SB 1198 — AN ACT IMPLEMENTING THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE SCHOOL INDOOR AIR QUALITY WORKING GROUP.

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(NEW) (Effective July 1, 2023) On or before July 1, 2024, the Commissioner of Public Health shall adoptdevelop regulations,guidelines inregarding accordance with the provisionsestablishment of chapteran 54optimal ofthermal thecomfort generalrange statutes,of sixty-five to establisheighty andegrees optimalthermalcomfortrangeofsixty-fivetoeightyFahrenheit degreesFahrenheit for school buildings and facilities, except that gymnasiums and natatoriums may have a larger optimal thermal comfort range.

5 July 1, 2023 New section Statement of Purpose:Legislative Commissioners:

ToIn (1)Section implement4(a), the"provided recommendationsone ofhundred thefifty schoolmillion indoordollars air quality working group by extending and expanding the charge of thesaid schoolauthorization" indoorwas airchanged qualityto working"one group,hundred (2)fifty establishmillion thedollars Schoolof Indoorwhich", Air Quality and HVAC Portal for theproper purposeform. of collecting and making available reports of inspections and evaluations of school indoor air quality and heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, (3) increase the amount of funding under the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system grant program, and (4) require the Commissioner of Public Health to establish an optimal thermal comfort range in school buildings and facilities.

[ProposedED deletionsJoint areFavorable enclosedSubst. in brackets.

ProposedsSB1198 additions/ areFile indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.] LCO No.

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569 The following Fiscal Impact Statement and Bill Analysis are prepared for the benefit of the members of the General Assembly, solely for purposes of information, summarization and explanation and do not represent the intent of the General Assembly or either chamber thereof for any purpose.

In general, fiscal impacts are based upon a variety of informational sources, including the analyst’s professional knowledge.

Whenever applicable, agency data is consulted as part of the analysis, however final products do not necessarily reflect an assessment from any specific department.

OFA Fiscal Note State Impact:

Agency Affected Fund-Effect FY 24 $ FY 25 $ Out Years $ Treasurer, Debt GF - Cost See Below See Below 465.4 Serv.

million total Department of GF - Cost See Below See Below See Below Administrative Services Note:

GF=General Fund Municipal Impact:

Municipalities Effect FY 24 $ FY 25 $ Local and Regional School STATE See Below See Below Districts MANDATE 1 - Cost Explanation The bill, which makes changes to various school air quality-related programs, results in the following impacts to the state and municipalities:

Section 1 makes changes to the school indoor air quality working group and has no fiscal impact.

Section 2 results in costs to the Department of Administrative Services (DAS) to create the School Indoor Air Quality and HVAC 1State mandate is defined in Sec.

2-32b(2) of the Connecticut General Statutes, "state mandate" means any state initiated constitutional, statutory or executive action that requires a local government to establish, expand or modify its activities in such a way as to necessitate additional expenditures from local revenues.

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569 Portal.

The estimated costs include initial startup costs to create the portal and ongoing costs including software licensing and maintenance of the portal.

The costs may be reduced to the extent DAS is able to complete and maintain the portal leveraging existing resources within DAS.

Section 3 results in an annual cost beginning in FY 24 to local and regional school districts to test indoor air quality in certain schools annually, rather than every three years.

Such costs are anticipated to be no more than $2,500 per inspection per school.

The bill will triple each district's current inspection costs (unless the district is testing more frequently than currently required).

Additionally, should the inspection results call for corrective actions, then there are potential costs to districts, which may in some cases be significant depending on the corrective actions needed.

The costs are anticipated to vary widely among districts.

The bill also delays, from FY 24 to FY 25, the first year in which districtsarerequiredtotesttheHVACsystemineach school,andallows districts to receive a waiver from the FY 25 deadline in certain circumstances.

These provisions potentially change the timing in which districts will incur costs to test and upgrade their HVAC systems, but do not change the overall cost of doing so.

Section 4 authorizes $300 million in General Obligation bonds ($150 million in each of FY 24 and FY 25) for the school air quality grant program, to be administered by the Department of Administrative Services.

To the extent bonds are fully allocated and expended, total debt service is expected to be approximately $465.4 million over the 20- year duration of the bonds.

Section5, whichrequirestheDepartmentofPublicHealth to develop guidelines on optimal thermal comfort for school buildings and facilities, does not result in a fiscal impact to the agency.

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569 The Out Years The annualized ongoing fiscal impact identified above would continue into the future subject to inflation and the terms of any bonds issued.

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569 OLR Bill Analysis sSB 1198 AN ACT IMPLEMENTING THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE SCHOOL INDOOR AIR QUALITY WORKING GROUP.

SUMMARY This bill requires school districts to do more frequent inspections and evaluations of public-school indoor air quality and to submit the inspection results to the Department of Administrative Services (DAS), which must post them on a new air quality inspection portal the bill requires DAS to create.

Under current law, these inspections must be done every three years for any school constructed, extended, renovated, or replaced on or after January 1, 2003.

The bill instead requires they be done annually beginning January 1, 2024.

It also gives school districts more time to do a less frequent heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system (HVAC) inspection that must be done by a certified technician, certified industrial hygienist, or a mechanical engineer.

Current law requires these inspections to be done prior to January 1, 2024, and every five years after that.

