Senate Bill No. 665
(By Senator Hunter and Oliverio)
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[Introduced February 18, 2002; referred to the Committee
on Education; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section three, article nine-e,
chapter eighteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating generally to
indoor air quality in schools; requiring the school building
authority to promulgate rules for testing and correcting
systems in new and renovated schools; directing the state
department of education to train county maintenance
personnel; and directing the state department of education
to forward to the school building authority copies of all
complaints regarding indoor air quality.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section three, article nine-e, chapter eighteen of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 9E. AIR QUALITY IN NEW SCHOOLS ACT.
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18-9E-3. Air quality in new schools.
(a) In an effort to create well ventilated school
environments, and notwithstanding any other provision of this
code to the contrary, any new school building designed and
constructed in the state by a county board, regardless of the
funding source, shall be designed and constructed in compliance
with the current standards of the American society of heating,
refrigerating and air conditioning engineers handbook (ASHRAE),
the national fire protection association code (NFPA) and the code
of the building officials and code administrators (BOCA).
(b) Upon notice from the school building authority that a
new public school building is occupied, the division of health
shall perform radon testing in the school within the first year
after occupancy and at least every five years thereafter. The
county school board shall provide such reasonable assistance to
the division of health as may be necessary to perform the radon
testing. The radon testing shall include all major student
occupied areas at or below grade level. If it is determined that
radon is present in amounts greater than the amount determined to
be acceptable by the rules promulgated by the school building authority, pursuant to subsection (d) of this section, any
industry accepted mitigation technique shall be utilized to
reduce the radon level to the level or below the level determined
acceptable by the school building authority.
(c) If the school building authority determines that it is
feasible to test for radon prior to the construction of a school
building, the school building authority may cause preconstruction
site testing for radon to be performed.
(d) The school building authority shall promulgate rules
pursuant to article three-a, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code
to assure that any new school building designed after the
effective date of this article is designed and constructed in
accordance with the current ASHRAE, NFPA and BOCA standards. The
school building authority shall promulgate rules, pursuant to
article three-a, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code that
establish standards for safe levels of radon for public school
buildings. The rules shall include the requirement that county
boards submit all new school designs to the school building
authority for review and approval for compliance with current
education standards and design efficiencies prior to preparation
of final bid documents.
(e) On or before the first day of July, two thousand three, the school building authority shall promulgate rules to establish
a process for independent testing, adjusting, and balancing
(TABS) HVAC systems in school buildings prior to occupancy. The
process shall be consistent with current ASHRAE standards and
shall include, but not be limited to, the following:
(1) Requirement that HVAC designers must be professional
engineers registered in the state of West Virginia in the
specific discipline associated with the system being designed;
(2) A process to ensure the heating, ventilation, and air
conditioning (HVAC) system has been installed in the prescribed
manner and will operate within the performance guidelines;
(3) Ensure the TAB process includes participation of the
design engineer to verify the design intent;
(4) Ensure the TAB agent is qualified to perform the desired
services and performs testing and balancing procedures or other
SBA approved certification according to the procedures contained
in the associated air balanced council (AABC), national
standards, the national environmental balancing bureau (NEBB),
procedural standards and/or the environment engineering
consultants (EEC) standards for testing, adjusting and balancing
of environmental systems;
(5) Ensure that the independent TAB agent directly
represents the building owner and is contracted to the building
owner;
(6) Ensure that sufficient documentation is provided to the
owner to facilitate control and maintenance of the systems;
(7) Ensure sufficient training is provided to those who will
operate and maintain the systems, including at least one full day
follow-up training between six and eight months after the
facility has been occupied;
(8) Certification of successful completion of the TBA
process by the independent TBA agent.
(f) To assure proper maintenance and operation of new and
replacement HVAC equipment, the state department of education
shall, provide county maintenance personnel additional training
on the equipment and its controls at the site of the
installation. Such training shall occur within one year after
student occupation of any new school facility or at any existing
school facility where the HVAC system has been replaced or
generally rehabilitated. Additionally the state department of
education
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s facility staff shall provide on site training at any
facility that has been determined to have problematic indoor air
quality as identified through the state board of education
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s policy 6202.
(g) Beginning the first day of July, two thousand two and
every three months thereafter the state department of education
will forward to the school building authority copies of all
complaints received by the state department of education of
indoor air quality problems identified through the state board of
education policy 6202.
(g) (h) The state board shall promulgate rules, pursuant to
article three-b, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, in
consultation with the division of health, that authorize the use
of any appropriate floor covering in public school buildings,
based on user needs and performance specifications. The state
board shall submit the rules to the legislative oversight
commission on education accountability on or before the first day
of July, two thousand three.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish guidelines
related to indoor air quality (IAQ) for new construction and
renovation of school buildings that require all new or restored
buildings to have their heating, ventilation and air conditioning
(HVAC) systems balanced prior to initial occupancy; to require
the Department of education to provide ongoing training for the
county board employees who operate HVAC systems; and to require
the interagency distribution of IAQ complaints.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.