Honor Follows Passage of Bill Intended
to Reduce Backyard Drownings

Assemblymember Gene Mullin (D-South San Francisco) received the California Coalition for Children’s Safety & Health’s (CCCSH) 2006 Legislator of the Year award for his recent leadership in the area of drowning prevention. Mullin’s Assembly Bill 2977, which passed the State Legislature last summer and was signed into law in September, will require property owners to install updated safety features when they build or remodel swimming pools or spas beginning January 1, 2007.

The measure, sponsored by the CCCSH and Safe Kids California, attempts to prevent toddlers from drowning and from becoming entrapped in pool and spa drains by requiring property owners to install anti-entrapment drain covers and one of a list of seven safety features when a construction permit is issued to remodel an existing pool or spa. California law previously required only that new swimming pools or spas include at least one of five approved safety features. AB 2977 will widen this requirement to encompass California’s existing pools and spas, which total more than one million, and add two additional options to the list of approved safeguards.  The new law also mandates that property owners install the anti-entrapment drain covers to protect both children and adults from body and hair entrapment in the suction outlets of pools and spas.

“Swimming pool drownings are the leading cause of toddler death in California,” CCCSH Executive Director Judy Barrett Miller said. “We are extremely grateful that Assemblymember Mullin championed this cause by carrying AB 2977.”

California Department of Health Services data confirms that for every child who drowns, four more are hospitalized for near-drownings. Many of these children suffer permanent developmental disabilities and health problems, as victims can begin to suffer brain damage within three to four minutes of submersion.