2001 Legislation
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SENATE BILL NO. 1110 – School inspection rpt, published

SENATE BILL NO. 1110

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Daily Data Tracking History



S1110..........................................................by EDUCATION
SCHOOL INSPECTIONS - REPORTS - Amends existing law relating to safe public
school facilities to require publication of a summary of the reports made
to the board of trustees of a school district.
                                                                        
02/12    Senate intro - 1st rdg - to printing
02/13    Rpt prt - to Educ
02/23    Rpt out - rec d/p - to 2nd rdg
02/26    2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg
02/27    3rd rdg - PASSED - 33-0-2
      AYES -- Andreason, Boatright, Branch(Bartlett), Brandt, Bunderson,
      Burtenshaw, Cameron, Danielson, Darrington, Davis, Deide, Dunklin,
      Frasure, Geddes, Goedde, Hawkins, Ingram, Ipsen, Keough,
      King-Barrutia, Lodge, Noh, Richardson, Risch, Sandy, Schroeder,
      Sorensen, Stegner, Stennett, Thorne, Wheeler, Whitworth, Williams,
      NAYS -- None
      Absent and excused -- Lee, Sims
    Floor Sponsor -- Keough
    Title apvd - to House
02/28    House intro - 1st rdg - to Educ

Bill Text


                                                                        
                                                                        
  ||||              LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO             ||||
 Fifty-sixth Legislature                  First Regular Session - 2001
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                       IN THE SENATE
                                                                        
                                    SENATE BILL NO. 1110
                                                                        
                                   BY EDUCATION COMMITTEE
                                                                        
  1                                        AN ACT
  2    RELATING TO SAFE PUBLIC SCHOOL FACILITIES;  AMENDING  SECTION  33-1613,  IDAHO
  3        CODE,  TO REQUIRE PUBLICATION OF A SUMMARY OF REPORTS MADE TO THE BOARD OF
  4        TRUSTEES.
                                                                        
  5    Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Idaho:
                                                                        
  6        SECTION 1.  That Section 33-1613, Idaho Code, be, and the same  is  hereby
  7    amended to read as follows:
                                                                        
  8        33-1613.  SAFE  PUBLIC SCHOOL FACILITIES REQUIRED. (1) Definition. As used
  9    in this section, "public  school  facilities"  means  the  physical  plant  of
 10    improved  or  unimproved real property owned or operated by a school district,
 11    including school buildings, administration  buildings,  playgrounds,  athletic
 12    fields,  etc., used by schoolchildren or school district personnel in the nor-
 13    mal course of providing a general, uniform and thorough system of public, free
 14    common schools, but does not include areas, buildings or  parts  of  buildings
 15    closed  from  or not used in the normal course of providing a general, uniform
 16    and thorough system of public, free common schools.  The  aspects  of  a  safe
 17    environment  conducive to learning as provided by section 33-1612, Idaho Code,
 18    that pertain to the physical plant used to  provide  a  general,  uniform  and
 19    thorough  system  of  public,  free common schools are hereby defined as those
 20    necessary to comply with the safety and health requirements set forth in  this
 21    section.
 22        (2)  Inspection.  It  is the duty of the board of trustees of every school
 23    district at least once in every school year to require an independent  inspec-
 24    tion  of  the  district's  school facilities to determine whether those school
 25    facilities comply with codes addressing safety and health standards for facil-
 26    ities, including electrical,  plumbing,  mechanical,  elevator,  fire  safety,
 27    boiler  safety,  life  safety,  structural,  snow loading, and sanitary codes,
 28    adopted by or pursuant to the Idaho building code advisory  act,  chapter  41,
 29    title  39, Idaho Code, adopted by the state fire marshal, adopted by generally
 30    applicable local ordinances, or adopted by rule of the state board  of  educa-
 31    tion  and applicable to school facilities. The inspection shall be done pursu-
 32    ant to section 39-4130, Idaho Code, or by an independent inspector profession-
 33    ally qualified to conduct inspections under the applicable code.  The  results
 34    of the inspection shall be presented to the board of trustees for their review
 35    and consideration.
 36        (3)  Abatement  required  --  Reporting.  The  board of trustees shall, in
 37    their sole discretion, accept or reject the results of the inspection in whole
 38    or in part and in so doing shall identify any unsafe or  unhealthy  conditions
 39    in  the  district.  The  board  of  trustees  shall require that the unsafe or
 40    unhealthy conditions be abated and shall instruct the district's personnel  to
 41    take  necessary  steps  to  abate unsafe or unhealthy conditions. The board of
 42    trustees must issue a report in the same school year in which the  inspections
 43    are  made declaring whether any unsafe or unhealthy conditions identified have
                                                                        
