East County News Service

October 12, 2017 (Sacramento) – Governor Jerry Brown has signed into law Senate Bill 442, which aims to help make residential swimming pools safer.  It requires new safety features for new pools and pools undergoing major repairs or remodeling, a well as disclosure of pool safety problems when a home is sold.

Drowning is currently the leading cause of death for children ages 1 to 4 in Califorinia.  Drowning is a silent killer and only takes less than a couple minutes. Hospital records in California show for every fatal pool drowning there are five other near-drowning incidents resulting in hospitalization, with brain injury due to asphyxiation (lack of oxygen to the brain) being the main cause of the hospitalization.