Assembly Bill 841 (Ting): School Energy Efficiency Stimulus Program

AB 841 (Ting) is important legislation that would help school facility and maintenance departments by providing grants to improve HVAC systems, which is a critical healthy air quality issue to schools reopening in the COVID-19 era, as well as grants to improve drinking water quality.  CASH is in strong support of this legislation (click here to view CASH support letter).

We thank State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond for his on-point OpEd in the Sacramento Bee today.

“It is not often that we have an immediate need and can make an immediate impact with legislation. But Assembly Bill 841, known as the Healthy Schools for a Healthy Recovery Bill, will help do just that. AB 841, written by Assemblymember Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, will make schools safer in the time of COVID-19, save schools money, put people to work today and generate cleaner air for communities — all at no cost to taxpayers.

AB 841, which awaits the governor’s signature, will have an immediate impact by providing funds to fix, replace and upgrade old and inefficient HVAC systems to reduce the spread of the coronavirus, and repair and replace old, inefficient water fixtures that might leach lead into drinking water.”

We hope you will contact the Governor today to encourage his signature on AB 841.  He has until September 30 to act.

Suggested Messaging:

• Reopening schools in the COVID-19 era presents many challenges.  We are concerned are not only with hard surface cleanliness and disinfection, but more broadly that indoor air quality will be such that their child could be infected because of the air expelled by another child or adult. Indoor air quality is a critical issue to reopen and safely operate schools, and parents are concerned about sending their children to schools this fall.  [Insert site-specific examples if possible].
• AB 841 would create the School Energy Efficiency Stimulus Program which would provide grants to make critical investments in energy efficiency, healthy indoor air and water quality. For this reason, the [Insert your school district] strongly supports AB 841 because we believe that investments in healthy learning environments are vital as school leaders and local communities contemplate reopening and operating in the face of COVID-19.

~CASH Staff

CASH Maintenance Network: New Healthy Schools Resource

Healthy Schools: Cleaning, Disinfecting, Healthy Air Quality, Scheduling and Social Distancing
A Resource for School Facility and Maintenance Departments

COVID-19 has presented significant challenges as education and state leaders contemplate re-opening schools in a way that ensures they are clean, safe and healthy. The CASH Maintenance Network (CMN), as part of the Coalition for Adequate School Housing (CASH), has developed the Healthy Schools: Cleaning, Disinfecting, Healthy Air Quality, Scheduling and Social Distancing Guidebook to provide K-12 school maintenance and facility departments with guidance, Best Management Practices (BMPs), and key resources.

The “Healthy Schools Guidebook” includes information on how to keep students and staff safe, cleaning and disinfecting, ensuring healthy indoor air quality, social distancing and scheduling, and managing fiscal impact. The Guidebook was developed by practitioners from school maintenance departments, school facility directors, county offices of education, and private industry, and is intended as a practical guide. The CMN would like to thank them for their contributions to this project.

CEC Considers Deadline Extension

The California Energy Commission (CEC) has agreed to consider extending the June 30, 2020 deadline for completion of all Proposition 39-funded energy efficiency and renewable energy projects at the May 13, 2020 business meeting in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The CEC proposes to extend the following:

Final project completion date by one year to June 30, 2021
Final project completion reports date by one year to June 30, 2022

Courtesy of CASH Maintenance Network

Healthy Schools Act (HSA):

Use of Disinfectant Wipes, Hand Sanitizers and Antibacterial Soap

The spread of COVID-19 is significantly affecting all of us, including the K-12 education community in California.  The Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the State of California, and the State Department of Education (CDE) are all good resources for timely and empirical information about COVID-19 and K-12 schools.

From a more practical standpoint concerning school facilities and maintenance, there have been questions about the use of disinfecting wipes/spray and hand sanitizers and antibacterial soaps under the Health Schools Act (HSA), which has been administered by the Department  of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) since 2000; specifically, is HSA training required use the sanitizers outlined above?  As of today, the HSA specifies the following:

• Requires HSA Training: Disinfecting Wipes
• Does Not Require HSA Training: Hand Sanitizers and Antibacterial Soap

HSA training can be done online on the DPR website free of charge, a change to the HSA that the CASH Maintenance Network recommended to ensure that the training does not require leaving your school site.  For your reference on this issue, click here for information from the DPR on using hand sanitizers, click here for using disinfectants at schools and childcare facilities, and click here for an overview of the Healthy Schools Act (which includes how you can register for training).

We are in contact with the Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) and the Department of Education (CDE), and will let you know of any changes that may affect this guidance.  The following is a link to the CDE website which is an excellent resource on issues related to COVID-19 in a K-12 school environment:

https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/he/hn/coronavirus.asp

–Ian Padilla

Approximately 915,000 votes have been cast with 375,750 votes cast by Republicans; 349,930 votes cast by Democrats; and 189,811 votes cast by Independents.

The Secretary of State’s website holds a wealth of information on the new and expanded voter laws.

Visit https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/election-2020/

The newest: You can now register to vote on the same day.  While the ballots will be counted, they will first go through the complete voter registration verification process.

Please encourage your friends and family to VOTE!

Another reminder: Proposition 13 Ensures Local Control for School Facility Funding

Proposition 13 on the March 3, 2020 Statewide Primary ballot asks voters to approve a new $15 billion state bond for school facilities.

This measure DOES NOT affect property tax limits established by Proposition 13 from 1978, nor does it raise local property taxes or state taxes.