Plain English Breakdown
The bill text contains conflicting language regarding whether schools must strictly follow department procedures or are authorized to determine their own manner of distribution; both phrases appear in the source.
Informed Parents, Healthy Schools Act
This law requires the state health department to set immunization rate levels needed to prevent disease spread and notify schools if rates fall below those levels.
What This Bill Does
- Requires the Department of Public Health to establish and update immunization rate levels needed to prevent the spread of specified communicable diseases.
- Mandates that the department annually inform designated parties, including schools, daycare centers, and county health departments, when an immunization rate falls below the established level.
- Requires notifications to be translated into any language spoken by 15% or more of enrolled children in addition to English.
- Orders the department to apply existing data de-identification standards to protect individual privacy consistent with state and federal law.
- Requires schools or institutions to distribute the notification from the department to parents or guardians within 10 business days of receiving it.
Who It Names or Affects
- The California Department of Public Health
- Public and private elementary and secondary schools
- Childcare centers, day nurseries, nursery schools, family daycare homes, and development centers
- County departments of public health
- Parents or legal guardians of enrolled children
Terms To Know
- Immunization rate levels
- The specific percentage rates set by the department needed to prevent the spread of specified communicable diseases.
- Data de-identification standards
- Existing rules and methods used to remove personal details from records to protect individual privacy while sharing data.
Limits and Unknowns
- The specific immunization rate levels are not listed in the text; the department must establish them.
- Reimbursement for costs depends on a future determination by the Commission on State Mandates that state-mandated costs exist.