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AB-2756 Private schools: home schools: filing.(2017-2018)



Current Version: 04/02/18 - Amended Assembly

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AB2756:v98#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Assembly  April 02, 2018

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 2756

Introduced by Assembly Members Medina, Eggman, and Gonzalez Fletcher
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Rodriguez)

February 16, 2018

An act to amend Section 33190 of the Education Code, and to amend Sections 13143 and 13146.3 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to private schools.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 2756, as amended, Medina. Private schools: home schools: filing: fire prevention inspections. filing.

(1)Existing

Existing law requires every person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation offering or conducting private school instruction on the elementary or high school level to annually file with the Superintendent of Public Instruction an affidavit or statement, under penalty of perjury, by the owner or other head setting forth specified information relating to the school. Existing law requires the Superintendent to prepare and publish a list of private elementary and high schools that includes the names and addresses of the schools and the names of the school owners or administrators.
This bill would provide that a “person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation” includes, but is not limited to, conventional or traditional private schools, private school satellite programs, private online or virtual schools, parents, guardians, or other individuals who operate a private home school, and certified nonpublic nonpublic, nonsectarian schools. The bill would also require information on the nature, or a description of the nature, of the private school to be included in the affidavit or statement. statement, and would require this information or description to be included on the list of private schools prepared and published by the Superintendent. The bill would specify that the list of private schools prepared and published by the Superintendent is required to include every person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation that is required to file an affidavit or statement with the Superintendent.

Existing law requires the Superintendent to prepare and publish a list of private elementary and high schools that includes the names and addresses of the schools and the names of the school owners or administrators.

This bill would require that list to include private schools with 6 or more pupils that includes every person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation that is required to file with the Superintendent. The bill would require the Superintendent to annually provide that list to the State Fire Marshal. The bill would require the Superintendent to prepare a list of private schools with 5 or fewer pupils and to provide the list directly to the State Fire Marshal, the chief of a city or county fire department or district providing fire protection services to the area in which the school is located, and the chief’s authorized representatives to fulfill a specified annual inspection.

(2)Existing law requires the State Fire Marshal, with the advice of the State Board of Fire Services, to prepare, adopt, and submit building standards for approval, as provided, and to prepare and adopt other regulations establishing minimum requirements for the prevention of fire, and for the protection of life and property against fire and panic, in any building or structure used or intended for, among other things, a school.

This bill would also require the State Fire Marshal to prepare and adopt regulations establishing minimum requirements for any school subject to the filing requirements discussed in paragraph (1).

Existing law requires the chief of any city or county fire department or district providing fire protection services and his or her authorized representatives to inspect every building used as a public or private school within his or her jurisdiction, for the purpose of enforcing the above regulations, not less than once each year. Existing law requires the State Fire Marshal and his or her authorized representatives to make these inspections not less than once each year in areas outside of corporate cities and districts providing fire protection services.

This bill would require these inspections to occur for any school subject to the filing requirements discussed in paragraph (1). To the extent this bill would expand the responsibility of a local agency, the bill would create a state-mandated local program.

(3)The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse 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   Local Program: YESNO  

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


SECTION 1.

 Section 33190 of the Education Code is amended to read:

33190.
 (a) A person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation that offers or conducts private school instruction in the state shall, between the first and 15th day of October of each year, file with the Superintendent an affidavit or statement, under penalty of perjury, by the owner or other head setting forth the following information for the current year:
(1) All names, whether real or fictitious, of the person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation under which it has done and is doing business.
(2) The address, including city and street, of every place of doing business of the person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation within the State of California.
(3) The address, including city and street, of the location of the records of the person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation, and the name and address, including city and street, of the custodian of those records.
(4) The names and addresses, including city and street, of the directors, if any, and principal officers of the person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation.
(5) The school enrollment, by grades, number of teachers, coeducational or enrollment limited to boys or girls, and boarding facilities.
(6) That the following records are maintained at the address stated, and are true and accurate:
(A) The records required to be kept by Section 48222.
(B) The courses of study offered by the institution.
(C) The names and addresses, including city and street, of its faculty, together with a record of the educational qualifications of each.
(7) Criminal record summary information has been obtained pursuant to Section 44237.
(8) The nature of the private school, as listed in subdivision (f) or, if not listed, a description of the nature of the private school.
(b) Whenever two or more private schools are under the effective control or supervision of a single administrative unit, the administrative unit may comply with this section on behalf of each of the schools under its control or supervision by submitting one report.
(c) Filing pursuant to this section does not mean, and it shall be unlawful for a school to expressly or impliedly represent by any means whatsoever, that the State of California, the Superintendent, the state board, the department, or a division or bureau of the department, or any accrediting agency has made an evaluation, recognition, approval, or endorsement of the school or course unless this is an actual fact.
(d) (1)The Superintendent shall prepare and publish a list of private schools with six or more pupils that includes every filer pursuant to subdivision (a), which shall include the name and address of the school and school, the name of the school owner or administrator. The Superintendent shall annually provide the list described in this paragraph to the State Fire Marshal. administrator, and the nature of the school, as described in paragraph (8) of subdivision (a).

(2)The Superintendent shall prepare a list of private schools with five or fewer pupils and provide the list directly to the State Fire Marshal, the chief of a city or county fire department or district providing fire protection services to the area in which the school is located, and the chief’s authorized representatives to fulfill the annual inspection, pursuant to Section 13146.3 of the Health and Safety Code.

(e) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
(1) “Private school” means a person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation that provides private school instruction in the state.
(2) “Private school instruction” means instruction and the provision of full-time day school at the elementary or high school level for one or more pupils who are six 6 to 18 years of age, inclusive.
(f) For purposes of this section, a “person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation” includes, but is not limited to, conventional or traditional private schools, private school satellite programs, private online or virtual schools, parents, guardians, or other individuals who operate a private home school, and certified nonpublic nonpublic, nonsectarian schools.

