SB 954

Bill Subjects

Abstract

(1) Existing law, the California Healthy Youth Act, requires school districts, defined to include county boards of education, county superintendents of schools, the California School for the Deaf, the California School for the Blind, and charter schools, to ensure that all pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, receive comprehensive sexual health education and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention education, as specified. The bill would require the State Department of Education to monitor compliance with the requirements of the California Healthy Youth Act as part of its annual compliance monitoring of state and federal programs. This bill would, on or before the start of the 2025–26 school year, require each public school, including schools operated by a school district or county office of education, charter schools, and state special schools, to make internal and external condoms available to all pupils in grades 9 to 12, inclusive, free of charge, as provided. The bill would require these public schools to, at the beginning of each school year, inform pupils through existing school communication channels that free condoms are available and where the condoms can be obtained on school grounds. The bill would require a public school to post at least one notice regarding these requirements, as specified. The bill would require this notice to include certain information, including, among other information, information about how to use condoms properly. The bill would require each public school serving any of grades 7 to 12, inclusive, to allow condoms to be made available during the course of, or in connection with, educational or public health programs and initiatives, as provided. The bill would authorize a state agency, the State Department of Education, or a public school to accept gifts, grants, and donations from any source for the support of a public school carrying out these provisions, including, but not limited to, the acceptance of condoms from a manufacturer or wholesaler. The bill would, in order to comply with these provisions, encourage public schools to explore partnerships, including, but not limited to, partnerships with local health departments, as defined, community health centers, nonprofit organizations, and the State Department of Public Health. The bill would require the governing board or body of a public school to designate one employee at each schoolsite to implement these provisions. By imposing additional duties on public schools, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would make the implementation of these provisions contingent upon an appropriation. The bill would additionally prohibit a public school, as defined, maintaining any combination of classrooms from grades 7 to 12, inclusive, a school district, the State Department of Education, or a county office of education from prohibiting certain school-based health centers, as defined, from making internal and external condoms available and easily accessible to pupils at the school-based health center site. (2) Existing law authorizes, to the extent that the activities are an allowable use of funds from the AIDS Drug Assistance Program Rebate Fund, the State Department of Public Health to spend up to $23,000,000 to implement specified programs and grants related to the treatment and prevention of HIV and AIDS, including by allocating $5,000,000 in the 2024–25 fiscal year to distribute funding to a community-based organization to make internal and external condoms available pursuant to the above-described provisions in paragraph (1) if this bill is enacted. This bill would require, if the State Department of Public Health or any other state agency distributes funding, including the above-described $5,000,000 allocation, to a community-based organization to make internal and external condoms available pursuant to the above-described provisions in paragraph (1) , the selected community-based organization to, among other things, act as a fiscal agent of the state agency, or partner with relevant state agencies, to procure condoms at a discount, as provided. (3) Under existing law, the Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law, the State Department of Public Health generally regulates the packaging, labeling, advertising, and sale of food, drugs, devices, and cosmetics, in accordance with the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. A violation of those provisions is generally a crime. Existing law sets forth various other provisions relating to the furnishing and health care coverage of certain types of contraception. This bill would, with certain exceptions, prohibit a retail establishment, as defined, from refusing to furnish nonprescription contraception to a person solely on the basis of age by means of any conduct, including, but not limited to, requiring the customer to present identification for purposes of demonstrating their age. Under the bill, a violation of that prohibition would be exempt from the above-described criminal penalty. (4) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.