Bill Text: CA AB2498 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Interscholastic athletics: California Interscholastic Federation: air quality activity recommendations.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-02-27 - Referred to Coms. on ED. and A.,E.,S.,T., & I.M. [AB2498 Detail]
Download: California-2019-AB2498-Introduced.html
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 2498
| Introduced by Assembly Member Chu |
February 19, 2020 |
An act to amend Section 33353 of the Education Code, relating to interscholastic athletics.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2498, as introduced, Chu.
Interscholastic athletics: California Interscholastic Federation: air quality activity recommendations.
If a school district or charter school elects to offer any interscholastic athletic program, existing law requires the school district or charter school to ensure that there is a written emergency action plan in place, and posted as specified.
Existing law describes the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) as a voluntary organization that consists of school and school-related personnel with responsibility for administering interscholastic athletic activities in secondary schools, and sets forth the Legislature’s intent regarding the California Interscholastic Federation’s implementation of certain policies.
This bill would add to the Legislature’s intent policies that CIF shall cooperate with the State Department of Education to develop and maintain recommendations relating to air quality and its
impact on athletic activity for schools, post on its internet website air quality activity recommendations for schools and air quality education materials, and require schools, as a condition of CIF membership, to ensure that their existing written emergency action plans educate administrators, staff, and coaches on air quality activity recommendations and education materials made available on CIF’s internet website.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: NO Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) Particle pollution is linked to a number of health problems, including coughing, wheezing, reduced lung function, asthma attacks, heart attacks, and strokes.
(b) Numerous studies have found that children are at higher risk than adults for adverse health effects caused by air pollution.
(c) The United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Air Quality Index (AQI) recognizes that children are a “sensitive group” requiring heightened awareness of air quality and early removal from pollutants to reduce unhealthy exposure.
(d) In addition to children, studies have found athletes are also at an elevated risk of illness caused by exposure to air pollution due to higher breathing volume and the taking of deeper breaths through their mouths, bypassing the body’s natural nasal filtration.
(e) Smoke from massive wildfires in Australia caused at least one player to collapse on the court at the 2020 Australian Open, and other competitors to withdraw from their matches.
(f) Particle pollution comes from many different types of sources, including industrial processes, woodstoves, and wildfires.
(g) Over the last decade, devastating wildfires have ravaged communities and school districts in every corner of the state, blanketing entire regions of the state with thick, unhealthy
smoke.
(h) In response to this challenge, in 2019, leaders from the education, air quality, and public health communities established a working group to develop state guidance regarding air quality for the state’s 1,026 school districts during wildfire smoke days.
(i) For the state’s college athletes, the National Collegiate Athletic Association recommends, “attentive monitoring of local AQI and associated air quality alerts, especially at times of extreme environmental conditions,” and “removing athletes from exposure in accordance with AQI guidance.” They suggest that member school’s “emergency plans should guide the emergency care response in these circumstances.”
(j) The state’s secondary school coaches and athletes have no statewide guidance for handling air quality emergencies and preventing air
pollution-related illness.
SEC. 2.
Section 33353 of the Education Code is amended to read:33353.
(a) The California Interscholastic Federation is a voluntary organization that consists of school and school-related personnel with responsibility for administering interscholastic athletic activities in secondary schools. It is the intent of the Legislature that the California Interscholastic Federation, in consultation with the department, implement the following policies:(1) Give the governing boards of school districts specific authority to select their athletic league representatives.
(2) Require that all league, section, and state meetings affiliated with the California Interscholastic Federation be subject to the notice and hearing requirements of the Ralph M. Brown Act (Chapter 9 (commencing
with Section 54950) of Part 1 of Division 2 of Title 5 of the Government Code).
(3) Establish a neutral final appeals body to hear complaints related to interscholastic athletic policies.
(4) Provide information to parents and pupils regarding the state and federal complaint procedures for discrimination complaints arising out of interscholastic athletic activities.
(5) Comply with the California Public Records Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 6250) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code), and in doing so, as a third-party recipient of pupil and school personnel information, be afforded the same public records disclosure exemptions as are afforded to school districts, in order to protect the confidentiality of pupil and school personnel records and information.
(6) (A) Cooperate with the department to develop and maintain recommendations relating to air quality and its impact on athletic activity for schools, including athletic practice and training, and scheduled sporting event guidance.
(B) Post air quality activity recommendations for schools and supporting air quality education materials on its internet website.
(C) As a condition of California Interscholastic Federation membership, require schools to ensure that their existing written emergency action plans, established pursuant to Section 35179.4, educate administrators, staff, and coaches on, and require their adherence to, air quality activity recommendations and education materials made
available on its internet website.
(b) (1) The California Interscholastic Federation shall report to the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature and the Governor on its evaluation and accountability activities undertaken pursuant to this section on or before January 1, 2023, and on or before January 1 every seven years thereafter. This report shall include, but not be limited to, the goals and objectives of the California Interscholastic Federation with regard to, and the status of, all of the following:
(A) The governing structure of the California Interscholastic Federation, and the effectiveness of that governance structure in providing leadership for interscholastic athletics in secondary schools.
(B) Methods to facilitate communication with agencies,
organizations, and public entities whose functions and interests interface with the California Interscholastic Federation.
(C) The quality of coaching and officiating, including, but not limited to, professional development for coaches and athletic administrators, and parent education programs.
(D) Gender equity in interscholastic athletics, including, but not limited to, the number of male and female pupils participating in interscholastic athletics in secondary schools, and action taken by the California Interscholastic Federation in order to ensure compliance with Title IX of the federal Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 1681 et seq.).
(E) Health and safety of pupils, coaches, officials, and spectators.
(F) The economic viability of
interscholastic athletics in secondary schools, including, but not limited to, the promotion and marketing of interscholastic athletics.
(G) New and continuing programs available to pupil athletes.
(H) Awareness and understanding of emerging issues related to interscholastic athletics in secondary schools.
(2) It is the intent of the Legislature that the California Interscholastic Federation accomplish all of the following:
(A) During years in which the California Interscholastic Federation is not required to report to the Legislature and the Governor pursuant to paragraph (1), it shall hold a public comment period relating to that report at three regularly scheduled federation council meetings per year.
(B) Annually allow public comment on the policies and practices of the California Interscholastic Federation at a regularly scheduled federation council meeting.
(C) Require sections of the California Interscholastic Federation to allow public comment on the policies and practices of the California Interscholastic Federation and its sections, and the report required pursuant to paragraph (1), at each regularly scheduled section meeting.
(D) Engage in a comprehensive outreach effort to promote the public hearings described in subparagraphs (A) and (C).
(3) Upon receiving a report from the California Interscholastic Federation pursuant to paragraph (1), the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature shall hold a joint hearing at which the California
Interscholastic Federation shall testify and members of the public shall be encouraged to testify on information in the report, including, but not limited to, the information required in paragraph (1).
