Subject: Education, Elementary and Secondary: Elementary and Secondary Education Department; Environmental Protection

Bill Summary: Requires school districts to purchase and use environmentally-sensitive cleaning products that meet guidelines by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

ESTIMATED NET EFFECT ON GENERAL REVENUE FUND
FUND AFFECTED	FY 2009	FY 2010	FY 2011


Total Estimated Net Effect on General Revenue Fund	$0	$0	$0

ESTIMATED NET EFFECT ON OTHER STATE FUNDS
FUND AFFECTED	FY 2009	FY 2010	FY 2011


Total Estimated Net Effect on Other State Funds	$0	$0	$0

ESTIMATED NET EFFECT ON FEDERAL FUNDS
FUND AFFECTED	FY 2009	FY 2010	FY 2011


Total Estimated Net Effect on All Federal Funds	$0	$0	$0

ESTIMATED NET EFFECT ON FULL TIME EQUIVALENT (FTE)
FUND AFFECTED	FY 2009	FY 2010	FY 2011


Total Estimated Net Effect on FTE	0	0	0

☐ Estimated Total Net Effect on All funds expected to exceed $100,000 savings or (cost).

☐ Estimated Net Effect on General Revenue Fund expected to exceed $100,000 (cost).

ESTIMATED NET EFFECT ON LOCAL FUNDS
FUND AFFECTED	FY 2009	FY 2010	FY 2011
Local Government	$0	$0	$0

Officials from the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Health and Senior Services state there will be no fiscal impact to their respective agencies resulting from this proposed legislation.

Officials from the Office of Secretary of State (SOS) assume many bills considered by the General Assembly include provisions allowing or requiring agencies to submit rules and regulations to implement the act. The SOS is provided with core funding to handle a certain amount of normal activity resulting from each year’s legislative session. The fiscal impact to the SOS office for Administrative Rules for this proposal is less than $2,500. The SOS recognizes this is a small amount and does not expect additional funding would be required to meet these costs. However, SOS also recognizes that many such bills may be passed in a given year and that collectively the costs may be in excess of what the SOS can sustain with their core budget. Any additional required funding would be handled through the budget process.

Officials from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) state their agency will incur costs to provide forms, to provide each district with a printed copy of the guidelines and specifications, and to provide multiple avenues by which cleaning products may be determined to be environmentally-sensitive; however, DESE does not expect these costs to be significant.

Those school districts that may determine that a green cleaning policy is not economically feasible will likely incur costs to provide annual written notification to DESE. School districts will likely incur costs to disseminate the guidelines and specifications to every school in the district. DESE defers to the local districts, but does not expect these costs to be significant.

Officials from the Salisbury R-IV School District state that since there is language in the proposal for districts to avoid the regulations set out in the legislation if it is not economically feasible, there would be little to no financial impact on their district.

Officials from the Francis Howell School District state that initial indications are that there is not a significant cost differential for “green” cleaning chemicals. They do not foresee that the proposed legislation would have a negative fiscal impact on the district, especially since the district could file an exception with DESE if there was a cost increase.

No direct fiscal impact to small businesses would be expected as a result of this proposal.

This legislation is not federally mandated, would not duplicate any other program and would not require additional capital improvements or rental space.