Supported by The Climate Center

SB 499 (Menjivar) School Extreme Heat Action Plan Act

Image credit: Stacey Meinzen.

Existing law, the California Child Day Care Facilities Act (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 authorizes 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, at the earliest possible time or, at the latest, the next time resurfacing or replacement of outdoor surfaces is required, 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. 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.

This bill would, on or before January 1, 2025, require all schoolsites to develop an Extreme Heat Action Plan and, by January 1, 2027, to begin implementation of their Extreme Heat Action Plan. The bill would require the plan to include installing or planting (1) shade trees or mini-forests, positioned on schoolsites where pupils can access them during the school day, (2) school garden infrastructure and plantings, and (3) coniferous tree barriers between the schoolsite and any adjacent high-polluting streets or commercial projects.

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, daycare centers, and family daycare homes for these purposes.

Full bill text and related information.

Bill author