(a) Except as provided in Section 121555, a person shall not be initially employed, or employed under contract, by a private or parochial elementary or secondary school, or any nursery school, unless that person produces or has on file with the school a certificate showing that within the last 60 days the person has submitted to a tuberculosis risk assessment and, if tuberculosis risk factors are identified, has been examined and has been found to be free of infectious tuberculosis. If no risk factors are identified, an examination is not required. A person who is subject to the requirements of this subdivision may submit to an examination that complies with the requirements of Section 121530 instead of submitting to a tuberculosis risk assessment.

(b) Thereafter, an employee who has no identified risk factors or who tests negative for the tuberculosis infection by either the tuberculin skin test or any other test for tuberculosis recommended by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and licensed by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA), shall be required to undergo the foregoing tuberculosis risk assessment and, if risk factors are identified, the examination, at least once each four years, or more often if directed by the governing authority of the school upon recommendation of the local health officer. Once an employee has a documented positive test for the tuberculosis infection conducted pursuant to this subdivision, the tuberculosis risk assessment is no longer required. A referral shall be made within 30 days of completion of the examination to the local health officer to determine the need for followup care.

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(c) At the discretion of the governing authority of a private school, this section shall not apply to employees who are employed for any period of time less than a school year whose functions do not require frequent or prolonged contact with pupils.

(d) The governing authority of a private school providing for the transportation of pupils under authorized contract shall require as a condition of the contract that every person transporting pupils produce a certificate showing that within the last 60 days the person has submitted to a tuberculosis risk assessment, and, if tuberculosis risk factors are identified, has been examined and has been found to be free of infectious tuberculosis. At the discretion of the governing authority of the school, this section shall not apply to a private contracted driver who transports pupils infrequently and without prolonged contact with the pupils.

(e) The examination attested to in the certificate required pursuant to subdivision (d) shall be made available without charge by the local health officer.

(f) “Certificate,” as used in this chapter, means a document signed by the examining physician and surgeon who is licensed under Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 2000) of Division 2 of the Business and Professions Code, or a notice from a public health agency that indicates freedom from infectious tuberculosis.

(g) Nothing in this section shall prevent the governing authority of a private, parochial, or nursery school, upon recommendation of the local health officer, from establishing a rule requiring a more extensive or more frequent examination than required by this section.

(h) The State Department of Public Health, in consultation with the California Tuberculosis Controllers Association, shall develop a risk assessment questionnaire, to be used to conduct tuberculosis risk assessments pursuant to this section. The risk assessment questionnaire shall be administered by a health care provider, which shall be specified on the questionnaire. This risk assessment questionnaire shall be exempt from the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code).

(Amended by Stats. 2014, Ch. 329, Sec. 2. (AB 1667) Effective January 1, 2015.)