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, 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 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 tobegin delete 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.end deletebegin insert make information available to school districts about the United States Environmental
Protection Agency’s technical guidance for reducing lead in drinking water in schools.end insert 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 tobegin insert conduct a one-timeend insert testbegin insert ofend insert drinking water 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 32241.5 is added to the Education Code,
2to read:
The department shallbegin delete work with the State Department begin insert make information
4of Public Health to develop guidelines and best practices to ensure
5that lead hazards are minimized in the course of school repair and
6maintenance and abatement procedures. The data gathered pursuant
7to subdivision (b) of Section 32247 shall be considered in the
8development of the guidelines and best practices.end delete
9available to school districts, by posting on its Internet Web site or
10through any other means for distributing information it deems
11effective, about the United States Environmental Protection
12Agency’s technical guidance for
reducing lead in drinking water
13in schools.end insert
Section 32242 of the Education Code is amended to
15read:
The State Department of Public Health shall do all of
17the following:
18(a) Design and implement a strategy for identifying the
19characteristics of high-risk schools and provide a basis for
20statewide estimates of the presence of lead in schools attended by
21young children.
22(b) Conduct a sample survey, as described in Section 32241, to
23determine the likely extent and distribution of lead exposure to
24children from paint on the school, soil in play areas at the school,
25drinking water at the tap, and other potential sources identified by
26the State Department of Public Health for this purpose. To the
27maximum
extent possible, limited sample testing shall be used to
28validate survey results. The State Department of Public Health
P4 1shall compile and summarize the results of that survey and report
2those results to the Legislature and the department.
3(c) Within 60 days of the completion of testing a schoolsite, the
4State Department of Public Health shall notify the principal of the
5school or director of the schoolsite of the survey results. Within
645 days of receiving the survey results, the principal or director,
7as the case may be, shall notify the teachers and other school
8personnel and parents of the survey results.
9(d) Make recommendations to the Legislature and the
10department, based on the survey results
and consideration of
11appropriate federal and state standards, on the feasibility and
12necessity of conducting statewide lead testing and any additional
13action needed relating to lead contamination in the schools.
14(e) As deemed necessary and appropriate in view of the survey
15results, develop environmental lead testing methods and standards
16to ensure the scientific integrity of results, for use by schools and
17contractors designated by schools for that purpose.
18(f) Evaluate the most current cost-effective lead abatement
19technologies.
Section 32246 is added to the Education Code, to read:
Drinking water that does not meet the United States
22Environmental Protection Agency drinking water standards for
23lead shall not be provided at a school facility.
Section 32247 is added to the Education Code, to read:
(a) The State Department of Public Health shallbegin insert conduct
26a one-timeend insert testbegin insert ofend insert drinking water sources at a sample of schoolsites
27for lead in the drinking water. The sample shall include schools
28that are representative of the state by geographical region, size of
29enrollment, and areas identified pursuant to Section 39711 of the
30Health and Safety Code. It is the intent of the Legislature to
31prioritize testing of schoolsites that have high risk factors, as
32described in Section 32241.
33(b) The data collected by the State Department of Public Health
34shall include drinking water lead testing information, including,
35but not limited to, dates of testing, number and type of drinking
36water sources tested, and test results. Upon collection of the data,
37the State Department of Public Health shall notify the school
38districts with schools that were tested of the test results.
39(c) The State Department of Public Health and the department
40shall do both of the following:
P5 1(1) Establish a process for receiving, recording, and making
2public the data received from testing water at schoolsites.
3(2) Post the data collected during drinking water lead testing
4on the departments’ respective Internet Web sites.
5(d) The State Department of Public Health shall not test drinking
6water sources that meet either of the following conditions:
7(1) Are located at schoolsites constructed after January 1, 1993.
8(2) Have been tested by the State Department of Public Health
9or a certified professional employed or hired by a school district
10and meets the United States Environmental Protection Agency and
11state drinking water standards for lead.
12(e) For purposes of this section, “drinking water source” is
13defined as drinking water fountains and other fixtures that are
14intended to convey water for human consumption.
Section 32248 is added to the Education Code, to read:
(a) A school district that has drinking water sources
17with drinking water that does not meet the United States
18Environmental Protection Agency drinking water standards for
19lead shall work with the State Department of Public Health and
20the local department of public health to identify the most urgent
21mitigation needs and develop a protocol or plan for mitigation.
22(b) The protocol or plan shall identify timelines and funding
23sources for mitigation.
24(c) The protocol or plan shall be presented to and adopted by
25the governing board of the school district at a regularly scheduled
26public meeting within six months
of the school district’s receipt
27of the drinking water test results.
Section 32249 is added to the Education Code, to read:
A school that has lead-containing plumbing components
30shall flush all drinking water sourcesbegin delete for a minimum of 30 secondsend delete
31 at the beginning of each schoolday, consistent with protocols
32recommended by the United States Environmental Protection
33Agency. A school is not required to flush drinking water sources
34that have been shut off or have been certified as free of lead.
Section 38086 of the Education Code is amended to
36read:
(a) A school district shall provide access to free, fresh,
38and clean drinking water during meal times in the food service
39areas of the schools under its jurisdiction, including, but not
40necessarily limited to, areas where reimbursable meals under the
P6 1federal National School Lunch Program or the federal School
2Breakfast Program are served or consumed. A school district may
3comply with this section by, among other means, providing cups
4and containers of water or soliciting or receiving donated bottled
5water.
6(b) A school district shall comply with this section through the
7use of drinking water access points.
8(c) For
purposes of this section, “drinking water access point”
9is defined as a station, plumbed or unplumbed, where pupils can
10access free, fresh, and clean drinking water. An unplumbed access
11point may include water bottles and portable water dispensers.
Article 13 (commencing with Section 49580) is added
13to Chapter 9 of Part 27 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education
14Code, to read:
15
(a) A school district that has drinking water sources
19with drinking water that does not meet the United States
20Environmental Protection Agency drinking water standards for
21lead or any other contaminant shall close access to those drinking
22water sources immediately upon receipt of test results or
23notification from the public water system.
24(b) (1) If, as a result of closing access to a drinking water source
25pursuant to subdivision (a), a schoolsite within a school district
26
no longer has the minimum number of drinking fountains required
27pursuant to Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 401.0) of the
28California Plumbing Code (Part 5 of Title 24 of the California
29Code of Regulations), the school district shall provide alternative
30drinking water sources at that schoolsite.
31(2) An alternative drinking water source provided pursuant to
32this subdivision while the source of contamination is being
33mitigated may be from plumbed or unplumbed sources. Unplumbed
34sources may include, but are not limited to, portable water sources
35and bottled water.
36(c) A school district shall notifybegin delete parents,end deletebegin insert parents or
legal
37guardians,end insert pupils, teachers, and other school personnel of drinking
38water test results, immediately upon receipt of those test results,
39if the school district is required to provide alternative drinking
40water sources.
If the Commission on State Mandates determines that
2this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to
3local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made
4pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division
54 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
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