CA AB 2968

Title: School safety and fire prevention: fire hazard severity zones: comprehensive school safety plans: communication and evacuation plans.
Author: Damon Connolly

Summary
AB 2968, as amended, Connolly. School safety and fire prevention: fire hazard severity zones: comprehensive school safety plans: communication and evacuation plans. Existing law requires the State Fire Marshal to identify, according to specified procedures, high and very high fire hazard severity zones within state responsibility areas and lands that are not within state responsibility areas. Existing law requires a person who owns, leases, controls, operates, or maintains a structure within specified portions of those areas to comply with defensible space requirements, as provided. These defensible space requirements include, among other things, a requirement to maintain a defensible space of 100 feet from each side and from the front and rear of the structure, as specified.Existing law provides that school districts and county offices of education are responsible for the overall development of a comprehensive school safety plan for each of its schools, as provided. Existing law requires a schoolsite council to write and develop a comprehensive school safety plan relevant to the needs and resources of that particular school, in consultation with a representative from a law enforcement agency, a fire department, and other first responder entities, as specified, while providing an alternate mechanism for compliance with this requirement for small school districts, as defined. Existing law requires the comprehensive school safety plan to include appropriate strategies and programs relating to school safety and school safety law compliance, including the development of specified disaster procedures. Existing law authorizes a chartering authority to deny a petition for the establishment of a charter school for specified reasons, including the absence in the charter petition of a reasonably comprehensive description of the development of a school safety plan that includes these same topics. This bill would, commencing with the 2026–27 fiscal year and annually thereafter, require each private school or public school, including a charter school, serving more than 50 students or pupils in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, in a high or very high fire hazard severity zone, as identified by the State Fire Marshal, to comply with the above-described defensible space fire safety standards, and any subsequent regulations implementing those standards, as provided. The bill would require the fire department having jurisdiction within the school’s boundaries to annually verify school compliance with those defensible space standards. The bill would, commencing with the 2026–27 fiscal year, require the disaster procedures in the comprehensive school safety plans to include the establishment of a procedure to identify appropriate refuge shelter for all pupils and staff, for use in the event of a shelter-in-place order, and to notify the fire department having jurisdiction of the refuge. The bill would require, as applied to public schools serving more than 50 pupils in a high or very high fire hazard severity zone, the procedures to be coordinated with the fire department, and would also require, commencing with the 2026–27 fiscal year and as a part of the comprehensive school safety plans for these schools, the development of a communication and evacuation plan, to be used in the event of an early notice evacuation warning, as provided. By imposing new duties on local educational agencies and local fire districts, 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.

Status
Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

Bill Documents
CA AB 2968 - 04/24/24 - Amended Assembly
04/24/24 - CA AB 2968 (04/24/24 - Amended Assembly)