(1) Existing law authorizes specified drowning or injury prevention organizations (DIP organization) to provide informational materials, in electronic or hardcopy form, to a public school regarding specified topics relating to drowning prevention. Existing law requires a DIP organization that chooses to provide informational materials to provide, upon request by a public school, the informational materials in the 3 most commonly spoken languages associated with the population attending the school.
This bill would instead require a DIP organization that chooses to provide informational materials to provide, upon request by a public school, the informational materials in English and would encourage the DIP organization to provide informational materials in the other most commonly spoken languages associated with the population attending the school. The bill would require a DIP organization that chooses to provide informational materials to a public school to provide those materials at no cost to the public school, allow the school to offer copies of the materials to pupils and parents, and provide written evidence to a school administrator that demonstrates that the informational materials provided by the DIP organization align with the drowning, drowning prevention, water safety, rescue, and swim skills lesson information found on the drowning prevention web page of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as provided. The bill also would require the State Department of Education to gather and make available on its internet website school-based water safety and drowning prevention education resources and curriculum, as provided. The bill would authorize public schools to provide to their pupils those water safety informational materials identified by the department and provided by a DIP organization, as provided.
(2) Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to adopt and enforce regulations relating to public swimming pools, as defined.
This bill would establish the Swim Lesson Voucher and Swim Lesson Directory Development Plan Partnership for the purposes of increasing water safety in this state by offering vouchers for swim lessons at no cost to children under 18 years of age whose families have an income of no more than 250% of the federal poverty level and making it easier for parents, caregivers, and guardians to access swim lessons for their children, as provided. The bill would require the partnership to consist of no more than 10 members and be composed of representatives of California's local parks and recreation district leadership, as identified by the California Association of Recreation and Park Districts and appointed by the Governor, state agencies with experience in water safety or drowning prevention, as appointed by the Governor, and experts in drowning prevention identified by the Drowning Prevention Foundation and appointed by the Governor. The bill would require the partnership to, among other things, (A) develop model written agreements to establish a network of public and private swim lesson programs and swim lesson vendors that accept vouchers in exchange for providing swim lessons, (B) establish a model application method and eligibility criteria for swim lesson vouchers, (C) develop, in consultation with other organizations, a free and publicly accessible online statewide directory of swim lesson programs, listed by county, and (D) make recommendations and an action plan to seek various contributors that will fund or match funds to cover the cost of the voucher programs and the development of the online statewide directory. The bill would require the partnership to provide directions and options for administering the voucher program and swim lesson directory through a combination of state and regional public or private partners. The bill would make implementation of these provisions contingent upon an appropriation for these purposes in the annual Budget Act or another statute or as otherwise provided.

Statutes affected:
AB 1005: 51140 EDC, 51890 EDC
02/20/25 - Introduced: 51140 EDC, 51890 EDC
03/25/25 - Amended Assembly: 51140 EDC, 51890 EDC
04/21/25 - Amended Assembly: 51140 EDC, 51890 EDC
05/23/25 - Amended Assembly: 51140 EDC