SB855 - Childhood Drowning Data Collection Pilot Program

Legislative Progress Report draft open for public comment

June 6th, 2025

The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Drowning Prevention Pilot Program staff is excited to announce the draft release of the first SB 855 Legislative Progress Report for public comment. This draft report reviews the state of drowning data in California through a focus on ten pilot counties. Please click the links below to download a draft of the report and provide your feedback by Sunday, June 22nd 2025.

A reminder of the following as you review the draft report:

  1. The target (and required) audience for this report are legislators who have varying knowledge and expertise in drowning data and water safety. The writing style and level of detail is designed for this audience to understand and comprehend the CDPH team’s work, and to educate those in policy-making positions about the current gaps and needs for drowning data collection.

  2. The goal of this report is not to provide detailed information about the actual burden and circumstance of drowning in California. Detailed information about both will be published in a future CDPH data brief and in the CDC Foundation’s Understanding and Preventing Drowning report, both of which are currently in the publication process.

  3. Legislative guidelines instruct the CDPH team to inform the State about progress in developing a standardized form for drowning and recommendations for statewide surveillance, and to provide a review of pool safety guidelines. This report does not represent the final recommendations - those will be included in the 2027 Final Report. If you have any ideas or want to contribute more actively to the construction of our SB 855 Final Report, the CDPH team will be re-activating the SB855 CWSC Project group in July 2025. If you are interested in joining this workgroup, please email Drowning.Prevention@cdph.ca.gov and cc Mariko.Rooks@cdph.ca.gov to be added to the email list.

Thank you for your dedication to drowning prevention in California, and for your feedback, guidance, and support of the SB855 Childhood Drowning Data Collection Pilot program.