School facilities: School Extreme Heat Action Plan Act of 2023.

Existing law, the California Child Day Care Facilities Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of child daycare facilities, daycare centers, and family daycare homes by the State Department of Social Services. The act exempts from its provisions certain types of these facilities and certain programs, including, among others, a California state preschool program operated by a local educational agency under contract with the State Department of Education and that meets specified conditions and operates in a school building. Existing law requires the governing board of any school district to, among other things, repair its school property. This bill, the School Extreme Heat Action Plan Act of 2023, would, among other things, require all schoolsites, as defined, the next time outdoor surfaces are resurfaced or replaced at the schoolsite, to replace low specific heat surfaces, such as cement, asphalt, brick, pebbles, sand, aggregates, rubber, and synthetic turf, with high specific heat surfaces, such as cool pavement technologies, natural grass, shrubs, trees, wood chips, or other natural systems that mitigate heat and pollution, as provided. The bill would require all schoolsite decisionmaking personnel involved in the replacement or resurfacing of outdoor surfaces at a schoolsite to be trained in extreme heat mitigation measures. By imposing additional duties on local educational entities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would require the State Department of Education, in consultation with the State Department of Social Services, as appropriate, to develop a template for an extreme heat action plan to be used by schoolsites, and to make a model program guidebook available to schoolsites and establish a process for systematically updating the guidebook and supporting documentation. The bill would require the State Department of Social Services to identify a liaison for child daycare facilities, as defined, for these purposes. This bill would, on or before January 1, 2025, require all schoolsites, as defined, to develop an extreme heat action plan, as specified. The bill would require the plan to address the installation or planting of (1) shade trees or mini-forests, positioned on schoolsites where pupils can access them when in attendance, (2) school garden infrastructure and plantings, and (3) green barriers between the schoolsite and any adjacent high-polluting streets or commercial projects. By imposing additional duties on local educational entities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would also require, on or before January 1, 2027, schoolsites to begin implementation of their extreme heat action plan. The bill would make implementation of the plan contingent upon appropriation by the Legislature. By imposing additional duties on local educational entities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 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.