BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 334
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB
334 (Leyva)
As Amended August 28, 2015
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE: 40-0
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Education |6-0 |O'Donnell, Chávez, | |
| | |Kim, McCarty, | |
| | |Santiago, Thurmond | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Environmental |7-0 |Alejo, Dahle, | |
|Safety | |Gallagher, Gonzalez, | |
| | |Gray, McCarty, Ting | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |17-0 |Gomez, Bigelow, | |
| | |Bloom, Bonta, | |
| | |Calderon, Chang, | |
| | |Nazarian, Eggman, | |
| | |Gallagher, Eduardo | |
| | |Garcia, Holden, | |
| | |Jones, Quirk, Rendon, | |
SB 334
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| | |Wagner, Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Prohibits drinking water that does not meet the United
States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) drinking water
standards for lead from being provided at a school facility and
deletes the authority of a governing board of a school district
to adopt a resolution stating that it is unable to comply with
the requirement to provide access to free, fresh drinking water
during meal times in the food service areas. Specifically, this
bill:
1)Requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to make
information available to school districts, by posting on its
Internet Web site or through any other means for distributing
information it deems effective, about the US EPA technical
guidance for reducing lead in drinking water in schools.
2)Prohibits drinking water that does not meet the US EPA
drinking water standards for lead from being provided at a
school facility.
3)Requires a school that has lead-containing plumbing components
to flush all drinking water sources at the beginning of each
schoolday, consistent with protocols recommended by the US
EPA. Specifies that a school is not required to flush
drinking water sources that have been shut off or have been
certified as free of lead.
4)Strikes the authority of a governing board of a school
district to adopt a resolution stating that it is unable to
comply with the requirement to provide access to free, fresh
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drinking water during meal times in the food service areas due
to fiscal constraints or health and safety concerns, and
instead requires a school district to comply with the
requirement through the use of drinking water access points.
5)Defines "drinking water access point" as a station, plumbed or
unplumbed, where pupils can access free, fresh, and clean
drinking water. Specifies that an unplumbed access point may
include water bottles and portable water dispensers.
6)Requires a school district that has drinking water sources
with drinking water that does not meet the US EPA drinking
water standards for lead or any other contaminant to close
access to those drinking water sources immediately upon
receipt of test results or notification from the public water
system.
7)Specifies that if, as a result of closing access to a drinking
water source, 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.
8)Specifies that an alternative drinking water source provided
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.
9)Requires a school district to notify parents or legal
guardians, pupils, teachers, and other school personnel of
drinking water test results, immediately upon receipt of those
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test results, if the school district is required to provide
alternative drinking water sources.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, unknown state mandated costs to school districts,
likely in the millions of dollars, to perform the required daily
flushing if a school has lead-containing plumbing components and
provide alternative sources of drinking water from plumbed or
unplumbed sources.
COMMENTS: Current law requires school districts to provide
free, fresh drinking water during meal times in the food service
areas. A school district may provide cups and containers of
water or bottled water to comply with this requirement. Current
law allows the governing board of a school district to waive the
requirement by adopting a resolution stating that it is unable
to comply with the requirement due to fiscal constraints or
health and safety concerns. This bill removes this
authorization and instead requires a school district to offer
drinking water through drinking water access points, defined as
a station that is plumbed or unplumbed. An unplumbed access
point may include water bottles and portable water dispensers.
It is unclear how many school districts have passed such
resolutions.
This bill prohibits a school from providing water that does not
meet the US EPA drinking water standards. School districts are
required to close access to those drinking water sources
immediately upon notification from a public water system. Under
state regulations, a schoolsite is required to have specified
number of drinking fountains. If, as a result of closing access
to the drinking water sources, a schoolsite no longer meets
state regulations, a school district is required to provide
alternative drinking water sources, plumbed or unplumbed.
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This bill also requires a school that has lead-containing
plumbing components to flush all drinking water sources at the
beginning of each schoolday. Flushing helps reduce lead
concentrations in tap water and is already the standard practice
at the Los Angeles Unified School District. However, it is
unclear how school districts will know whether there are
lead-containing plumbing components at a schoolsite.
The problem with lead. Lead has been listed under California's
Proposition 65 since 1987 as a substance that can cause
reproductive damage and birth defects and has been on the list
of chemicals known to cause cancer since 1992. According to the
Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, lead has
multiple toxic effects on the human body. In particular,
decreased intelligence in children and increased blood pressure
in adults are among the more serious non-carcinogenic effects.
Lead is a probable carcinogen in humans.
Even at low levels, lead may cause a range of health effects
including behavioral problems and learning disabilities.
Children six years old and under are most at risk because this
is when the brain is developing. The US EPA estimates that 10%
to 20% of the total lead exposure for young children comes from
drinking water.
There is no level that has been proven safe, either for children
or for adults. Both the United States (U.S.) Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) and the California Department of
Health Services (DHS) consider any blood lead level more than 10
g/dl (micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood) to be unsafe
for children and for pregnant or nursing women.
The CDC found that approximately 900,000 U.S. children between
one and five years old have abnormally high levels of lead in
their blood.
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Prior state efforts. The state has initiated several lead
identification and prevention efforts in schools. Enacted in
1992, the Lead-Safe Schools Protection Act required the DHS, now
called the Department of Public Health, to conduct a study to
determine the prevalence of lead in paint, soil and water in
public elementary school and childcare facilities. The study
began in 1994 and was completed with a report to the Legislature
in April, 1998. The study reported that most elementary schools
contain paint with a lead content level above federal
recommended level and that six percent of public elementary
schools have bare soils with lead levels that exceed the US EPA
recommended level for bare soil areas where children play.
Using weighted sample analysis, the study estimated that 18.1%
of schools may have water outlets with lead content that exceeds
federal recommended level. While lead content was highest in
schools built before 1940, schools in all ages had water samples
with lead content above the federal recommended levels. The
report recommended evaluating lead content of drinking water in
public schools using US EPA guidelines, including collecting
water using standard US EPA sampling technique that should be
analyzed only by laboratories certified by DHS.
According to the report, water can be contaminated with lead by
the source water system or by corrosion of lead plumbing or
fixtures. Plumbing installed prior to 1930 is considered most
likely to contain lead. However, lead could also leak from lead
plumbing solder, which was commonly used until banned in 1984.
Analysis Prepared by:
Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087 FN:
0001691
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