BILL ANALYSIS
AB 80
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Byron D. Sher, Chairman
2001-2002 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 80
AUTHOR: Havice
AMENDED: May 31, 2001
FISCAL: Yes HEARING DATE: July 9, 2001
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Arnie Peters
SUBJECT : LEAD-SAFE SCHOOLS: TRAINING
SUMMARY :
Existing law requires:
1) The State Department of Health Services (DHS), under the
Lead-Safe Schools Protection Act, to survey 200 public
schools (defined as public elementary schools and
preschools and day care centers located on public school
property) to determine the factors that can be used to
predict which schools will be at risk of lead contamination
and to estimate the prevalence of lead hazards in paint,
soil and drinking water.
2) DHS, under the federal Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard
Reduction Act of 1992 and the associated state statute, to
establish a program for certifying workers who do lead
abatement work and for accrediting trainers of lead
abatement workers. Under the program, DHS offers
accreditation for trainers of lead workers and, in
addition, certificates in the following areas: lead
inspector/assessor, lead project monitor, lead project
designer, lead supervisor and lead worker.
3) Schools that decide to abate lead hazards to hire only
inspectors, contractors and workers who have the
appropriate state certificates to do lead abatement work.
This bill :
1) Requires each school district in the state to send its
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district level maintenance supervisors to training classes
conducted by the DHS California Lead-Safe Schools Project.
2) Requires the maintenance supervisors to, in turn, train
maintenance employees in procedures and methods for
recognizing lead hazards, avoiding undue lead exposures
while performing their maintenance duties, and undertaking
lead abatement work that does not require a state lead
worker certificate.
3) Provides that the requirements of the bill apply only to
school districts whose employees have not received training
in the previous four years and only if state funding to pay
for the training becomes available.
COMMENTS :
1) Purpose of Bill . As noted above, the Lead-Safe Schools
Protection Act required DHS to conduct a study to determine
the prevalence of lead hazards in public elementary schools
and child care facilities. The department published the
study in 1998 after surveying 200 randomly selected public
schools, preschools and day care centers. The study found
that lead hazards are a problem in California's public
elementary schools. An estimated 78% have some lead-based
paint; 38% of those have paint that is deteriorating; 18%
have lead levels in drinking water above 15 parts per
billion, the US EPA action level; and 6% have lead levels
in soil above 400 parts per million, the US EPA reference
level for soil in which children play. (An even higher
number would be above the 200-300 ppm reference level for
soil used by the state.)
This bill addresses one small part of the lead problem in
schools. It requires school district maintenance employees
to receive "awareness" training that is provided by the DHS
California Lead-Safe Schools Project. The training is
intended to provide trainees with basic knowledge of lead
hazards, how to avoid them, how to perform maintenance
tasks around them and how to carry out simple lead
abatement projects that can be carried out without the
state certificates that are required for most lead
abatement work.
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2) Relationship to other legislation . This committee heard
and passed out SB 21 (Escutia) earlier this year. That
bill is a more comprehensive measure that requires school
districts to identify lead hazards present in public
schools, draw up abatement plans for those hazards
following DHS guidelines, provide training to school
district employees in recognizing and abating simple lead
hazards, and carry out necessary abatement in accordance
with the schedule adopted in the district lead abatement
plan. This bill is consistent with SB 21, requiring much
the same type of training for school district maintenance
employees that SB 21 requires.
SOURCE : Assemblywoman Havice
SUPPORT : Alta California Regional Center, Association of
Regional Center Agencies, California League of
Conservation Voters, California Public Interest
Research Group, California State PTA,
California Teachers Association's State Council
of Education, Sierra Club California,
Superintendent of Public Instruction
OPPOSITION : None on file