AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 4, 2022
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 21, 2022
SENATE BILL No. 1479
Introduced by Senator Pan
(Coauthors: Senators Newman and Wiener)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Aguiar-Curry, Low, Akilah Weber, and Wicks)
February 18, 2022
An act to add Article 9 (commencing with Section 32096) to Chapter 1 of Part 19 of Division 1 of Title 1 of the Education Code, relating to public health.
legislative counsel’s digest
SB 1479, as amended, Pan. COVID-19 testing in schools: COVID-19 testing plans.
Existing law appropriates funds to the State Department of Public Health for v arious programs related to the safe reopening of schools during the COVID-19 pandemic, including funds to support COVID-19 testing in schools allocated from the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and funds from the General Fund for the Safe Schools For All Team to coordinate technical assistance, community eng agement, increased transparency, and enforcement by the appropriate entity for public school health and safety during the CO VID-19 pandemic.
Existing law authorizes certain school apportionments to be used for any purpose consistent with pro viding in-person instruction for an y pupil participating in in-person instruction, including, b ut not limited to, COVID-19 testing, as provided. Existing law prescribes public health reporting requirements related to CO VID-19 for local educational
97 agencies, including the de velopment of a CO VID-19 safety plan, as provided.
This bill w ould require the department to continue administering coordinate specified school district, county office of education, and charter school COVID-19 testing programs that are currently federally funded, and funded or organized under the California COVID-19 Testing Task Force. The bill would require the department to administer provide supportive services, including tec hnical assistance , vendor support, guidance, monitoring, and testing education, related to testing programs for teachers, staff, and pupils to help schools reopen and keep schools operating safely for in-person learning. The bill would also require the department to e xpand its contagious, infectious, or communicable disease testing and other public health mitig ation efforts to include prekindergarten, onsite after school programs, and childcare centers.
This bill would require each school district, county office of education, and charter school to create a COVID-19 testing plan that is consistent with guidance from the department and to designate one staff member to report information on its CO VID-19 testing program to the department. The bill would require each school within a school district to designate one staff member to report information on its COVID-19 testing program to the school district, and would authorize each school within a school district to name a staf f member to lead its COVID-19 testing program. The bill would require that all COVID-19 testing data be in a format that f acilitates a simple process by which parents and local educational agencies may report data to the department. By imposing new obligations on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill w ould require the department to determine which COVID-19 tests are appropriate for the testing program.
The bill w ould mak e the implementation of all of its pro visions contingent upon an appropriation by the Legislature.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimb urse 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: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.
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The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
line 1 SECTION 1. Article 9 (commencing with Section 32096) is line 2 added to Chapter 1 of P art 19 of Di vision 1 of Title 1 of the line 3 Education Code, to read:
line 4
line 5 Article 9. COVID-19 Testing in Schools
line 6
line 7 32096. (a) For purposes of this section, “local educational line 8 agency” means a school district, county office of education, or line 9 charter school. school serving pupils in kinder garten or any of line 10 grades 1 to 12, inclusive.
line 11 (b) The State Department of Public Health shall continue line 12 administering those coordinate COVID-19 testing programs in line 13 local educational agencies serving pupils in kindergarten and grades line 14 1 to 12, inclusive, that are currently funded by federal resources line 15 and or organized under the California CO VID-19 Testing Task line 16 Force. The In coordinating these COVID-19 testing programs, the line 17 State Department of Public Health shall administer pr ovide line 18 supportive services related to the local educational agency testing line 19 plans described in subdivision (e) and testing programs for line 20 teachers, staff, and pupils pupils, and surr ounding communities line 21 that help local educational agencies reopen and k eep local line 22 educational agencies operating safely for in-person learning. These line 23 supportive services shall include, but not be limited to, all of the line 24 following:
line 25 (1) Technical assistance.
line 26 (2) Vendor support.
line 27 (3) Guidance.
line 28 (4) Monitoring.
line 29 (5) Testing education.
line 30 (c) The State Department of Public Health shall e xpand its line 31 contagious, infectious, or communicable disease testing and other line 32 public health mitigation efforts to include prekindergarten, onsite line 33 after school programs, and childcare centers.
line 34 (d) If the state secures additional federal funds through the line 35 United States Centers for Disease Control and Pre vention line 36 Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Prevention and Control line 37 of Emer ging Infectious Diseases Program for the purposes of line 38 COVID-19 testing in local educational agencies, any federal funds 97 SB 1479 — 3 —
line 1 shall be expended before allocating state funds for the purposes line 2 described in subdivisions (b) and (c).
line 3 (e) (1) Each local educational agency shall create a COVID-19 line 4 testing plan that is consistent with guidance from the State line 5 Department of Public Health.
line 6 (2) (A) Each local educational agency shall designate one staff line 7 member to report information on its CO VID-19 testing program line 8 to the State Department of Public Health.
line 9 (B) Each school within a school district shall designate one staff line 10 member to report information on its CO VID-19 testing program line 11 to the school district.
line 12 (C) Each school within a school district may name a staf f line 13 member to lead its COVID-19 testing program.
line 14 (3) All COVID-19 testing data shall be in a format that facilitates line 15 a simple process by which parents and local educational agencies line 16 may report data to the State Department of Public Health. line 17 (f) The State Department of Public Health shall determine which line 18 COVID-19 tests are appropriate for use for the testing programs line 19 described in this section.
line 20 (g) Implementation of the pro visions of this section are line 21 contingent upon an appropriation in the annual Budget Act or line 22 another statute for this purpose.
line 23 SEC. 2. If the Commission on State Mandates determines that line 24 this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimb ursement to line 25 local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made line 26 pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division line 27 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
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97 — 4 — SB 1479