BILL NUMBER: AB 1136 CHAPTERED 10/10/99 CHAPTER 709 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE OCTOBER 10, 1999 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR OCTOBER 6, 1999 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 7, 1999 PASSED THE SENATE SEPTEMBER 2, 1999 AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 16, 1999 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 1, 1999 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 27, 1999 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Strom-Martin (Coauthors: Assembly Members Davis, Havice, Hertzberg, Jackson, Knox, Kuehl, Leach, Lempert, Mazzoni, Robert Pacheco, Washington, Wildman, and Zettel) (Coauthors: Senators Alpert, Baca, Costa, McPherson, Ortiz, and Solis) FEBRUARY 25, 1999 An act to add Article 10 (commencing with Section 17077.10) to Chapter 12.5 of Part 10 of, and to add Section 17096 to, the Education Code, relating to school facilities. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1136, Strom-Martin. School facilities: pupil safety: classroom telephones. Existing law, the Field Act, requires school buildings, as defined, to meet various safety specifications. Existing law, the Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act of 1998 (Greene Act), provides funding to school districts to finance the construction, as defined, of school facilities. Existing law, the State Relocatable Classroom Law of 1979, requires the State Allocation Board to lease portable classrooms to qualifying school districts and county superintendents of schools. The State Relocatable Classroom Law of 1979 authorizes any qualifying school district, or under a joint powers agreement between any combination of one or more school districts or county superintendents of schools, to purchase portable classrooms. This bill, so as to enhance pupil safety, would require, commencing with applications submitted on or after January 1, 2000, any school district applying for funding pursuant to the Greene Act to include in its plans and specifications for the construction or fabrication of a new or modernized school building, as defined, that includes the construction or fabrication of new or modernized classrooms, a hard-wired connection to a public switched network in each new or modernized classroom. This bill would require, commencing with leases entered into on or after January 1, 2000, the plans and specifications for portable classrooms funded under the State Relocatable Classroom Law of 1979 to include a provision for a telephone in each portable classroom. The bill would provide that these requirements may be met by utilizing wireless technology equal to a hard-wired connection to a public switched telephone network. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Article 10 (commencing with Section 17077.10) is added to Chapter 12.5 of Part 10 of the Education Code, to read: Article 10. School Project Safety Components 17077.10. (a) It is a goal of the Legislature to eventually enhance pupil safety by equipping all elementary and secondary school classrooms with a telephone hook connected to a public switched network. (b) The Legislature finds and declares that as of 1999, there are approximately 205,000 classrooms in California's elementary and secondary schools and only a small, undetermined percentage of these classrooms have telephones. The Legislature finds and declares that in order to protect the safety of pupils, schools should be integrated into local emergency, information, and interagency health and safety, networks with up-to-date telecommunications systems. Connection to these systems would also facilitate community and parent interaction with teachers and schools, and thereby further enhance pupil safety. (c) "School building" as used in this section means and includes any building used, or designed to be used, for elementary or secondary school purposes and constructed, reconstructed, altered, or added to, by the state or by any city or city and county, or by any political subdivision, or by any school district of any kind within the state, or by any regional occupational center or program, established by or authorized to act by any agreement under joint exercise of power, or by the United States government, or any agency thereof. This definition includes any fabrication, construction, or alteration of a relocatable school building. (d) Commencing with applications submitted on or after January 1, 2000, any school district applying for funding pursuant to this chapter shall include in its plans and specifications for the construction or fabrication of a new or modernized school building, that includes the construction or fabrication of new or modernized classrooms, a hard-wired connection to a public switched telephone network in each new or modernized classroom. However, a school district may meet this requirement by utilizing wireless technology equal to a hard-wired connection to a public switched telephone network. SEC. 2. Section 17096 is added to the Education Code, to read: 17096. Commencing with leases entered into on or after January 1, 2000, the plans and specifications for portable classrooms funded pursuant to this chapter shall include a provision for a telephone in each portable classroom. The connection from the portable classroom to a public switched telephone network, as set forth in Section 17077.10, shall be made by the school district at the time of the installation of the building. However, a school district may meet this requirement by utilizing wireless technology equivalent to a hard-wired connection to a public switched telephone network.