HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 05032011 - C.41RECOMMENDATION(S):
SUPPORT SB 394 (DeSaulnier): Healthy Schools Act of 2011, a bill that establishes the
Healthy Schools Act of 2011, creating measures to protect the health and safety of
California school children and teachers and better ensure a safe learning and working
environment, as recommended by the Legislation Committee.
FISCAL IMPACT:
No fiscal impact to the County.
Legislative Counsel has identified potentially reimbursable state mandated costs presumably
as a result of the requirement that schoolsites participate in Department of Pest Regulation
(DPR) IPM training programs.
BACKGROUND:
Under current law, effective, least toxic pest management practices are “the preferred
method of managing pests at schoolsites.” A 2007 Department of Pesticide Regulation
(DPR) survey revealed that most schools using these practices found them to be more
effective and no more costly than the conventional practices they had used in the past.
APPROVE OTHER
RECOMMENDATION OF CNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE
Action of Board On: 05/03/2011 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER
Clerks Notes:
VOTE OF SUPERVISORS
AYE:John Gioia, District I
Supervisor
Gayle B. Uilkema, District II
Supervisor
Mary N. Piepho, District III
Supervisor
Karen Mitchoff, District IV
Supervisor
Federal D. Glover, District V
Supervisor
Contact: L. DeLaney,
925-335-1097
I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the Board
of Supervisors on the date shown.
ATTESTED: May 3, 2011
David J. Twa, County Administrator and Clerk of the Board of Supervisors
By: Carrie Del Bonta, Deputy
cc:
C. 41
To:Board of Supervisors
From:Legislation Committee
Date:May 3, 2011
Contra
Costa
County
Subject:SUPPORT SB 394 (DeSaulnier): Healthy Schools Act of 2011
Although the DPR offers least toxic pest management training to schools, about a third of
school districts have yet to take advantage of the training. The 2007 survey found that 40
percent of school districts continue to use high-exposure methods for treating weed
problems, and only 60 percent use low-exposure baits for ant management.
Pesticides cause a variety of health problems. According to the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, “Adverse effects of pesticide exposure range from mild symptoms of
dizziness and nausea to serious, long-term neurological, developmental and reproductive
disorders.”
Children are more exposed to pesticides than adults: they have relatively greater skin
surface and breathing rates, and their behavior puts them in greater contact with
contaminated surfaces. Children are also more susceptible to pesticides than adults since
their bodies are growing and developing. As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
states: “There are ‘critical periods’ in human development when exposure to a toxin can
permanently alter the way an individual's biological system operates.”
SB 394 requires public K-12 schools as well as day care facilities to participate in DPR’s
existing integrated pest management trainings. This will ensure that child care and school
personnel are trained in the most efficacious, cost-effective, least toxic pest management
methods available for treating pests while protecting the health of children, teachers and
workers. The bill also prohibits the use of higher risk pesticides and application techniques
that are hazardous, protecting children from high exposure
to toxic chemicals.
This bill would enact the Healthy Schools Act of 2011. The bill would provide that only
gels and pastes deployed as crack and crevice treatments , self-contained baits, and spot
treatments may be used on schoolsites. The bill would prohibit use of a pesticide on a
schoolsite if that pesticide contains an ingredient known to the state to cause cancer or
reproductive toxicity, as specified, or any one of specified cholinesterase-inhibiting
ingredients identified by the Department of Pesticide Regulation, except as specified .
The bill would also require all schoolsites, as defined and except as specified, to send at
least one person to one of the department trainings at least once every 3 years. Because this
provision would impose additional duties on local public employees, the bill would impose
a state-mandated local program. The bill would further authorize a person from a single
school district to attend the training on behalf of multiple schoolsites within that school
district.
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 these statutory provisions.
BACKGROUND: (CONT'D)
STATUS:
02/16/2011 INTRODUCED.
02/24/2011 To SENATE Committees on EDUCATION and ENVIRONMENTAL
QUALITY.
03/23/2011 From SENATE Committee on EDUCATION: Do pass to Committee on
ENVIORNMENTAL QUALITY.
04/05/2011 From SENATE Committee on ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY with
author's amendments.
04/05/2011 In SENATE. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Committee on
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY.
04/14/2011 From SENATE Committee on ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY with
author's amendments.
04/14/2011 In SENATE. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Committee on
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY.
VOTES:
03/23/2011 Senate Education Committee P 6-3
SUPPORT
Breast Cancer Action, Californians for a Healthy and Green Economy, Californians for
Pesticide Reform, California Nurses Association, CCOF, Center for Environmental
Health, Clean Water Action, California Environment, California Fresno Metro Ministry,
Lideres Campesinas, Mothers of Marin Against the Spray (MOMAS), Parents for a Safer
Environment, Pesticide Action Network, Pesticide Free Zone, Pesticide Watch,
Physicians for Social Responsibility Physicians for Social Responsibility, Sierra Club, 4
Letters from Individuals
OPPOSITION
Consumer Specialty Products Association, Mosquito and Vector Control Association of
California, Pest Control Operators of California, The Clorox Company
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
The County will not be on record supporting the bill.
ATTACHMENTS
SB 394 (DeSaulnier): Healthy Schools Act