                                           2
                                                                        
  1    not been abated. The state board of education may, by rule, provide  for  uni-
  2    form reporting of unsafe and unhealthy conditions and for uniform reporting of
  3    abatement  or  absence of abatement of unsafe and unhealthy conditions. At the
  4    time of the report to the state board, a summary of the report  made  pursuant
  5    to  subsections  (2) and (3) of this section shall be published in a newspaper
  6    of general circulation within the district. The specific requirements  of  the
  7    advertisement  of  the summary report shall be prescribed by rule of the state
  8    board of education and shall include, but are not limited  to,  a  listing  by
  9    school of the health or safety item(s) that need repair and the estimated cost
 10    of  repair.  A complete copy of the report shall be available to the public in
 11    the office of the school district.
 12        (4)  Costs of and plan of abatement. If the school district can abate  all
 13    unsafe or unhealthy conditions identified with the funds available to the dis-
 14    trict,  it  shall  do  so, and it need not separately account for the costs of
 15    abatement nor segregate funds expended for abatement. If the  school  district
 16    cannot  abate  all  unsafe  or  unhealthy conditions identified with the funds
 17    available to it, the board of trustees shall direct that a plan  of  abatement
 18    be  prepared. The plan of abatement shall provide a timetable that shall begin
 19    no later than the following school year and that shall provide  for  abatement
 20    with  all  deliberate speed of unsafe and unhealthy conditions identified. The
 21    district shall immediately begin to implement its plan of abatement  and  must
 22    separately  account  for its costs of abatement of unsafe and unhealthy condi-
 23    tions and separately segregate funds for the abatement of unsafe and unhealthy
 24    conditions as required by subsection (5)  of this section.
 25        (5)  Special provisions for implementation of plan of abatement.
 26        (a)  Notwithstanding any other provisions of law concerning expenditure of
 27        lottery moneys distributed to the school district, all lottery moneys pro-
 28        vided to the school district for a school year in which  the  school  dis-
 29        trict  cannot  abate  unsafe  or  unhealthy  conditions identified and not
 30        legally encumbered to other uses at the time and all  lottery  moneys  for
 31        following  school  years  shall be segregated and expended exclusively for
 32        abatement of unsafe and unhealthy conditions identified until all  of  the
 33        unhealthy  and  unsafe  conditions identified are abated, provided, if the
 34        school district has obtained a loan from the safety and  health  revolving
 35        loan  fund,  the provisions of section 33-1017, Idaho Code, and the condi-
 36        tions of the loan shall determine the use of the district's lottery moneys
 37        during the term of the loan.
 38        (b)  If the lottery moneys referred to in paragraph (a) of this subsection
 39        will, in the board of trustees' estimation, be insufficient to  abate  the
 40        unsafe  and  unhealthy  conditions identified, the plan of abatement shall
 41        identify additional sources of funds to  complete  the  abatement  of  the
 42        unsafe  and  unhealthy  conditions.  The board of trustees may choose from
 43        among the following sources, or from other sources of its own  identifica-
 44        tion,  but the plan of abatement must identify sufficient sources of funds
 45        for abatement.
 46             (i)   If the school district is not levying under  chapter  8,  title
 47             33,  Idaho Code, at the maximum levies allowed by law for levies that
 48             may be imposed by a board of trustees without an election, the  board
 49             of  trustees  may  increase any of those levies as allowed by law for
 50             the school year following the school year in which it was  unable  to
 51             abate unsafe or unhealthy conditions identified.
 52             (ii)  If  the  school  district is levying under chapter 8, title 33,
 53             Idaho Code, at the maximum levies allowed by law for levies that  may
 54             be imposed by the board of trustees without an election; or, if after
 55             increasing  those  levies  to  the  maximum levies allowed by law for
                                                                        
                                           3
                                                                        
  1             levies that may be imposed by the board of trustees without an  elec-
  2             tion,  there  will  still  be  insufficient  funds to abate unsafe or
  3             unhealthy conditions identified, the school  district,  after  giving
  4             notice  and  conducting  a hearing, may declare a financial emergency
  5             and/or may apply for a loan from the safety and health revolving loan
  6             fund as provided in section 33-1017, Idaho Code, to obtain  funds  to
  7             abate the unsafe or unhealthy conditions identified.
  8             (iii) Upon  the  declaration  of  a financial emergency, the board of
  9             trustees  shall have the power to impose a  reduction  in  force,  to
 10             freeze  some  or all salaries in the district, and/or to suspend some
 11             or all contracts that may be legally suspended upon  the  declaration
 12             of  a  financial  emergency;  provided, that when a board of trustees
 13             declares a financial emergency, or when a declaration of a  financial
 14             emergency  is  imposed  by  the  state  treasurer pursuant to section
 15             33-1017, Idaho Code, and there is a reduction in force, some  or  all
 16             salaries are frozen, or some contracts are suspended, the payments to
 17             the school district under the foundation program of chapter 10, title
 18             33,  Idaho  Code,  and  in particular the staff allowances under that
 19             chapter, shall not be reduced during the duration  of  the  financial
 20             emergency  as  a  result of a reduction in force, frozen salaries, or
 21             suspended salaries from what the staff allowance would be without the
 22             reduction in force, frozen salaries or suspended contracts.
 23        (c)  All costs of abatement for a program implementing plans of  abatement
 24        under  subsection (5) of this section must be separately accounted for and
 25        documented with regard to abatement of each unsafe or unhealthy  condition
 26        identified. Funds obtained under section 33-1017, Idaho Code, must be used
 27        exclusively  to  abate  unsafe  or  unhealthy conditions identified. Funds
 28        obtained pursuant to section 33-1017, Idaho Code, in excess of funds  nec-
 29        essary to abate unsafe or unhealthy conditions identified must be returned
 30        as provided in section 33-1017, Idaho Code. Return of these funds shall be
 31        judicially enforceable as provided in section 33-1017, Idaho Code.

Statement of Purpose / Fiscal Impact


                      STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
                                
                            RS 10789
                                
Last year, in the 2000 legislative session, Idaho Code 33-1613
which requires safe public school facilities was passed. The code
requires inspection of safety issues, abatement of these issues
and formulation of a plan to abate them.

This bill simply gives the public, the patrons of the district,
the opportunity to know the results of the inspection, the cost
of the repairs and the plan for repair by requiring publication
in the local newspaper.

This will allow for patrons, school boards and school
administrations to work together on resolving these issues.

                          FISCAL IMPACT
                                
                                
                                
There will be an impact to school district budgets for
publications in newspapers.

Contact
       Name:    Sen. Shawn Keough
       Phone:   342 1405




STATEMENT OF PURPOSE/FISCAL NOTE       S 111