Bill Text: NJ A1697 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires each board of education to adopt policy establishing temperature control standards and guidelines for school district facilities.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-09 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Education Committee [A1697 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-A1697-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman GARNET R. HALL
District 28 (Essex and Union)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman Murphy, Assemblymen Karabinchak, Wimberly and Assemblywoman Haider
SYNOPSIS
Requires each board of education to adopt policy establishing temperature control standards and guidelines for school district facilities.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning temperature control of public school buildings and supplementing chapter 33 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Each board of education shall adopt a policy establishing temperature control standards and guidelines for school district facilities. The policy shall ensure, to the greatest extent feasible, that school buildings provide students with a temperature-controlled environment that is conducive to learning. The policy shall:
a. require, in each school building in the district, that a staff member be designated to monitor compliance with the standards and initiate permitted corrective measures;
b. establish a protocol to follow in instances where classroom temperatures are identified as being not conducive to learning;
c. identify what temperature control measures are permitted in accordance with local building and fire codes;
d. be informed by the temperature standards outlined in N.J.A.C.12:100-13.3(a)4 of the Indoor Air Quality Standard established by the Department of Labor and Workforce Development; and
e. require corrective measures be addressed, where feasible, by action outlined in N.J.A.C.12:100-13.3(a)1 of the Indoor Air Quality Standard established by the Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
2. The Department of Education and the Department of Health shall jointly develop guidance to assist school districts in establishing and implementing a policy concerning temperature control.
3. This act shall take effect on July 1 of the school year following enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill requires each board of education to adopt a policy establishing temperature control standards and guidelines for school district facilities. The policy must ensure, to the greatest extent feasible, that school buildings provide students with a temperature-controlled environment that is conducive to learning. The policy must:
1) require that a staff member is designated in each school building in the district to monitor compliance with the standards and initiate permitted corrective action;
2) establish a protocol to follow in instances where classroom temperatures are identified as being not conducive to learning;
3) identify what temperature control measures are permitted in accordance with local building and fire codes;
4) be informed by the Indoor Air Quality Standard established by the Department of Labor and Workforce Development; and
5) require that corrective measures be addressed, where feasible, by action outlined in the Indoor Air Quality Standard.
The bill directs the Department of Education and the Department of Health to jointly develop guidance to assist school districts in establishing and implementing a policy concerning temperature control.
