Bill Text: CA AB384 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended

California Assembly Bill 384

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

Bill Title: School facilities: recommended interior temperatures: inventory of heating and cooling systems.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Vetoed) 2024-01-25 - Consideration of Governor's veto stricken from file. [AB384 Detail]

Download: California-2023-AB384-Amended.html

Amended IN Assembly March 23, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 384

Introduced by Assembly Member Calderon
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Luz Rivas)

February 02, 2023

An act to add Sections 17662, 17663, and 17664 to the Education Code, relating to school facilities.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 384, as amended, Calderon. School facilities: maintenance in good repair: recommended interior ~~temperatures.~~ temperatures: reporting of inventory.

Existing law, the Leroy F. Greene State School Building Lease-Purchase Law of 1976, effectuates the declaration of the Legislature that it is in the interest of the state and its people to reconstruct, remodel, or replace existing school buildings that are educationally inadequate or that do not meet present-day structural safety requirements, and to acquire new schoolsites and buildings for the purpose of making them available to local school districts for the pupils of the public school system. “Good repair” is defined, for purposes of the Leroy F. Greene State School Building Lease-Purchase Law of 1976, to mean, among other things, with respect to mechanical systems, including heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, maintaining interior temperatures within normally acceptable ranges.

This bill would ~~state the intent of the Legislature to enact future legislation to establish healthy and safe temperature requirements in public schools.~~ require the State Department of Education to conduct a research study on recommended indoor air temperature ranges and temperature control standards for public schools and submit a report on the findings and recommendations of the study to the Legislature by January 1, 2026, as provided.

The bill would require the governing board or body of each local educational agency, as defined, that receives any funds pursuant to the Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act of 1998 or the California Schools Healthy Air, Plumbing, and Efficiency Program administered by the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to provide to the department an inventory of heating and cooling systems, as defined, at each of its schoolsites, as provided. The bill would require the governing board or body of each local educational agency maintaining an elementary or secondary school to include in the School Accountability Report Card, for each of its schoolsites, an inventory of heating and cooling systems at that schoolsite. The bill would require the department to compile a statewide inventory of heating and cooling systems and interventions in all public schools from the information provided by local educational agencies, reducing any potential duplication of collecting the same information more than once from the same local educational agency. By imposing new duties on local educational agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The bill would require the department to develop policy recommendations for safe indoor air temperature standards for elementary and secondary public school facilities based on the research study findings and the compiled statewide inventory, and that will address how to ensure that public school facilities can maintain the recommended safe indoor air temperature range, as provided. The bill would require the department to submit those policies recommendations to the Legislature by January 1, 2027.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: NOYES Local Program: NOYES

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) In April 2022, California released “Protecting Californians from Extreme Heat: A State Action Plan to Build Community Resilience” which warned of the threats extreme heat poses to public health and safety, economic prosperity, and the natural environment and cautioned that extreme heat can be dangerous or even deadly to vulnerable populations, including children, without access to cooling or shade.
(b) According to research by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), virtually all 2 billion children on earth will be exposed to more frequent, longer lasting, and more severe heat waves by 2050.
(c) The latest California Climate Change Assessment projects hotter, longer, and more frequent heat events. Extreme heat is responsible for more deaths than all other extreme weather events, and disproportionately impacts communities of color, persons with disabilities, seniors, and low-income communities.
(d) Children in disadvantaged communities, including rural and urbanized regions built with heat-retaining materials that are ill-equipped to shelter pupils from extreme heat, are at heightened risk of suffering heat-related illnesses, poor health outcomes, and a reduction in their ability to learn, as excessive heat interrupts outdoor activity and exercise.
(e) The Legislature has recognized extreme heat as a serious and urgent threat and has called on state agencies and departments to invest resources in increasing resilience to extreme heat.

SEC. 2.

Section 17662 is added to the Education Code, immediately following Section 17661, to read:

17662.
(a) The department shall conduct a research study on recommended indoor air temperature ranges and temperature control standards for public schools serving kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive.
(b) In conducting the study, the department shall review data, including, but not limited to, safe and healthy minimum and maximum air temperature in public school facilities, disaggregated by both of the following:
(1) Pupil age.
(2) Location of the schoolsite.
(c) In conducting the study the department may collaborate or contract with other public agencies, including, but not limited to, the State Department of Public Health, private sector firms, or individuals qualified to perform the necessary services.
(d) By January 1, 2026, the department shall submit a report on the findings and recommendations of the study to the Legislature in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.

SEC. 3.

Section 17663 is added to the Education Code, immediately following Section 17662, to read:

17663.
(a) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
(1) “Local educational agency” means a school district, county office of education, or charter school.
(2) “Inventory of heating and cooling systems” means a list of all heating, ventilation, and air conditioning equipment and systems, including, but not limited to, any of the following:
(A) Air conditioning.
(B) Heat pumps.
(C) Cool roofs.
(D) Insulation.
(E) Green schools.
(F) Window shading.
(G) Double-paned windows.
(H) Air sealing.
(b) The governing board or body of each local educational agency that receives any funds pursuant to the Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act of 1998 (Chapter 12.5 (commencing with Section 17070.10) of Part 10) or the California Schools Healthy Air, Plumbing, and Efficiency Program administered by the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission shall provide to the department, by January 1, 2026, an inventory of heating and cooling systems at each of its schoolsites.
(c) The governing board or body of each local educational agency maintaining an elementary or secondary school shall include in the School Accountability Report Card, developed pursuant to Section 35256, for each of its schoolsites an inventory of heating and cooling systems at that schoolsite.
(d) The department shall compile and, as necessary, update a statewide inventory of heating and cooling systems and interventions in all public schools from the information provided by local educational agencies pursuant to subdivisions (b) and (c), reducing any potential duplication of collecting the same information more than once from the same local educational agency.
(e) The department may work with the United States Department of Energy’s Energy Improvements at Public School Facilities Program to implement this section.

SEC. 4.

Section 17664 is added to the Education Code, immediately following Section 17663, to read:

17664.
(a) The department shall develop policy recommendations for safe indoor air temperature standards for elementary and secondary public school facilities based on study findings developed pursuant to Section 17662 and the statewide inventory developed pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 17663. The department shall also develop policy recommendations that will address how to ensure that public school facilities can maintain a recommended safe indoor air temperature range. The policy recommendations shall be flexible and allow schools to phase in to the recommended safe indoor air temperature range. In developing these policy recommendations, the department shall consider each of the following:
(1) State climate goals.
(2) The Extreme Heat Plan.
(3) Regional temperature differences.
(4) Various methods for maintaining indoor air temperatures that take into account factors, including, but not limited to, all of the following:
(A) Technical feasibility.
(B) Building and site electrical system limitations.
(C) Cost barriers.
(D) Electric utility capacity limitations.
(E) Federal and state law.
(F) Weather-related federal and state emergencies.
(b) In developing the policy recommendations pursuant to subdivision (a), the department shall consult with a diverse group of stakeholders with knowledge of education, public health, labor, and other relevant subject matter.
(c) In developing the policy recommendations pursuant to subdivision (a), the department may collaborate or contract with other public agencies, private sector firms, or individuals qualified to perform the necessary services.
(d) By January 1, 2027, the department shall submit the policy recommendations to the Legislature in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.

SEC. 5.
If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.

SECTION 1.
~~It is the intent of the Legislature to enact future legislation to establish healthy and safe temperature requirements in public schools.~~