BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
Senator Ed Hernandez, O.D., Chair
BILL NO: AB 2114
AUTHOR: Smyth and Hill
AMENDED: June 15, 2012
HEARING DATE: June 20, 2012
CONSULTANT: Rubin
SUBJECT : Swimming pool safety.
SUMMARY : Replaces references to "drains" with "suction outlets"
in existing law, and updates references to anti-entrapment
performance standards for swimming pools and spas.
Existing law:
1.Establishes the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)
under the federal Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA) to
fulfill the CPSA's purposes of protecting the public against
unreasonable risks of injury associated with consumer
products, assisting consumers in evaluating the comparative
safety of consumer products, developing uniform safety
standards for consumer products, and promoting research into
the causes and prevention of product-related deaths,
illnesses, and injuries.
2.Establishes the federal Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa
Safety Act (VGB Act) to prevent drain entrapment and child
drowning in swimming pools and spas by requiring each public
pool and spa in the United States to be equipped with
specified anti-entrapment devices or systems, and requires
each state to meet specified minimum state law requirements
regarding pool and spa safety standards.
3.Requires, pursuant to California's Swimming Pool Safety Act
and other statutes regarding swimming pool sanitation, that
public and private swimming pools and spas be equipped with
specified drowning prevention safety features.
This bill:
1.Defines "ANSI/APSP performance standard" as a standard that is
accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
and published by the Association of Pool and Spa Professionals
(APSP).
2.Replaces the terms "drain(s)" and "main drain(s)" with
Continued---
AB 2114 | Page 2
"suction outlet(s)," and makes clarifying changes to the
definition.
3.Revises the definition of an "unblockable suction outlet" to
mean a suction outlet, including the sump, that has a
perforated (open) area that cannot be shadowed by the area of
the 18 inch by 23 inch Body Blocking Element of a specified
ANSI/APSP performance standard and that the rated flow through
any portion of the remaining open area cannot create a suction
force in excess of referenced values specified in the
ANSI/APSP performance standard.
4.Deletes references in existing law to suction outlets that are
less than 12 inches and thereby applies requirements for
anti-entrapment grates to suction outlets of all sizes.
5.Adds to requirements for newly constructed pools or spas to
include designs that use alternatives to suction outlets such
as skimmers or perimeter overflow systems, and to stipulate
that the circulation system must have the capacity to provide
a complete turnover of pool water within the time defined by
specified regulations.
6.Replaces references in existing law to the "American Society
for Testing and Materials (ASTM)/ANSI A112.19.8 performance
standard" with "ANSI/APSP-16 standard or successor standards
designated by the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission
(CPSC)."
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Committee on
Appropriations, there are no significant costs associated with
this legislation.
PRIOR VOTES :
Assembly Business, Professions and Consumer Protection:9- 0
Assembly Appropriations: 17- 0
Assembly Floor: 73- 0
COMMENTS :
1.Author's statement. Current law is inconsistent, out of date,
and technically flawed. Current law uses the terms drains,
main drain, and suction outlet. The terms drain and main drain
are misnomers. Pools can only be emptied from the main drain
if the pool is situated above ground level. In-ground pools
cannot be drained from the main drain. Pool service
professionals use a sump pump to empty pools as the
AB 2114 | Page
3
circulation pump cannot fully empty a pool. Finally, suction
entrapment and evisceration deaths and injuries can be
eliminated completely by pools being built with multiple
suction outlets because all the outlets cannot be
simultaneously blocked, which results in suction entrapment.
2.Entrapment hazards. According to a 2010 CPSC memorandum on
reported circulation entrapment incidents associated with
swimming pools and spas, a total of 91 entrapment incidents
were reported to result in injury or death from 1999 to 2009.
APSP defines five types of circulation entrapments: limb
entrapment occurs when a limb is sucked or inserted into an
open sump (the lowest point in a circulation system where
water is drained); evisceration/disembowelment occurs when
suction applied directly to the intestines such as when a
child sits on an open sump; hair entrapment occurs when hair
becomes caught in an outlet cover; mechanical entrapment
occurs when articles of clothing, jewelry, or appendages are
caught in an outlet cover; and body entrapment occurs when
suction is applied to a large portion of the body or limbs. Of
the 91 incidents reported, 75 percent of the victims were
under the age of fifteen with ages between five and nine being
the largest victim age category.