SEC. 2.Section 13143 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:
13143.

(a)(1)Except as provided in Section 18930, the State Fire Marshal, with the advice of the State Board of Fire Services, shall prepare, adopt, and submit building standards for approval pursuant to Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 18935) of Part 2.5 of Division 13 and shall prepare and adopt other regulations establishing minimum requirements for the prevention of fire, and for the protection of life and property against fire and panic, in any building or structure used or intended for use as an asylum, jail, mental hospital, hospital, home for the elderly, children’s nursery, children’s home or institution not otherwise excluded from the coverage of this subdivision, school, including any school subject to the filing requirement of subdivision (a) of Section 33190 of the Education Code, or any similar occupancy of any capacity, and in any assembly occupancy where 50 or more persons may gather together in a building, room, or structure for the purpose of amusement, entertainment, instruction, deliberation, worship, drinking or dining, awaiting transportation, or education, and for any laboratory or research and development facility that stores, handles, or uses regulated hazardous materials. The State Fire Marshal shall adopt and submit building standards for approval pursuant to Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 18935) of Part 2.5 of Division 13 for the purposes described in this section. Regulations adopted pursuant to this subdivision and building standards relating to fire and panic safety published in the California Building Standards Code shall establish minimum requirements relating to the means of egress and the adequacy of exits from, the installation and maintenance of fire extinguishing and fire alarm systems in, the storage and handling of combustible or explosive materials or substances, and the installation and maintenance of appliances, equipment, decorations, security bars, grills, grates, and furnishings that present a fire, explosion, or panic hazard, and the minimum requirements shall be predicated on the height and fire-resistive qualities of the building or structure and the type of occupancy for which it is to be used. The building standards and other regulations shall apply to auxiliary or accessory buildings used or intended for use with any of the occupancies mentioned in this subdivision. Violation of any building standard or other regulation shall be a violation of this chapter.

(2)In preparing and adopting building standards for approval pursuant to Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 18935) of Part 2.5 of Division 13, and in preparing and adopting other regulations affecting public schools, the State Fire Marshal shall also secure the advice of the State Department of Education. A regulation adopted by the State Fire Marshal shall not conflict with any rule, regulation, or building standard lawfully adopted or enforced by the Department of General Services pursuant to Article 7 (commencing with Section 81130) of Chapter 1 of Part 49 of Division 7 of Title 3 of the Education Code.

(3)In addition to any other requirements for location of exit signs or devices in any building or structure used or intended for use as an asylum, jail, mental hospital, hospital, home for the elderly, children’s nursery, children’s home or institution not otherwise excluded from the coverage of this subdivision, school, including any school subject to the filing requirement of subdivision (a) of Section 33190 of the Education Code, or any similar occupancy of any capacity, and in any assembly occupancy where 50 or more persons may gather together in a building, room, or structure for the purpose of amusement, entertainment, instruction, deliberation, worship, drinking or dining, awaiting transportation, or education, the State Fire Marshal shall adopt building standards pursuant to this section establishing minimum requirements for the placement of distinctive devices, signs, or other means that identify exits and can be felt or seen near the floor. Exit sign technologies permitted by the model building code upon which the California Building Standards Code is based, shall be permitted. These building standards shall be adopted before July 1, 1998, and shall apply to all newly constructed buildings or structures subject to this subdivision for which a building permit is issued, or construction commenced, if no building permit is issued, on or after January 1, 1989.

(b)(1)Notwithstanding subdivision (a) and Section 13143.6, facilities licensed pursuant to Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 1500) of Division 2 that provide nonmedical board, room, and care for six or fewer ambulatory children placed with the licensee for care or foster family homes and family day care homes for children, with a capacity of six or fewer and providing care and supervision for ambulatory children or children two years of age or younger, or both, shall not be subject to Article 1 (commencing with Section 13100) or Article 2 (commencing with Section 13140) of this chapter or regulations adopted pursuant thereto. A city, county, or public district shall not adopt or enforce any requirement for the prevention of fire, or for the protection of life and property against fire and panic, with respect to structures used as facilities specified in this subdivision, unless the requirement would be applicable to a structure regardless of the special occupancy. Nothing in this subdivision shall restrict the application of state or local housing standards to those facilities, if the standards are applicable to residential occupancies and are not based upon the use of the structure as a facility specified in this subdivision.

(2)“Ambulatory children,” as used in this subdivision, does not include nonambulatory persons, as defined in Section 13131, and relatives of the licensee or the licensee’s spouse.

(c)The State Fire Marshal shall adopt building standards establishing regulations providing that all school classrooms constructed after January 1, 1990, not equipped with automatic sprinkler systems, which have metal grills or bars on all their windows and do not have at least two exit doors within three feet of each end of the classroom opening to the exterior of the building or to a common hallway used for evacuation purposes, shall have an inside release for the grills or bars on at least one window farthest from the exit doors. The window or windows with the inside release shall be clearly marked as an emergency exit, in accordance with regulations adopted by the State Fire Marshal.

SEC. 3.Section 13146.3 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:
13146.3.

The chief of a city or county fire department or district providing fire protection services and his or her authorized representatives shall inspect every building used as a public or private school, including any school subject to the filing requirement of subdivision (a) of Section 33190 of the Education Code, within his or her jurisdiction, for the purpose of enforcing regulations promulgated pursuant to Section 13143, not less than once each year. The State Fire Marshal and his or her authorized representatives shall make these inspections not less than once each year in areas outside of corporate cities and districts providing fire protection services.

SEC. 4.

If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.