Bill Text: CA AB1726 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Swimming pools: safety.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-07-02 - From committee without further action pursuant to Joint Rule 62(a). [AB1726 Detail]
Download: California-2011-AB1726-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 1726 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 7, 2012
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 19, 2012
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Allen
FEBRUARY 16, 2012
An act to add Section 116064.3 to the Health and Safety Code,
relating to swimming pools.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1726, as amended, Allen. Swimming pools: safety.
Existing law provides various construction and safety standards
for public swimming pools, as defined. Existing law requires that
every person or entity operating or maintaining a public swimming
pool do so in a sanitary, healthful, and safe manner, and authorizes
the State Department of Public Health to supervise the sanitation,
healthfulness, and safety of public swimming pools. Existing law
requires county health officers to enforce department regulations and
authorizes a county health officer or any department inspector to
enter the premises of a public swimming pool and make an examination
and investigation to determine the sanitary condition of the swimming
pool and to determine violations of building standards. Violation of
these provisions is a misdemeanor.
This bill, effective January 1, 2014, would require an owner of a
public swimming pool, as defined, to ensure that the public swimming
pool is operated by a qualified pool operator, as defined, and to
maintain and conspicuously post a current certificate of each
qualified pool operator employed by the swimming pool
. This bill would require originals or copies of the
certificate or documentation of each qualified pool operator
employed by the site to be available onsite for inspection
by a local enforcing agency.
This bill would require every pool operator , as defined,
of a public swimming pool to be a qualified pool operator and
to take a pool operator training course and examination, as
specified, approved by a local enforcing agency. This bill would
require a pool operator training course to be registered and approved
by a local enforcing agency, and would allow the enforcing agency to
charge a registration fee, as specified. By increasing the various
duties of local officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated
local program.
The bill would require that the public pool operator training
course consist of at least 14 hours of instruction covering topics
such as water disinfection, water chemistry, operation and
maintenance of mechanical systems, health and safety, and facility
operations, and include a written examination evaluating subject
knowledge. This bill would require training and testing to be
conducted by persons knowledgeable in pool operation, safety, and
maintenance, and who are approved as qualified pool operators in
accordance with this bill's provisions. A violation of these
provisions would be punishable as a misdemeanor. By expanding the
definition of a crime, this 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 with regard to certain mandates no
reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that,
if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains
costs so 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.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the
Public Pool Health and Safety Act of 2012.
SEC. 2. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Swimming pools, wading pools, water attractions, and
interactive fountains are major sources of recreation in California.
(b) There are approximately 65,000 public pools in the state that
serve millions of residents and visitors.
(c) Every year thousands of swimmers become sick from contaminated
water, are injured from improperly maintained pools, or drown
because of inadequate or unenforced pool safety measures.
(d) Lapses in operation and maintenance are critical contributors
to disease outbreaks and injuries. Current regulations do not cover
proper cleanup of fecal matter, vomit, or blood to prevent pool
contamination.
(e) Between 1998 and 2007, a 10-year timeframe, 186 chemical
accidents or spills because of improper handling occurred at public
pools in the state.
(f) California regulates public swimming pools via a series of
regulations, some of which have not been updated since 1986.
(g) California regulations do not establish operator training
requirements, and do not address current health and safety standards
to deal with diseases, such as salmonella, E. coli, and other
pathogens, that cause illness and injuries at public pools.
(h) The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
along with the National Swimming Pool Foundation (NSPF), National
Environmental Health Association (NEHA), the California Spa and Pool
Industry Education Council (Cal-SPEC), state and local health
departments, industry, academia, and pool operators have designed
modules that address all these issues. These groups joined with the
CDC to design the Model Aquatic Health Code (MAHC) which addresses
these gaps in the regulatory structure.
(i) Studies by CDC, NSPF, NEHA, Cal-SPEC, and other organizations
have demonstrated that, in addition to significantly reducing the
incidence of illness and injury, properly operated and maintained
public pools also have significantly fewer code violations during
routine inspections and save the owner and operators time and money
by reducing mandatory closures, unscheduled maintenance and repairs,
and user liability.
(j) It is the intent of the Legislature to adopt an aquatic health
code in California to protect the public from adverse health
conditions at public pools, that operation standards and requirements
are applied uniformly across the state, and that pool owners and
operators are afforded an opportunity to reduce their exposure to
user injury, illness, and liability.
SEC. 3. Section 116064.3 is added to the Health and Safety Code,
to read:
116064.3. (a) For the purposes of this section:
(1) "Bather" means a person using a pool and adjoining deck areas
for the purpose of water sports such as diving, swimming, wading, or
related activities.
(2) "Local enforcing agency" means the local health agency of the
county, city, or city and county. In jurisdictions where multiple
entities may be responsible for health and environmental issues, the
jurisdiction shall specify which entity will be the local enforcing
agency for purposes of this section.
