Volume I, No. 17

March 12, 2009

Bill Introduced to Expand SB 575 (Solorio) Requirements to Modernization Projects

By Patti Herrera

Assembly Member Jose Solorio (D-Santa Ana) introduced AB 1127, which would require all school modernization projects, including additions to existing campuses, to be equipped with automatic fire sprinkler systems.

In 2002, then Senator Jack O’Connell authored SB 575 requiring schools to be equipped with automatic fire detection and sprinkler systems except for modernization projects. 

Modernization projects, including additions to existing campuses, were relieved of the new requirements because of undue burden that such requirements would put on school districts, such as replacing entire water systems to accommodate a single-building sprinkler system and the inaccessibility to sufficient water supplies for some districts.

AB 1127 (Solorio) would require the State Allocation Board to provide a supplemental grant to cover some of the cost of an automatic fire sprinkler system in modernization projects; however, the bill still does not address the larger infrastructure concerns raised with SB 575.