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Proposed CA Law To Require Clean School Bathrooms Advances
(August 30, 2003) -- Legislation that would require CA public and private schools to provide students with clean, maintained and stocked bathrooms has advanced through the Assembly Appropriations Committee and could now head to the Assembly floor.
SB 892 by state Senator Kevin Murray (D., L.A./Culver City) would require "[e]very public and private school maintaining any combination of classes from kindergarten to grade 12, inclusive" to comply with the following:
"Every restroom shall at all times be maintained and cleaned regularly, fully operational and stocked at all times with toilet paper, soap, and paper towels or functional hand dryers" and "keep all restrooms open during school hours when pupils are not in classes, and shall keep a sufficient number of restrooms open during school hours when pupils are in classes."
The bill provides that "[a]ny school district that operates a public school that is in
violation of this section as determined by the State Allocation Board is ineligible for state school facilities funding" under Greene School Facilities Act of 1998.
SB 892, which followed revelations of slumlord type conditions at some southland schools by CBS2 news reporter Randy Paige, passed the CA Senate in June on a 39-0 vote. It is now in the Assembly and has been amended to apply to both public and private schools.
SB 892 was supported by the CA School Boards Association, CA Teachers Association and L.A. County Board of Supervisors. (Source: legislative analysis for July Assembly Education Committee hearing.)
At the August 29 Assembly Appropriations Committee hearing, SB 892 was opposed by the L.A. Unified School District (which also opposed the bill at its July hearing), the Association of CA School Administrators (said bill would require teachers to patrol bathrooms or districts to hire more people), representatives of some private schools (objecting to inclusion of private schools after SB 892 cleared the Senate) and the Davis administration's Dept. of Finance (contending the bill might be construed to require state reimbursement to school districts for their expenses as a new state mandate.)
SB 892's supporters note that state taxpayers are already giving school districts money for maintenance and that money should be used to keep school bathrooms clean and in proper order. The Davis administration's Dept. of Finance says it believes local school districts will seek reimbursement from Sacramento for the costs of complying with SB 892, and a state board might construe SB 892 as a new state mandate requiring Sacramento to reimburse local school districts. (State legislators in deficit don't want that.)
At the hearing, SB 892's author Sen. Murray said legislative counsel told him the bill was not a state mandate. Committee chair, Darrell Steinberg (D., Sacramento) said a Democrat analysis also concluded the bill was not a state mandate (viewed it as a general requirement applicable to public and private schools).
LAUSD and an association of school administrators raised other objections to SB 892.
Assemblyman Fabian Nunez (D., Boyle Hts/ELA) challenged the Davis administration's Dept. of Finance position that SB 892 might require Sacramento to reimburse school districts for a new state mandate for all bathroom cleaning costs:
Assemblyman Nunez: "[I]t seems to me if you're getting [state] money for maintenance, that that would include making sure that the health and safety of the children who go to the restroom in some of these schools, where there's urine on the floor, where kids are exposing themselves to really dangerous conditions, oftentimes we've heard of stories of children getting bladder infections because they can't go to the restrooms. And you're telling me that the money that we provide schools for maintenance doesn't include cleanliness of restrooms? I think it's ridiculous..."
Assemblyman Nunez then declared that he wanted to be added as a In firm, measured tones, Assemblyman Mark Ridley-Thomas (D., L.A.) stressed:
Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg (D., L.A.), who was part of the LAUSD School Board before being elected to the state legislature, said she supported SB 892 but told SB 892's author, Sen. Murray, "I would like to talk to you before this goes to the floor of the Assembly because let's say you have an inept administrator, no offense meant, but one in a district of 700 schools...I'm a little concerned that it holds an entire district responsible for what may turn out to be an individual's shortcomings."
Senator Murray shot back that he was willing to have a discussion with Assemblywoman Goldberg, and said that when SB 892 was in the Education Committee he was willing "to take away all of the penalties if the school districts would say that this [clean bathrooms] is a basic requirement and they would not request mandates. They turned me down flat. I am happy to find any hammer or any penalty that the Education Committee deems appropriate. I ask for an "aye" vote."
Picking up on Sen. Murray's comment, Assembly Appropriations Committee chair Steinberg asked rhetorically why not trade away the penalties for basically agreeing to the public policy that this is a basic right of students?
SB 892 eventually cleared the Appropriations Committee on a 15-8 vote, with Dems (except OC Dem. Lou Correa) voting yes and Repubs voting no.
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