The bill moves the deadline to January 1, 2025, and creates a waiver process for certain situations.

The bill also makes various other changes related to school indoor air quality, including the following:

1.

authorizes an additional $300 million in state bonding to be used for the school HVAC system grant program (§ 4);

2.

requires the Department of Public Health (DPH) to develop guidelines for an optimal temperature comfort range of 65 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit in school buildings and facilities, but allows gymnasiums and natatoriums to have a larger range (§ 5);

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569 3.

expands the charge of the School Indoor Air Quality Working Group created under PA 22-118 and extends, from January 4, 2023, to July 1, 2024, the deadline by which it must report to the Education, Labor and Public Employees, and Public Health committees (§ 1).

EFFECTIVE DATE:

July 1, 2023, except that the working group provisions take effect upon passage.

§ 3 — AIR QUALITY INSPECTIONS Submitting Results to DAS Under the bill, school districts must submit reports and results from each of the following types of inspections to DAS in accordance with the bill (see § 2 below).

Annual Air Quality Inspection or Evaluation Current law requires school districts to do uniform indoor air quality inspections and evaluations every three years for any school built or renovated on or after January 1, 2003, and may do so using the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Indoor Air Quality Tools for School Program (see BACKGROUND).

The bill instead makes the inspections annual and requires, rather than allows, the inspections to use Tools for Schools.

Under existing law, unchanged by the bill, the inspection or evaluation must include the following, among other things:

HVAC systems;

radonlevels;potentialfor exposure to microbiologicalairborne particles, including fungi, mold, and bacteria;

chemical compounds of concern to indoor air quality, including volatile organic compounds;

pest infestation, including insects and rodents;

the degree of pesticide usage;

plumbing, including water distribution and drainage systems, and indoor air quality maintenance training for staff.

By law, the inspection results must be made public at a school board meeting and posted online.

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569 HVAC Inspection by Certified Technician or Hygienist or Mechanical Engineer Thebillextends,fromJanuary1,2024,toJanuary1,2025, thedeadline by which school districts must start having HVAC inspections every five years that are done by a certified testing, adjusting, and balancing technician, industrial hygienist certified by the American Board of Industrial Hygiene or the Board for Global EHS Credentialing, or a mechanical engineer.

By law, a “certified testing, adjusting and balancing technician” is (1) a technician certified to do testing, adjusting, and balancing of HVAC systems by the Associated Air Balance Council, the National Environmental Balancing Bureau, or the Testing, Adjusting and Balancing Bureau (TABB) or (2) someone training under thesupervision ofa (a)TABB-certified technicianor (b)personcertifiedto doventilation assessments of HVAC systems through a certification body accredited by the American National Standards Institute.

Waiver The bill creates a process for DAS to grant waivers of the January 1, 2025, inspection and evaluation deadline.

(It does not include a deadline to submit the waiver request or specify for how long the waiver is granted.) Upon a school board’s request, DAS may waive the deadline if it finds one of the following:

1.

there are not enough certified testing, adjusting and balancing technicians, certified industrial hygienists or mechanical engineers to do the inspection and evaluation;

2.

the board had an inspection that was done in a different format that DAS deems is equivalent;

or 3.

theboardscheduled theinspectionandevaluationforadateafter January 1, 2025.

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569 § 2 — SCHOOL INDOOR AIR QUALITY AND HVAC PORTAL The bill requires DAS to establish and maintain an online School Indoor Air Quality and HVAC portal to collect and make available reports and results of inspections and evaluations of school indoor air quality and HVAC systems the bill requires.

Thedepartmentmustprescribehowschoolboardssubmitthereports andresultsandmay consult withHVAC andindoor air quality industry representativesto helpdevelopastandardreporting formfor theportal.

The portal must include (1) the standard reporting form and instructions on how to submit the form with the inspection results, (2) a searchable database of the inspection results, and (3) aggregated data of the results.

§ 4 — BONDING FOR SCHOOL INDOOR AIR QUALITY IMPROVEMENTS The bill increases, from $75 million to $375 million, the bond authorization for funding under the HVAC system grant program.

It also requires that $150 million of this authorization take effect July 1, 2024.

Current law requires DAS to use the bond proceeds to provide grants-in-aid for school air quality improvements including upgrading, replacing, or installing HVAC equipment.

The bill instead specifies the improvements include those authorized under the HVAC grant program (PA 22-118, § 367, codified at CGS § 10-265r).

§ 1 — INDOOR AIR QUALITY WORKING GROUP PA 22-118 created a 23-member working group on school indoor air quality to study and make recommendations on various related issues, such as (1) optimal temperature ranges to ensure healthy air and promote student learning, (2) emergency air quality conditions that warrant temporary school closures, and (3) best practices for properly maintaining school HVAC systems.

For the latter, the bill specifies that its recommendations must also include the frequency and scope of the maintenance.

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569 The bill also requires the working group to study and recommend a needs-based system for equitably distributing funds under the HVAC system grant program for schools.

BACKGROUND Tools for Schools The EPA’s Tools for Schools program helps schools identify and address indoor air quality issues, including using its action kit, which hasguidanceforexistingschoolstafftodopracticalinspectionsandtake other steps at little or no cost.

COMMITTEE ACTION Education Committee Joint Favorable Substitute Yea 41 Nay 3 (03/24/2023) sSB1198 / File No.

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