Water: schoolsites: lead testing.

Assembly Member Connolly's legislation mandates new state regulations for lead testing in school and childcare facility drinking water, aligning California requirements with federal standards by June 2026. The measure directs the State Water Resources Control Board to adopt regulations matching federal Lead and Copper Rule Improvements, with authority to implement them as emergency regulations exempt from standard administrative review.

The bill establishes public transparency requirements, directing the state board to publish comprehensive lead testing data on its website by June 2028. This includes information from community water systems about schools and childcare facilities served, sampling results, facilities that declined testing, and outreach attempts. Water systems must provide elementary schools and childcare facilities that decline testing an opportunity to specify their reasons from a state board-approved list, with this information also made public.

Under the measure, community water systems must notify elementary schools and childcare facilities about lead testing eligibility and provide information about health risks. The bill expands existing criminal penalties in the California Safe Drinking Water Act to cover false statements in the new required reports, while specifying that local agencies and school districts will not receive state reimbursement for costs associated with these new requirements.