BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 212|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 212
Author: Florez (D)
Amended: 5/18/09
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 5-2, 4/22/09
AYES: Romero, Alquist, Liu, Padilla, Simitian
NOES: Huff, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Hancock, Maldonado
SENATE HEALTH COMMITTEE : 11-0, 4/29/09
AYES: Alquist, Strickland, Aanestad, Cedillo, Cox,
DeSaulnier, Leno, Maldonado, Negrete McLeod, Pavley, Wolk
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
SUBJECT : School safety: pupil health: communicable
diseases
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill authorizes each school district with a
high school to provide for the annual cleaning and
sterilizing of wrestling equipment, and requires the
Superintendent of Public Instruction to develop information
and guidelines regarding the prevention of communicable
diseases at school sites.
ANALYSIS :
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Existing law:
1. Requires the governing board of each district
maintaining a high school to provide for the annual
cleaning, sterilizing and necessary repair of football
equipment of their respective schools.
2. Requires all football equipment actually 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.
The California Department of Public Health produced "A
Parent's Guide to MRSA in California: What You Need to
Know," which is available on the website of the Department
of Education (DOE) and has been translated into 23
languages (all available on the DOE's website).
The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) provides
information (warning signs, prevention and a policies and
procedures checklist) relative to methicillin resistant
Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) to K-12 coaches, athletic
directors and administrators. CIF's Sports Medicine
Handbook also contains information about MRSA.
The 2007-08 National Federation of State High School
Associations Wrestling Rules Book contains guidelines to
reduce the incidence and spread of communicable skin
conditions among wrestlers. All sources providing
information and guidance stress that frequent
washing/showering and sterilization of sports equipment
should be adhered to in order to minimize the risk of
infection.
This bill authorizes each school district with a high
school to provide for the annual cleaning and sterilizing
of wrestling equipment, as specified by the Superintendent
of Public Instruction (SPI) and the State Board of
Education (SBE). Specifically this bill also:
1. Requires the SPI to develop information and guidelines
regarding the prevention of communicable diseases at
schools and submit the information and guidelines to the
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SBE for approval.
2. 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 and
methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and
meningococcal disease. Specifies that the information
and guidelines shall also include, but not be limited
to, information provided to school staff, including
classified employees, for training and information to
minimize the spread of methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus and meningococcal disease.
3. Requires the SPI to post the approved guidelines on the
website of the DOE.
Comments
MRSA . In September 2002, the Los Angeles County Department
of Health Services investigated two cases of MRSA among
members of a college football team. There have been
numerous reports of MRSA infections in football and rugby
players and wrestlers throughout the country. As its name
indicates, MRSA is not killed by penicillin and similar
antibiotics. MRSA can be deadly.
Why wrestling ? The National Federation of State High
School Associations has identified football and wrestling
as the two "high risk" sports for skin infections.
Existing law addresses the sterilization of football
equipment but is silent about wrestling equipment or locker
rooms.
Prior legislation
SB 1058 (Alquist), Chapter 296, Statutes of 2008 ,
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
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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.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/26/09)
California School Employees Association
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
a 2007 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 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's office states that this bill will strengthen the
public health at our schools.
DLW:do 5/27/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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