SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) It is the policy of this state that school facilities be designed and operated using available measures to provide a healthy indoor environment for students, teachers, and other occupants including, but not limited to, healthy indoor air quality and adequate ventilation with outdoor air.
(b) In November 2003, the State Air Resources Board and the State Department of Health Care Services issued a report to the Legislature detailing the adverse impact that poor indoor air quality is having on California schools. The report
found significant indoor air quality problems, including problems with ventilation,
temperature, humidity, air pollutants, floor dust contaminants, moisture, mold, noise, and lighting. The report found that ventilation with outdoor air was inadequate during 40 percent of classroom hours and seriously deficient during 10 percent of classroom hours in both portable classrooms and traditional classrooms.
(c) In February 2005, the State Air Resources Board approved an indoor air quality report that cites proven health and economic benefits to reducing indoor air pollution, which is estimated to cost California $45 billion per year. The report noted that children are particularly vulnerable to poor indoor air quality. According to the report, children under 12 years of age spend about 86 percent of their time indoors with 21 percent of the time being spent in schools.
(d) A 2019 report by the University of California, Davis, Western Cooling Efficiency Center and the Indoor Environment Group of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory identifies numerous studies finding that underventilation of classrooms is common and negatively impacts student health and learning. Improved heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system performance improves student and teacher health and attendance, student productivity, and the performance of mental tasks, such as better concentration and recall. The report found that students in classrooms with higher ventilation rates have a significantly higher percentage of students—13 to 14 percent—scoring satisfactorily on mathematics and reading tests than students in classrooms with lower outdoor air ventilation rates.
(e) A 2018 report in the
Environment International Journal found that short-term carbon dioxide exposure beginning at 1,000 parts per million (ppm) negatively affects cognitive performances, including decisionmaking and problem resolution. The Wisconsin
Department of Health Services states that carbon dioxide levels between 1,000 and 2,000 ppm are associated with drowsiness and attention issues. Carbon dioxide levels above 2,000 ppm affect concentration and cause headaches, increased heart rate, and nausea.
(f) The California Building Energy Efficiency Standards set minimum ventilation rates for classrooms. Sections 17002 and 17070.75 of the Education Code require school districts to ensure schools are maintained in good repair, including HVAC systems that are functional, supply adequate ventilation to classrooms, and maintain interior temperatures within acceptable ranges. Regulations adopted pursuant to Section 142.3 of the Labor Code require
that HVAC systems be maintained and operated to provide at least the quantity of outdoor air required by the California Building Standards Code (Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations) in effect at the time the building permit was issued. Despite these requirements, poorly performing HVAC systems and underventilation of classrooms continue to be a significant problem in California.
(g) The 2019 report by the University of California, Davis, Western Cooling Efficiency Center and the Indoor Environment Group of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that over one-half of new HVAC systems in schools had significant problems within three years of installation and that the vast majority of classrooms in California, including 95 percent of the classrooms studied in the central valley, continue to fail to meet minimum
ventilation rates. Some classrooms were found to have carbon dioxide concentrations above 2,000 ppm for substantial periods of the day. The study recommended periodic testing of HVAC systems and continuous real-time carbon dioxide monitoring to detect and correct these problems.
(h) Monitoring levels of carbon dioxide in classrooms will help ensure that California students’ school environment is healthy and conducive to learning and performing well on tests.
(i) A March 2021 study found that proper ventilation in classrooms could reduce COVID-19 infection risk by over 80 percent compared to classrooms without ventilation.
(j) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Society of Heating,
Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers recommend that schools, buildings, and homes combine filters and air cleaners to achieve minimum efficiency reporting values (MERV) levels of performance for air cleaning of 13 or higher.