BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE HEALTH
COMMITTEE ANALYSIS
Senator Elaine K. Alquist, Chair
BILL NO: SB 212
S
AUTHOR: Florez
B
AMENDED: April 15, 2008
HEARING DATE: April 29, 2009
2
CONSULTANT:
1
Moreno/cjt
2
SUBJECT
Health facilities: infections
SUMMARY
Permits school districts to provide for the annual cleaning
and sterilizing of wrestling equipment, as specified.
Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to
develop information and guidelines regarding the prevention
of communicable diseases at school sites, as specified.
Requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to
post the guidelines on its website.
CHANGES TO EXISTING LAW
Existing law:
Requires school districts maintaining high schools to
provide for the annual cleaning, sterilizing, and necessary
repair of football equipment of their respective schools.
Requires football equipment that is worn by pupils to be
cleaned and sterilized at least once a year and requires
football equipment used in spring training to be cleaned
and sterilized before it is used in the succeeding fall
term.
This bill:
Continued---
STAFF ANALYSIS OF SENATE BILL SB 212 (Florez)Page 2
Permits school districts to provide for the annual cleaning
and sterilizing of wrestling equipment, as specified.
Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to
develop information and guidelines regarding the prevention
of communicable diseases at school sites and submit it to
the State Board of Education for its approval. Requires
the information and guidelines, at a minimum, to address
the maintenance of locker rooms, athletic equipment, and
synthetic ground covers used for athletic fields and ways
to minimize the spread of methicillin resistant
Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and meningococcal disease.
Requires the CDE to post the approved guidelines on its
website.
FISCAL IMPACT
Unknown.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
According to the author, a 2007 Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) report included a survey of high
school and college athletic trainers of which, 53 percent
reported treating MRSA. School locker rooms and sports can
offer a perfect environment for the transmission of MRSA,
which can be fatal. Unfortunately, schools can sometimes
provide the perfect transmission for fatal communicable
diseases. The author states that SB 212 will strengthen
the public health at our schools.
Staphylococcus aureus
According to the Department of Public Health (DPH),
Staphylococcus aureus (staph) are bacteria commonly carried
on the skin or in the nose of healthy people. Approximately
25 percent to 30 percent of the population is colonized
(when bacteria are present, but not causing an infection)
in the nose with staph bacteria. It can also be carried in
the armpit, groin, or genital area. Most of these staph
infections are minor (such as pimples and boils) and can be
treated without antibiotics. However, staph also can cause
serious infections such as pneumonia, bloodstream
infections, and joint infections. Most infections occur
STAFF ANALYSIS OF SENATE BILL SB 212 (Florez)Page 3
through direct physical contact of the staph with a break
in the skin. Susceptibility to infection depends on factors
such as immunity and general state of health. In the past,
these staph infections typically have been easy to treat
with an inexpensive, short course, usually well-tolerated
antibiotics. However, over half of the staph causing skin
infections are now resistant to commonly used antibiotics,
and the infections often return in spite of apparently
successful initial treatment.
MRSA
According to DPH, MRSA is staph that is resistant to the
penicillins, including dicloxacillin or other
methicillin-related antibiotics. Originally, MRSA was
confined to hospitals and long-term care facilities. Many
of these hospital-associated MRSA infections caused very
serious complications and were resistant to all oral
antibiotics. More recently, a newer, more virulent strain
of MRSA has emerged in the community (called
community-associated MRSA) that causes boils, abscesses,
and other soft tissue infections, that is not linked to
previous antibiotic use. MRSA is usually transmitted by
direct skin-to-skin contact or contact with shared items or
surfaces that have come into contact with someone else's
infection. The frequency of infections with
community-associated MRSA appears to be higher than those
caused by staph in the past, particularly in athletic
teams. The reasons for this increase are not known, but it
is clear that the community-associated MRSA strains did not
originate from the strains of MRSA that cause infections in
hospitals and other healthcare facilities.
Controlling MRSA in schools
According to the CDC, in general it is not necessary to
close schools to disinfect them when MRSA infections occur.
MRSA skin infections are transmitted primarily by
skin-to-skin contact and contact with surfaces that have
come into contact with someone else's infection.
Therefore, the CDC recommends that when MRSA skin
infections occur, cleaning and disinfection should be
performed on surfaces that are likely to contact uncovered
or poorly covered infections.
Prior legislation
SB 1058 (Alquist), Chapter 296, Statutes of 2008,
STAFF ANALYSIS OF SENATE BILL SB 212 (Florez)Page 4
establishes the Medical Facility Infection Control and
Prevention Act, which requires hospitals to implement
specified procedures for screening, prevention, and
reporting specified health care associated infections also
known as hospital associated infections (HAIs). Requires
hospitals to report positive MRSA and other HAI test
results to DPH and requires DPH to make specified
information public on its website.
SB 158 (Florez), Chapter 294, Statutes of 2008, establishes
an infection surveillance, prevention, and control program
within DPH to provide oversight of hospital prevention and
reporting of general acute care hospital-associated
infections, expands the responsibilities of DPH's
Healthcare Associated Infection Advisory Committee, and
requires all hospitals to institute a patient safety plan
for the purpose of improving the health and safety of
patients and reducing preventable patient safety events.
PRIOR VOTES
Senate Education Committee: 5-2
COMMENTS
1.Technical amendments.
On page 2, beginning on line 8
17578. The governing board of each district maintaining a
high school shall provide for the annual cleaning and
sterilizing of football and wrestling equipment and the ,
sterilizing, and necessary repair of football equipment of
their respective schools pursuant to Sections 17579 and
17580 and may provide for the annual cleaning and
sterilizing of wrestling equipment as specified by the
Superintendent and the state board pursuant to Section
33134. .
SEC. 2. Section 17579 of the Education Code is amended
to read:
17579. (a) All football equipment actually worn by
pupils shall be cleaned and sterilized at least once a
year. Football equipment used in spring training shall be
cleaned and sterilized before it is used in the succeeding
fall term.
(b) Wrestling equipment used multiple years may be
cleaned and sterilized as specified by the Superintendent
STAFF ANALYSIS OF SENATE BILL SB 212 (Florez)Page 5
and the state board pursuant to Section 33134.
POSITIONS
Support: None received.
Oppose: None received.
-- END --