August 14, 2020
The Honorable Hannah-Beth Jackson
Chair, Senate Judiciary Committee
State Capitol, Room 2187
Sacramento, CA 95814
Dear Senator Jackson:
On behalf of the undersigned organizations we write to underscore our opposition to AB 1384
(O’Donnell), which will immunize negligent school districts for COVID-19 injuries or death.
With just two weeks left in the legislative year, we support your decision to hold AB 1384 and
offer just a few reasons why this policy cannot be settled in the time allotted before the August
31st deadline.
Proponents of immunity claim it will help ensure safer re-openings, but the opposite is true.
Enacting a school immunity bill would disincentivize safe re-openings and cause a health and
safety disaster, with new hot spots across sectors and spread across communities. Black, Latinx,
and other school workers of color will be the most directly and negatively impacted by these
policy choices, and rates of infection and death in communities of color will continue to spiral.

 Enacting an immunity bill as our schools reopen would only put workers, students and the public
at increased risk of COVID-19 infection.
The risk is not hypothetical. We can simply look to the recent surge in Georgia just one week
after their schools reopened. Already over 1,600 staff and students have been quarantined due to
exposure to the virus. Weeks before schools reopened, Georgia’s legislature passed a similar bill
giving immunity to schools, healthcare facilities, churches and businesses for certain COVID-19
related tort claims. The results in Georgia are telling of what immunity protects (negligent
actors) and who it hurts (the public and our kids.)
We understand that insurers are refusing to cover schools for COVID-19; if that is the case it
should be addressed directly. Schools need insurance, not immunity. The best way to protect
schools (and businesses) is to make sure the insurance policies they have paid into for years
provide the coverage they expected. Schools also need funding for more testing, masks, cleaning
supplies and classroom ventilation. The State should be doing everything it can to protect
students and workers and prevent or mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in our schools– rather
than give school districts immunity for getting workers and students sick through their negligent
actions.
As California’s economy reopens, workers and students must be protected. As Governor
Newsom said in his Wednesday press conference, our number one priority is to control the virus.
AB 1384 takes us in the wrong direction.
Respectfully submitted,
Consumer Attorneys of California
California Nurses Association
ACLU, Center for Advocacy & Policy California
California Teamsters Public Affairs Council
California Conference Board of the Amalgamated Transit Union
Worksafe
Labor & Employment Committee of the National Lawyers Guild
Consumer Watchdog
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
California Employment Lawyers Association
Equal Rights Advocates
Consumer Federation of California
Disability Rights California

cc:

The Honorable Speaker Anthony Rendon
The Honorable President pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins
Assembly member O’Donnell

 Assembly member Rubio
Assembly member Boerner Horvath
Assembly member Cunningham
Assembly member Daly
Assembly member Fong
Assembly member Grayson
Assembly member Irwin
Assembly member Low
Assembly member Quirk-Silva
Assembly member Smith
Senator Rubio
Senator Dodd
Senator Allen
Senator Hill
Senator Borgeas