Section 121525.

(a)  Except as provided in Section 121555, no person shall be initially employed 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 been examined and has been found to be free of communicable tuberculosis.

(b)  Thereafter, those employees who are skin test negative, or negative by 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 examination at least once each four years, or more often if directed by the school upon recommendation of the local health officer, for so long as the employee remains test negative by any test for tuberculosis infection that has been recommended by the CDC and licensed by the FDA. Once an employee has a documented positive tuberculin test or any other test for tuberculosis infection that has been recommended by the CDC and licensed by the FDA, the foregoing examination is no longer required, and 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.

(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. The governing authority may, however, require the examination and may as a contract condition require the examination of persons employed under contract if the governing authority believes the presence of the persons in and around the school premises would constitute a health hazard to students.

(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 been examined and has been found to be free of communicable tuberculosis, except that any private contracted driver who transports pupils on an infrequent basis, not to exceed once a month, shall be excluded from this requirement.

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

"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 or unit of the Tuberculosis Association that indicates freedom from active tuberculosis.

(f)  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.

(Amended by Stats. 2007, Ch. 24, Sec. 6. Effective January 1, 2008.)