Bill Text: CA AB216 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: School safety: Pupil and Staff Safety Pilot Program.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2020-06-23 - Referred to Com. on ED. [AB216 Detail]

Download: California-2019-AB216-Amended.html

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Amended  IN  Assembly  March 28, 2019

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 216

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Introduced by Assembly Member Weber

January 15, 2019

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An act to amend Section 56521.2 49005.8 of the Education Code, relating to special education. pupil discipline.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 216, as amended, Weber. Special education: behavioral interventions. Pupil discipline: restraint and seclusion.

Existing law prohibits a person employed by or engaged in a public school from inflicting, or causing to be inflicted, corporal punishment upon a pupil. Existing law prohibit an educational provider, as defined, from using a behavioral restraint or seclusion in certain circumstances, including, but not limited to, using seclusion or a behavioral restraint for the purpose of coercion, discipline, convenience, or retaliation, and prohibits the use of certain restraint and seclusion techniques.

This bill would prohibit an educational provider from authorizing, or requiring a parent to consent to, the use of physical restraint or seclusion as a planned intervention in a student’s education plan, individual safety plan, behavioral plan, or individualized education program.

Existing law authorizes the use of emergency interventions against an individual with exceptional needs, as defined, only to control unpredictable, spontaneous behavior that poses a clear and present danger of serious physical harm to that individual or others and that cannot be immediately prevented by a less restrictive response. Existing law prohibits a local educational agency or nonpublic, nonsectarian school or agency serving individuals with exceptional needs from authorizing, ordering, consenting to, or paying for specified interventions, including restrictive interventions that employ a device, material, or objects that simultaneously immobilize all four extremities, including the procedure known as prone containment, with the exception that trained personnel are authorized to use prone containment or similar techniques as a limited emergency intervention.

This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.

Digest Key

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: NO   Local Program: NO  

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Bill Text

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

 Section 49005.8 of the Education Code is amended to read:

49005.8.

 (a) An educational provider shall not do any of the following:

(1) Use seclusion or a behavioral restraint for the purpose purposes of coercion, discipline, convenience, or retaliation.

(2) Use locked seclusion, unless it is in a facility otherwise licensed or permitted by state law to use a locked room.

(3) Use a physical restraint technique that obstructs a pupil’s respiratory airway or impairs the pupil’s breathing or respiratory capacity, including techniques in which a staff member places pressure on a pupil’s back or places his or her the staff member’s body weight against the pupil’s torso or back.

(4) Use a behavioral restraint technique that restricts breathing, including, but not limited to, using a pillow, blanket, carpet, mat, or other item to cover a pupil’s face.

(5) Place a pupil in a facedown position with the pupil’s hands held or restrained behind the pupil’s back.

(6) Use a behavioral restraint for longer than is necessary to contain the behavior that poses a clear and present danger of serious physical harm to the pupil or others.

(7) Authorize, or require a parent to consent to, the use of physical restraint or seclusion as a planned intervention in a student’s education plan, individual safety plan, behavioral plan, or individualized education program, as defined in Section 1401 of Title 20 of the United States Code.

(b) An educational provider shall keep constant, direct observation of a pupil who is in seclusion, which may be through observation of the pupil through a window, or another barrier, through which the educational provider is able to make direct eye contact with the pupil. The observation required pursuant to this subdivision shall not be through indirect means, including through a security camera or a closed-circuit television.

(c) An educational provider shall afford to pupils who are restrained the least restrictive alternative and the maximum freedom of movement, and shall use the least number of restraint points, while ensuring the physical safety of the pupil and others.

(d) If prone restraint techniques are used, a staff member shall observe the pupil for any signs of physical distress throughout the use of prone restraint. Whenever possible, the staff member monitoring the pupil shall not be involved in restraining the pupil.

SECTION 1.Section 56521.2 of the Education Code is amended to read:

56521.2.

(a)A local educational agency or nonpublic, nonsectarian school or agency serving individuals with exceptional needs pursuant to Sections 56365 and 56366, shall not authorize, order, consent to, or pay for the following interventions, or any other interventions similar to or like the following:

(1)An intervention that is designed to, or likely to, cause physical pain, including, but not limited to, electric shock.

(2)An intervention that involves the release of noxious, toxic, or otherwise unpleasant sprays, mists, or substances in proximity to the face of the individual.

(3)An intervention that denies adequate sleep, food, water, shelter, bedding, physical comfort, or access to bathroom facilities.

(4)An intervention that is designed to subject, used to subject, or likely to subject, the individual to verbal abuse, ridicule, or humiliation, or that can be expected to cause excessive emotional trauma.

(5)Restrictive interventions that employ a device, material, or objects that simultaneously immobilize all four extremities, including the procedure known as prone containment, except that prone containment or similar techniques may be used by trained personnel, and as a limited emergency intervention.

(6)Locked seclusion, unless it is in a facility otherwise licensed or permitted by state law to use a locked room.

(7)An intervention that precludes adequate supervision of the individual.

(8)An intervention that deprives the individual of one or more of the individual’s senses.

(b)In the case of a child whose behavior impedes the child’s learning or that of others, the individualized education program team shall consider the use of positive behavioral interventions and supports, and other strategies, to address that behavior, consistent with Section 1414(d)(3)(B)(i) and (d)(4) of Title 20 of the United States Code and associated federal regulations.