Newsom vetoes requiring tests for lead at more stringent standard

California will not be testing all faucets in schools and fixing those with lead in the water. Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed legislation Sunday that would have required water utilities serving schools receiving federal Title I funding to test all water outlets by Jan. 1, 2027, and, based on more stringent standards, immediately shut down those out of compliance, notify parents and come up with a plan for replacing the outlets or take other action.

Scientists have concluded that tiny exposures to lead could damage children’s nervous system and organs and cause learning and attention difficulties. Assembly Bill 249, authored by Assemblyperson Chris Holden, D-Pasadena, would have lowered the standard for action to 5 parts per billion from the current federal limit of 15 parts per billion.

In his veto message, Newsom said the bill would create a new enforcement role for the State Water Board, require a costly database for tracking compliance and could not be implemented in the bill’s timeline; it would also create a new mandate without a source of funding for the program, Newsom wrote. In language that accompanied many of his vetoes, Newsom wrote that the Legislature passed bills this year that would have added $19 billion in costs to the state budget in a year when a difficult-to-predict economy is creating uncertainty for state revenues.

However, in coming months, legislative leaders and the Newsom administration are expected to negotiate details of a multi-billion dollar proposal for a state bond for school construction for the November 2024 ballot; it will likely include dedicated funding for mitigating lead in school water. A bond measure that voters defeated in March 2020 included such a set-aside.

For more information on the dangers of lead in water and previous state actions, read EdSource’s special report “Tainted Taps: Lead Puts California Students At Risk.”