BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                     SB 334


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          SENATE THIRD READING


          SB  
          334 (Leyva)


          As Amended  September 3, 2015


          Majority vote


          SENATE VOTE:  40-0


           -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |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,        |                     |








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          |                |     |Holden, Jones, Quirk,  |                     |
          |                |     |Rendon, Wagner, Weber, |                     |
          |                |     |Wood                   |                     |
          |                |     |                       |                     |
          |                |     |                       |                     |
           -------------------------------------------------------------------- 


          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 meeting the US EPA's drinking water standards for  
            lead.










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          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  
            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.










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          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  
            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  








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          alternative drinking water sources, plumbed or unplumbed.  


          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.










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          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.


          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.  












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          Analysis Prepared by:                                             
                          Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087  FN:  
          0002023