(3) "Pool" means a constructed or prefabricated artificial basin,
chamber, or tank intended to be used primarily for bathers, and not
for cleaning of the body or for individual therapeutic use.
(4) "Pool operator" means a person who is responsible for the
water disinfection, water chemistry, operation and maintenance of
mechanical systems, health and safety, and operations of a public
swimming pool.
(4)
(5) "Private pool" means any constructed pool,
permanent or portable, which is intended for noncommercial and
nonpublic use as a swimming pool , including a pool in
residential property .
(5)
(6) "Public swimming pool" means a pool that complies
with all of the following characteristics:
(A) It is not a private pool.
(B) It is operated by a public entity or that
is a place of public accommodation to which the federal
Americans with Disabilities Act applies .
(C) It is not a pool that is located within a public lodging
providing no more than 15 rooms for public accommodation.
(6)
(7) "Qualified pool operator" means a person who has
successfully completed a pool operator training course pursuant to
subdivision (e).
(b) An owner of a public swimming pool shall do all of the
following:
(1) Ensure that the pool is operated by a qualified pool operator.
The owner shall replace a vacancy in the qualified pool
operator position within 90 days of the occurrence of the vacancy if
the owner employs only one qualified pool operator. If
at any time a public swimming pool owner does not have a qualified
pool operator, the public swimming pool owner shall, within 90 days,
ensure that the public swimming pool is operated by a qualified pool
operator.
(2) Maintain and conspicuously post a current certificate of
a qualified pool operator employed at the public
swimming pool pool's qualified pool operator
for the duration of that the
qualified pool operator's employment operator
is responsible for the pool .
(3) Have originals or copies of a qualified pool operator
certificate or documentation issued pursuant to paragraph (2) of
subdivision (e) for each qualified pool operator employed by
the site of the public swimming pool available
onsite for inspection by the local enforcing agency.
(c) Every pool operator of a public swimming pool shall be a
qualified pool operator.
(d) (1) A pool operator training course shall be registered with,
and approved by, the local enforcing agency.
(2) The local enforcing agency may charge a registration fee which
shall not exceed the costs necessary to administer the program.
(e) (1) The pool operator training course shall provide all of the
following:
(A) At least 14 hours of instruction, including, but not limited
to, information to provide the operator with a working knowledge of
the following elements:
(i) At least two hours covering water disinfection, including
common disinfectants, contact time (CT) values, bromine, chlorine,
cyanuric acid, breakpoint or superchlorination, hyperchlorination,
combined chlorine, secondary disinfection, and supplemental
disinfection.
(ii) At least two hours covering water chemistry, including source
water, water balance, saturation index, water clarity, pH, total
alkalinity, calcium hardness, water temperature, and total dissolved
solids.
(iii) At least six hours covering operation and maintenance of
mechanical systems, including monitoring, calibration, and
maintenance of automatic controllers, descriptions of common types of
liquid, dry chemical, and gas mechanical feeder systems,
calculations of circulation, main drains, gutters and surface
skimmers, mechanical system balance, circulation pump and motor,
valves, return inlets, filtration, filter backwashing, and cleaning.
(iv) At least two hours covering health and safety, including
recreational water illness (RWI), RWI prevention, risk management,
recordkeeping, chemical safety, entrapment prevention, electrical
safety, rescue equipment, injury prevention, drowning prevention,
barriers, signage and depth markers, facility sanitation, and
emergency response.
(v) At least two hours covering operations including applicable
regulations, aquatic facility types, daily or routine operations,
preventive maintenance, weatherizing, aquatic facility renovation and
design, heating, and air circulation.
(B) Administration of a written examination evaluating the pool
operator's subject knowledge. The examination shall be approved by
the local enforcing agency and given by the training course provider.
(C) A description of the following procedures used to ensure
validity in evaluating subject knowledge:
(i) Identity security procedures.
(ii) Proctoring procedures.
(iii) Testing procedures.
(2) Upon successful completion of a pool operator training course
and examination, as determined by the course provider, a pool
operator shall receive documentation indicating the successful
completion of the pool operator training course and examination.
(3) Training and testing shall be conducted by a person or persons
who are knowledgeable in pool operation, safety, and maintenance and
who are approved as a qualified pool operator in accordance with the
provisions of this section.
(f) A current and valid pool operator training certificate
approved by a local or state agency and consistent with the
provisions of this section shall be accepted by all other local and
state agencies.
(g) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), the provisions of
this section shall take effect January 1, 2014.
(2) The provisions of this section shall not apply to a city or
county that has an ordinance requiring public pool operator training
effective on or before January 1, 2012.
SEC. 4. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution for
certain costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district because, in that regard, this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.
However, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that this
act contains other 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.
