BILL ANALYSIS
AB 80
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 18, 2001
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Virginia Strom-Martin, Chair
AB 80 (Havice) - As Amended: March 27, 2001
SUBJECT : School safety: lead.
SUMMARY : Requires a school district maintaining kindergarten or
any of grades 1 to 6, inclusive, to require its district level
maintenance supervisors to participate in training by the State
Department of Health Services (DHS) through its California
Lead-Safe Schools Project. These supervisors would be required
to then train the district's maintenance employees whose
worksites are facilities used as public elementary schools,
public preschools, and public day care facilities.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires a school district maintaining kindergarten or any of
grades 1 to 6, inclusive, to require its district level
maintenance supervisors to participate in training by the DHS
through its California Lead-Safe Schools Project. These
supervisors would be required to then train the district's
maintenance employees whose worksites are facilities used as
public elementary schools, public preschools, and public day
care facilities.
2)Requires the State Department of Education (SDE) to establish
the position of ombudsperson to help direct school districts
to the appropriate state agencies for help in dealing with
lead contamination or other environmental hazards.
3)Requires the SDE to allocate funds to each school district
maintaining kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 6, inclusive
for testing drinking water on schoolsites for the presence of
lead.
4)Establishes intent that funding for purposes of this
legislation be appropriated in the annual Budget Act.
EXISTING LAW prohibits the use of lead-based paint, lead
plumbing and lead solders in new construction and renovation of
old schoolsites. Any actions taken to test for the presence of
lead, or to abate a lead source at a public schoolsite, must be
carried out by trained personnel. If a school is specifically
AB 80
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identified to have significant risk factors that could lead to
lead exposure, it is supposed to notify the parents.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. State-mandated local program.
COMMENTS :
Related legislation . AB 51 (Shelley), introduced 12/4/00,
declares the intent that all lead hazards in state schools be
identified and mitigated as quickly as possible. This bill is
currently in the Assembly.
SB 21 (Escutia), introduced 12/4/00, requires districts to
inspect all schools built before 1992 for lead hazard and abate
those hazards. Districts must also train its maintenance
personnel to be able to identify and to properly mitigate lead
hazards. This bill is currently in the Senate Environmental
Quality Committee.
SB 634 (Murray), introduced 2/22/01, requires the DHS to develop
a community-based lead hazard preliminary assessment training
program in coordination with all local health departments.
Requires a county to provide training workshops at least
annually to train parents and community volunteers to conduct
preliminary assessments to identify conditions that indicate the
potential for the presence of lead hazards to children under the
age of 5 years in preschools, day care centers, school
facilities, residences, and housing projects. This bill is
currently in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.
Why does this bill only apply to school districts maintaining
kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 6, inclusive? What about
middle and high school students ? There are currently 93 high
school districts in California with approximately 547,952
students enrolled in them (according to '99-'00 data). Surely
these 93 school districts must have some concerns in regards to
providing lead-safe schools for their students. Why does this
program not focus on their safety as well as that of children in
kindergarten and grades 1 to 6?
Arguments in support . According to the author, "Assembly Bill
80 is designed to strengthen and continue funding for the Lead
Safe Schools Program within the Department of Health Services.
It also would require that all schools and school districts
maintenance personnel receive training through the Lead Safe
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Schools Program in lead safe work practices."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Los Angeles Unified School District
Natural Resources Defense Council
California League of Conservation Voters
Association of Regional Center Agencies
California School Employees Association
California Teachers Association
Sierra Club California
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Aimee Scribner / ED. / (916) 319-2087