News

Per direction at the July 14, 2023 CASH Board of Directors quarterly meeting, please see below an update on the State School Bond and Legislation.

School Facility Bond Bills

AB 247 (Muratsuchi)

Would set forth the Transitional Kindergarten Through Community College Public Education Facilities Bond Act of 2024 as a state general obligation bond act that would provide $14 billion to construct and modernize education facilities, as specified. This bond act would become operative only if approved by the voters at an unspecified 2024 statewide election.

Status: Approved by Senate Governance and Finance Committee July 12; Senate Appropriations – Deadline September 1

SB 28 (Glazer)

Authorizes a $15 billion bond measure for the construction and modernization of public preschool, K-12, California Community Colleges (CCC), University of California (UC), and California State University (CSU) facilities to be placed on the ballot for the March 2024 primary election.

Status: Approved Assembly Education Committee July 12; Assembly Appropriations

Key Legislation

AB 249 (Holden) – School Water Quality and Testing – No Position

Requires a community water system serving a schoolsite receiving federal Title I funds to test for lead in each of the schoolsite’s potable water system outlets, report the results to the State Water Resources Control Board (SWB), and, if lead levels exceed 5 parts per billion (ppb), to perform specified actions.

Status: Approved Senate Education July 12; Senate Appropriations

AB 384 (Calderon) – Recommended Interior Temperatures: Inventory of Heating and Cooling Systems – No Position

Requires the State Department of Education to conduct a research study on recommended indoor air temperature ranges and temperature control standards for public schools and an inventory of heating and cooling systems, and to submit a report on the findings and recommendations of the study to the Legislature by January 1, 2026.

Status: In Senate Appropriations Suspense File

SB 515 (Stern) – Shade Structures – No Position

Exempts the installation of shade structures on the Division of the State Architect’s (DSA’s) approved pre-check design list from requiring school districts, county offices of education (COEs), charter schools, or community colleges to provide an accessible path of travel, as required by the California Building Standards Code (Building Code, or Title 24). Specifically, this bill:

1. Authorizes that projects solely for the installation of free-standing, open-sided shade structures included on the DSA approved pre-check design list, that do not exceed the valuation threshold for alterations, structural repairs, or additions to existing buildings, on a school district, COE, charter school, or community college campus are not required to comply with Section 202.4 of Chapter 11B of Part 2 of Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations (CCR); and
2. Requires nothing in this section to supersede any provisions of federal law or any regulation adopted pursuant to federal law.

Status: Approved Assembly Education June 26; Assembly Appropriations

SB 499 (Menjivar) – School Extreme Heat Action Plan Act of 2023 – Oppose

Requires:

1. All schoolsites and child care facilities to develop and implement an extreme heat action plan to plant shade trees, install a school garden, and plant a coniferous tree barrier;
2. The next time the outdoor surfaces of a schoolsite are resurfaced or replaced, the schoolsite to replace low specific heat surfaces;
3. The California Department of Education (CDE), in consultation with the California Department of Social Services (CDSS), to develop a template for an extreme heat action plan, and to make available a model program guidebook; and
4. The CDSS to identify a liaison for child care facilities.

Status: Approved by Assembly Education on July 12; Assembly Appropriations

AB 230 (Reyes) Menstrual Equity Act – No Position

The Menstrual Equity for All Act of 2021 requires a public school, as provided, maintaining any combination of classes from grades 6 to 12, inclusive, to stock the school’s restrooms with an adequate supply of free menstrual products, as defined, available and accessible, free of cost, in all women’s restrooms and all-gender restrooms, and in at least one men’s restroom, at all times, and to post a certain notice, on or before the start of the 2022–23 school year, as prescribed. This bill would extend these requirements, commencing on or before the start of the 2024–25 school year, to instead apply to public schools maintaining any combination of classes from grades 3 to 12, inclusive.

Status: Appropriations Suspense File

SB 760 (Newman) All Gender Restrooms – No Position

1. Requires, on or before July 1, 2025, each school district, COE, and charter school, including charter schools operating in a school district facility, maintaining any combination of classes from kindergarten to grade 12, inclusive, to comply with the following for each of its schoolsites:
   
   1. Provide at least one all-gender restroom for pupil use that meets the following requirements:
      
      1. Has signage identifying the bathroom facility as being open to all genders and in conformity with Title 24 of the CCR;
      2. Is available for pupil use as unlocked, unobstructed, easily accessible by any pupil, and consistent with existing pupil access to sex-segregated restrooms;
      3. Is consistent with the requirement to stock the school’s restrooms at all times with an adequate supply of menstrual products; and
      4. Is available during school hours and school functions when pupils are present.
   2. Designate a staff member to serve as a point of contact for implementation of these requirements; and
   3. Post a notice regarding the requirements in a prominent and conspicuous location outside at least one all-gender restroom, including contact information for the person designated as a point of contact.
2. Authorizes a school district, COE, or charter school to use an existing restroom to satisfy the requirements of this subdivision if it otherwise complies with the requirements in (1).

Status: Approved Assembly Education July 12; Assembly Appropriations

~Nancy Chaires Espinoza, Legislative Advocate