Bill Text: NY S03397 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Establishes a maximum temperature in school buildings and indoor facilities; provides a definition of extreme heat condition days and the standard to measure room temperature.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 27-9)
Status: (Passed) 2024-12-13 - APPROVAL MEMO.42 [S03397 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-S03397-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 3397--A 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN SENATE January 31, 2023 ___________ Introduced by Sens. SKOUFIS, ADDABBO, ASHBY, BAILEY, BRISPORT, BROUK, CANZONERI-FITZPATRICK, CHU, COMRIE, COONEY, GONZALEZ, GOUNARDES, HARCKHAM, HINCHEY, HOYLMAN-SIGAL, JACKSON, KAVANAGH, LANZA, LIU, MANN- ION, MARTINEZ, MARTINS, MATTERA, MAY, MAYER, MURRAY, MYRIE, PARKER, ROLISON, RYAN, SALAZAR, SCARCELLA-SPANTON, THOMAS, WEBB, WEBER, WEIK -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Education -- recommitted to the Committee on Educa- tion in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to establishing a maximum temperature in school buildings and indoor facilities The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new section 409-n 2 to read as follows: 3 § 409-n. Maximum temperatures in school buildings and facilities. All 4 common, union free, central, central high schools, city school districts 5 and boards of cooperative educational services shall develop a policy 6 for ensuring the health and safety of students, faculty, and other 7 employees, on extreme heat condition days. For the purpose of this 8 section, extreme heat condition days shall be defined as days when the 9 occupiable educational and support services spaces are found to be 10 eighty-two degrees or greater Fahrenheit. For the purpose of this 11 section, support services spaces shall not include kitchen areas used in 12 the preparation of food for consumption by students. For the purpose of 13 this section, room temperature shall be measured at a shaded location, 14 three feet above the floor near the center of the room. Schools shall be 15 required to take action to relieve heat-related discomfort when the 16 occupied space temperature reaches eighty-two degrees Fahrenheit. These 17 actions may include, but are not limited to, turning off the overhead EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD02813-02-4S. 3397--A 2 1 lights, pulling down shades or blinds, turning on fans, opening class- 2 room doors and windows to increase circulation, turning off unused elec- 3 tronics that produce heat, and providing water breaks. Educational and 4 support services spaces cannot be occupied if room temperature reaches 5 eighty-eight degrees Fahrenheit. 6 § 2. Paragraph a of subdivision 3 of section 2801-a of the education 7 law, as amended by section 1 of part B of chapter 54 of the laws of 8 2016, is amended to read as follows: 9 a. policies and procedures for response to emergency situations 10 including extreme heat conditions, such as those requiring evacuation, 11 sheltering, and lock-down. These policies shall include, at a minimum, 12 evacuation routes, shelter sites, and procedures for addressing medical 13 needs, transportation and emergency notification of parents and guardi- 14 ans; 15 § 3. This act shall take effect September 1, 2025.