3.The VGB Act. CPSC reports on its website that in June 2002,
Virginia Graeme Baker, a 7-year-old member of a community
swimming and diving team, drowned when she was trapped under
water by the powerful suction from a hot tub drain; a faulty
drain cover was blamed for her death. The VGB Act, signed into
law in December 2007, was designed to prevent such entrapment
events in pools and spas. The VGB Act finds that of
injury-related deaths, drowning is the second leading cause of
death in children ages 1 to 14 in the United States, and that
studies show that the installation and proper use of barriers
or fencing could substantially reduce the number of childhood
residential swimming pool drownings and near drownings. Among
other provisions, the VGB Act requires each swimming pool or
spa drain cover manufactured, distributed, or entered into
commerce in the United States to comply with the entrapment
protection standards of the ASME/ANSI A112.19.8 performance
standard, or any successor standard, and for each public pool
and spa in the United States to be equipped with such covers.
According to CPSC's website, in July 2011, CPSC approved
ANSI/APSP-16 as the successor suction outlet cover standard
needed to comply with the VGB Act.
AB 2114 | Page 4
4.California law. Two sections of California law govern safety
standards for swimming pools and spas: the Swimming Pool
Safety Act, which applies to pools and spas in residential,
single-family homes, and separate statutes that apply to
public pools and spas and are administered by the Department
of Public Health (DPH). The California Building Standards
Commission (CBSC) is responsible for California's building
codes (Title 24 in the California Code of Regulations),
including those relating to swimming pools and spas. The Title
24 regulatory proceeding for the adoption of new building
standards for public pools was recently completed. According
to the California Spa & Pool Industry Education Council,
during discussions, experts in swimming pool construction
recommended that the term "main drain" be eliminated; while
this could not happen, since the term exists in current law,
the elimination of "main drain" and related terms in statute
will enable the elimination of these terms from Title 24
during the triennial revision of the building codes that will
become effective on January 1, 2014.
5.Prior legislation. AB 1020 (Emmerson and Ma), Chapter 267,
Statutes of 2009, requires existing public swimming pools to
be equipped with anti-entrapment devices or systems that meet
ASME/ANSI or ASTM performance standards and requires new
public pools to be constructed with at least two main drains
per pump separated by at least three feet.
AB 2977 (Mullin), Chapter 478, Statutes of 2006, adds to
requirements for the construction or remodeling of a pool or
spa, including the fulfillment of specified ASTM or ASME
standards.
SB 1726 (Vasconcellos), Chapter 679, Statutes of 2002,
requires, whenever a construction permit is issued for a new
swimming pool or spa, that the suction outlet meet specified
standards to provide circulation and protect against physical
entrapment of bathers, including having at least two
circulation suction outlets per pump separated by at least
three feet; and that the Director of the Department of Health
Services (DHS, now DPH) review standards and make
recommendations relating to the entrapment hazards in swimming
pools and spas within 90 days of their adoption by CPSC.
AB 2455 (McLeod) of 2002, would have required that, at a
private, single-family home, whenever a construction permit is
AB 2114 | Page
5
issued for a new swimming pool or spa, or a building permit is
issued for the remodeling of an existing pool or spa, the pool
or spa be equipped with at least two drowning prevention
safety features, as specified; and would have required DHS to
conduct toddler pool safety studies and a statewide swimming
pool safety educational campaign to the extent that funds are
available. AB 2455 was held in the Senate Appropriations
Committee.
AB 359 (Cardoza) of 2001 would have required DHS to adopt
regulations to provide standards for protection against
entrapment in swimming pools and spas and would have subjected
the regulations to review and approval of CBSC. AB 359 was
held in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.
6.Support. The California Spa & Pool Industry Education
Council, sponsor of this bill, states that the sole purpose of
this bill is to modernize building codes governing the
construction of swimming pool and spas, and adds that there is
nothing in this bill that requires an owner of a public pool
or residential pool to make any changes to their pool or
equipment. The Arc and United Cerebral Palsy in California and
the Association of Regional Center Agencies, which represent
people with developmental disabilities, argue that efforts to
improve pool safety are critical for avoiding near drowning
accidents that cause severe brain injuries.
7.Technical amendment. For the purpose of conformity, the
author has agreed to strike Lines 5 through 8 on Page 5 and
insert: "be equipped with antientrapment grates as specified
in the ANSI/APSP-16 performance standard or successor standard
designated by the federal Consumer Products Safety
Commission."
SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION :
Support: California Spa & Pool Industry Education Council
(sponsor)
The Arc and United Cerebral Palsy in California
The Association of Regional Center Agencies
Oppose: None received.
-- END --
AB 2114 | Page 6