures.
SEC. 2. SEC. 3. Section 32246 is
added to the Education Code, to read:
32246. Drinking water that does not meet the United States
Environmental Protection Agency drinking water standards for lead
shall not be provided at a school facility.
SEC. 3. SEC. 4. Section 32247 is
added to the Education Code, to read:
32247. (a) The State Department of Public Health shall test
drinking water sources at a sample of schoolsites for lead in the
drinking water. The sample shall include schools that are
representative of the state by geographical region, size of
enrollment, and areas identified pursuant to Section 39711 of the
Health and Safety Code. It is the intent of the Legislature to
prioritize testing of schoolsites that have high risk factors, as
described in Section 32241.
(b) The data collected by the State Department of Public Health
shall include drinking water lead testing information, including, but
not limited to, dates of testing, number and type of drinking water
sources tested, and test results. Upon collection of the data,
the State Department of Public Health shall notify the school
districts with schools that were tested of the test results.
(c) The State Department of Public Health and the department shall
do both of the following:
(1) Establish a process for receiving, recording, and making
public the data received from testing water at schoolsites.
(2) Post the data collected during drinking water lead testing on
the departments' respective Internet Web sites.
(d) The State Department of Public Health shall not test drinking
water sources that meet either of the following conditions:
(1) Are located at schoolsites constructed after January 1,
2010. 1993.
(2) Have been tested by the State Department of Public Health or a
certified professional employed or hired by a school district and
meets the United States Environmental Protection Agency and state
drinking water standards for lead.
(e) For purposes of this section, "drinking water source" is
defined as drinking water fountains and other fixtures that are
intended to convey water for human consumption.
SEC. 4. SEC. 5. Section 32248 is
added to the Education Code, to read:
32248. (a) A school district that has drinking water sources with
drinking water that does not meet the United States Environmental
Protection Agency drinking water standards for lead shall work with
the State Department of Public Health and the local department of
public health to identify the most urgent mitigation needs and
develop a protocol or plan for mitigation.
(b) The protocol or plan shall identify timelines and funding
sources for mitigation.
(c) The protocol or plan shall be presented to and adopted by the
governing board of the school district at a regularly scheduled
public meeting within six months of the school district's receipt of
the drinking water test results.
SEC. 5. SEC. 6. Section 32249 is
added to the Education Code, to read:
32249. A school that has lead-containing plumbing components
shall flush all drinking water sources for a minimum of 30 seconds at
the beginning of each schoolday, consistent with protocols
recommended by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. A
school is not required to flush drinking water sources that have been
shut off or have been certified as free of lead.
SEC. 6. SEC. 7. Section 38086 of the
Education Code is amended to read:
38086. (a) A school district shall provide access to free, fresh,
and clean drinking water during meal times in the food service areas
of the schools under its jurisdiction, including, but not
necessarily limited to, areas where reimbursable meals under the
federal National School Lunch Program or the federal School Breakfast
Program are served or consumed. A school district may comply with
this section by, among other means, providing cups and containers of
water or soliciting or receiving donated bottled water.
(b) A school district shall comply with this section through the
use of drinking water access points.
(c) For purposes of this section, "drinking water access point" is
defined as a station, plumbed or unplumbed, where pupils can access
free, fresh, and clean drinking water. An unplumbed access point may
include water bottles and portable water dispensers.
SEC. 7. SEC. 8. Article 13
(commencing with Section 49580) is added to Chapter 9 of Part 27 of
Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education Code, to read:
Article 13. Drinking Water
49580. (a) A school district that has drinking water sources with
drinking water that does not meet the United States Environmental
Protection Agency drinking water standards for lead or any other
contaminant shall close access to those drinking water sources
immediately upon receipt of test results or notification from the
public water system.
(b) (1) If, as a result of closing access to a drinking water
source pursuant to subdivision (a), a schoolsite within a school
district no longer has the minimum number of drinking fountains
required pursuant to Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 401.0) of the
California Plumbing Code (Part 5 of Title 24 of the California Code
of Regulations), the school district shall provide alternative
drinking water sources at that schoolsite.
(2) An alternative drinking water source provided pursuant to this
subdivision while the source of contamination is being mitigated may
be from plumbed or unplumbed sources. Unplumbed sources may include,
but are not limited to, portable water sources and bottled water.
(c) A school district shall notify parents, pupils, teachers, and
other school personnel of drinking water test results, immediately
upon receipt of those test results, if the school district is
required to provide alternative drinking water sources.
SEC. 8. SEC. 9. If the Commission on
State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by
the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for
those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section
17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.