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AB-3064 Pupil health: food allergies: guidelines.(2019-2020)

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Date Published: 02/21/2020 09:00 PM
AB3064:v99#DOCUMENT


CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 3064

Introduced by Assembly Member Mayes

February 21, 2020

An act to add Section 49414.2 to the Education Code, relating to pupil health.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 3064, as introduced, Mayes. Pupil health: food allergies: guidelines.
Existing law requires the governing board of a school district to give diligent care to the health and physical development of pupils and authorizes the governing board of a school district to employ properly certified persons for that work. Existing law requires school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools to provide emergency epinephrine auto-injectors to school nurses or trained volunteer personnel, and authorizes school nurses and trained personnel to use epinephrine auto-injectors to provide emergency medical aid to persons suffering, or reasonably believed to be suffering, from an anaphylactic reaction, as provided.
This bill would require the State Department of Education to create guidelines for local educational agencies, defined to mean school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools, to protect pupils with food allergies. The bill would require the guidelines to focus on best practices for school nurses and school food handlers, and to include specified protocols, including that food served or offered to pupils accurately label certain ingredients, to notify parents and guardians of those ingredients, and to establish communication with the parent or guardian of a pupil with a food allergy, as specified. The bill would encourage local educational agencies to follow those guidelines.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 (a) This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the Zacky Bill, a health and safety bill concerning pupils with life-threatening food allergies.
(b) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1) Nearly six million children suffer from food allergies. About 40 percent of children who suffer from food allergies have suffered a severe or life-threatening reaction.
(2) People affected by food allergies need to be able to identify potential allergens quickly, easily, and accurately. This proves to be especially important for parents and caregivers of children with food allergies.
(3) Pupils with food allergies are at least one-third more likely to be bullied in school than pupils without food allergies.
(4) Anaphylactic food allergies are federally recognized as a disability.

SEC. 2.

 Section 49414.2 is added to the Education Code, to read:

49414.2.
 (a) The department shall create guidelines for local educational agencies to protect pupils with food allergies.
(b) The guidelines shall focus on best practices for school nurses and school food handlers to protect pupils with food allergies.
(c) The guidelines shall include, at a minimum, all of the following protocols:
(1) (A) Food served or offered to pupils by a local educational agency or its food service provider accurately labeling the following ingredients: milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, wheat, peanuts, sesame, and soybeans.
(B) A local educational agency making the information specified in subparagraph (A) available to parents and guardians.
(2) (A) Each school year, a local educational agency establishing effective communication with the parent or guardian of a pupil with a food allergy.
(B) As part of the communication specified in subparagraph (A), a local educational agency making available to the parent or guardian of the pupil with a food allergy at least once per school year a communication plan that includes all of the following:
(i) A communication plan meeting that includes teachers, school nurses, administrators, and other school employees involved with the pupil’s education and the parent or guardian of the pupil with a food allergy.
(ii) Information and discussion of potential strategies for the reduction of the risk of exposure to agents that cause anaphylaxis, including food and other allergens.
(iii) Discussion of the social-emotional impact that a food allergy disability may have on the pupil and strategies to address that impact.
(iv) Discussion with the classmates of the pupil with a food allergy, and the parents and guardians of the classmates, about foods that may be safe or unsafe for pupils with food allergies.
(d) A local educational agency is encouraged to follow the guidelines created pursuant to this section.
(e) For purposes of this section, “local educational agency” means a school district, county office of education, and charter school.