LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 1020, as amended, Emmerson. Public swimming pools:
anti-entrapment devices and systems.
(1) Under existing law, public wading pools, as defined, are
required to equip drain suction outlets with specified
anti-entrapment grates to prevent physical entrapment of the bathers.
Under existing law, the Swimming Pool Safety Act, public swimming
pools are exempted from that act's requirements that newly
constructed pools be equipped with specified safety features,
including anti-entrapment grates for drain suction outlets.
This bill would require an existing public swimming pool, as
defined, to be equipped with anti-entrapment devices or systems that
meet ASME/ANSI or ASTM performance standards. It would also require
an existing public swimming pool with a single main drain that is not
an unblockable drain to meet at least one of the specified
standards. The bill would impose timeframes by which its requirements
must be met, subject to exceptions, as specified.
The bill would require that every newly constructed public
swimming pool have at least 2 main drains per pump that are
hydraulically balanced and symmetrically plumbed through one or more
"T" fittings, and be that are separated
by a distance of at least 3 feet in any dimension between the
drains.
This bill would authorize the State Department of Public Health to
approve amendments or successors to these standards.
The bill would require the department to develop, and a public
swimming pool owner to file, a form to indicate compliance with the
requirements of the bill, as specified. The form would be required to
include a certification by a qualified individual, as defined, that
prescribed factual information provided on the form is true to the
best of his or her knowledge.
This bill would declare the intent of Legislature to occupy the
whole field of health and safety standards for public swimming pools
and to preempt all local health and safety standards relating to
public swimming pools.
This bill would authorize local health departments to impose a fee
on the owners of public swimming pools to cover the actual costs of
enforcement incurred pursuant to the bill, but in an amount not to
exceed $1.
This bill would also authorize the department,
until January 1, 2014, in addition to any fee imposed by
local health officials pursuant to the bill, to assess a
fee, as prescribed, but in an amount not to exceed $5
$6 , to defray the department's costs of
carrying out its duties under the bill. The local health de
partment would be required to collect the fee and would be
authorized to retain a portion of this fee in an amount necessary to
cover the administrative costs of collecting the fee, but in an
amount not to exceed $1. The applicable local health department
would be required to bill the owner of each public swimming pool in
its jurisdiction for the amount of the state fee and remit money
collected to the Controller. The bill would require a local health
department to submit to the department, every 6 months, a list
containing specified information regarding owners of public swimming
pools who have failed to pay the state fees for more than 90 days, as
prescribed. The bill would require any moneys collected from this
state fee by either the local health department or the department to
be deposited into the Recreational Health Fund, created by the bill.
Money in that fund would be available, upon appropriation by the
Legislature, for carrying out the department's duties under the bill.

Violation of these requirements would constitute a misdemeanor. By
creating new crimes, the bill would impose a state-mandated local
program.
By imposing new duties on local building officials and local
health officials, the bill would impose a state-mandated local
program.
(2) Existing law requires the California Building Standards
Commission to publish editions of the California Building Standards
Code, as prescribed. Existing law requires the commission to publish
the text of specified statutes in the code.
This bill would require the commission to publish the text of
specified provisions of the bill within the California Building
Standards Code, as prescribed.
(3) 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 no reimbursement is required by this
act for specified reasons.

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Comments/questions on AB 1020 (Emmerson and Ma): Public swimming pools: anti-entrapment devices and systems.