Bill to Speed Up School Construction Process Passes in
Committee
Sacramento – Today in the Senate Education Committee, Assemblywoman Sharon Runner (R-Antelope Valley) introduced and passed her legislation to help streamline the bureaucratic school construction process. "School construction is already bogged down in red tape," Runner said. "Anything we can do to cut down on unnecessary bureaucracy will help us build schools faster and put our children into classrooms sooner."
Runner’s bill would allow the Department of Toxic Substances Control to add addendums to their Phase 1 assessment of school sites. By doing this, they could forgo the lengthy Preliminary Endangerment Assessment that comes in later, after Phase 1. AB 2834 gives more flexibility to the DTSC by giving it statutory authority to do what is has already been doing in the past.
The bill does not interfere with public scrutiny and continues to uphold the stringent environmental standards developed by the DTSC. AB 2834 was heard in the Senate Education Committee and was passed unanimously. However, the fight is not over. The next move will be to get the bill through the Senate’s Environmental Quality Committee.
"I am really glad that the bill passed especially with the support of the San Diego Unified School District," Runner stated. "This bill saves schools time and money and puts our children into classrooms sooner."