100TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2017 and 2018
HB0354

 

Introduced , by Rep. David McSweeney

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
New Act

    Creates the School Water Supply Testing Act. Provides that beginning January 1, 2018, water supplies available for drinking water use in all classroom-instruction public school facilities, non-home-based private school facilities, charter school facilities, and special education facilities shall be tested for lead at least once a year. Provides that water suppliers shall be responsible for such testing and associated expenses. Contains provisions concerning testing expenses, rate relief, and reimbursements. Provides that test results shall be public; provided to the school district or governing body of a tested school, and the Environmental Protection Agency; and published online by water suppliers. Creates the School Water Supply Testing Fund. Provides that any monies paid by the federal government to the State to test local school water shall be deposited into the Fund and such monies shall be used for the purposes set forth in the Act. Provides that the Agency may adopt rules concerning the Fund and to implement the Act. Effective immediately.


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FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

 

 

A BILL FOR

 

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1    AN ACT concerning safety.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the School
5Water Supply Testing Act.
 
6    Section 5. Purpose. The purpose of this Act is to make sure
7that water supplies utilized by students in buildings used for
8classroom instruction are safe from contamination by lead.
 
9    Section 10. Definitions. For the purposes of this Act:
10    "Agency" means the Environmental Protection Agency.
11    "School" means any public or private elementary or
12secondary school, including a charter school. "School"
13includes, but is not limited to, a "public school" as defined
14in Section 21A-5 of the School Code, public special education
15facilities, and private special education facilities. "School"
16does not include a home-based private school.
 
17    Section 15. Testing of water supplies. Beginning January 1,
182018, water supplies available for drinking water use in all
19classroom-instruction school buildings shall be tested for
20lead, as measured in parts per billion, at least once a year.
21Each test shall be performed at one location within each

 

 

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1free-standing building in which classroom instruction is
2performed and need not be performed on each individual drinking
3water tap or fixture. Water suppliers shall be responsible for
4the testing at each school they supply. Water suppliers may
5either conduct testing themselves or hire a contractor to
6conduct testing. Any contractor hired by a water supplier to
7conduct such testing shall make a complete disclosure of the
8test results to the water supplier.
 
9    Section 20. Testing expenses. Testing shall be performed at
10the expense of the water supplier. This expense, unless
11otherwise funded in whole or in part by reimbursement grants,
12shall be considered a cost of safe operations. If the water
13supplier is a public agency, then they are authorized to seek
14rate relief from the municipality or other unit of local
15government that supervises their rates. If the water supplier
16is a privately-owned utility, then they are authorized to seek
17rate relief from the entity that regulates their operations.
18Prior to seeking rate relief, a water supplier shall seek
19partial or total compensation from reimbursement grants
20disbursed from the School Water Supply Testing Fund for the
21cost of this testing initiative.
 
22    Section 25. Test results. Test results are public documents
23and shall be provided at no cost by the water supplier to the
24Agency and the school district or governing body of the tested

 

 

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1school. Test results shall be published by the water supplier
2that paid for the test on a publicly accessible website within
35 business days of being made available to that water supplier.
 
4    Section 30. School Water Supply Testing Fund. The School
5Water Supply Testing Fund is created as a special fund outside
6the State treasury into which any monies paid by the federal
7government to the State to test local school water shall be
8deposited and such monies shall be used for the purposes set
9forth in this Act. The Agency is authorized, but not required,
10to set forth guidelines and procedures by administrative rule
11to distribute any future resources transferred from the federal
12government to the School Water Supply Testing Fund to local
13water authorities. Such guidelines, if adopted, shall take
14account of monies paid in any given year from the federal
15government directly to a unit of local government, a local
16water authority, or a school district for the purpose of
17testing lead in school drinking water. Notwithstanding any
18other provision of law, the School Water Supply Testing Fund is
19not subject to sweeps, administrative charges or chargebacks,
20or any other fiscal or budgetary maneuver that would in any way
21transfer any funds from the School Water Supply Testing Fund
22into any other fund of the State.
 
23    Section 35. Rulemaking. The Agency may adopt rules under
24the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act to implement the

 

 

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1purposes of this Act.
 
2    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
3becoming law.