AB 384: School facilities: recommended interior temperatures: inventory of heating and cooling systems.

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 require the State Department of Education to 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, and an inventory of heating and cooling systems, as specified. The bill would require the department to submit a report on the findings and recommendations of the study to the Legislature by January 1, 2026, as provided.

This 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 additional policy recommendations 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.

This bill would repeal these provisions as of January 1, 2028.