S 775: Requires policies regarding maximum temperatures in school buildings and facilities to include a plan to remove students and staff from occupied spaces where practicable when educational and support services spaces reach eighty-eight degrees Fahrenheit.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 775 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE (Prefiled) January 8, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. SKOUFIS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to policies regarding maximum temperatures in school buildings and facilities The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 409-n of the education law, as added by a chapter 2 of the laws of 2024 amending the education law relating to establishing 3 a maximum temperature in school buildings and indoor facilities, as 4 proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 3397-A and A. 9011-A, is 5 amended to read as follows: 6 § 409-n. Maximum temperatures in school buildings and facilities. All 7 common, union free, central, central high schools, city school districts 8 and boards of cooperative educational services shall develop a policy 9 for ensuring the health and safety of students, faculty, and other 10 employees, on extreme heat condition days. For the purpose of this 11 section, extreme heat condition days shall be defined as days when the 12 occupiable educational and support services spaces are found to be 13 eighty-two degrees or greater Fahrenheit. For the purpose of this 14 section, support services spaces shall not include kitchen areas used in 15 the preparation of food for consumption by students. For the purpose of 16 this section, room temperature shall be measured at a shaded location, 17 three feet above the floor near the center of the room. Schools shall be 18 required to take action to relieve heat-related discomfort when the 19 occupied space temperature reaches eighty-two degrees Fahrenheit. These 20 actions may include, but are not limited to, turning off the overhead 21 lights, pulling down shades or blinds, turning on fans, opening class- 22 room doors and windows to increase circulation, turning off unused elec- 23 tronics that produce heat, and providing water breaks. [Educational] 24 Such policy shall include a plan to remove students and staff from occu- EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD02930-01-5 
 S. 775 2 1 pied spaces where practicable when educational and support services 2 spaces [cannot be occupied if room temperature reaches] reach eighty- 3 eight degrees Fahrenheit. 4 § 2. Paragraph a of subdivision 3 of section 2801-a of the education 5 law, as amended by a chapter of the laws of 2024 amending the education 6 law relating to establishing a maximum temperature in school buildings 7 and indoor facilities, as proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 8 3397-A and A. 9011-A, is amended to read as follows: 9 a. policies and procedures for response to emergency situations 10 [including extreme heat conditions], such as those requiring evacuation, 11 sheltering, and lock-down. These policies shall include, at a minimum, 12 evacuation routes, shelter sites, and procedures for addressing medical 13 needs, transportation and emergency notification of parents and guardi- 14 ans; 15 § 3. This act shall take effect on the same date and in the same 16 manner as a chapter of the laws of 2024 amending the education law 17 relating to establishing a maximum temperature in school buildings and 18 indoor facilities, as proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 3397-A 19 and A. 9011-A, takes effect.