BILL ANALYSIS ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 146| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ THIRD READING Bill No: AB 146 Author: Mendoza (D) Amended: 9/1/09 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 5-1, 6/17/09 AYES: Romero, Alquist, Hancock, Simitian, Wyland NOES: Huff NO VOTE RECORDED: Liu, Maldonado, Padilla ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 52-22, 4/2/09 - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Instructional materials: delivery SOURCE : Author DIGEST : This bill makes a publisher or manufacturer liable for damages if it fails to deliver instructional materials within 60 days of the receipt of a purchase order from a school district, as specified. Senate Floor Amendments of 9/1/09 limit the application of the bill's provisions to districts with fewer than 25,000 pupils enrolled. ANALYSIS : Existing law requires an instructional materials publisher or manufacturer to guarantee delivery of textbooks and instructional materials prior to the opening of school in the year in which the textbooks and instructional materials are to be used, provided that CONTINUED AB 146 Page 2 materials are ordered by the date specified in the contract. This bill: 1. Provides that if a publisher or manufacturer fails to deliver instructional materials within 60 days of the receipt of a purchase order from a school district and the publisher or manufacturer has not received prior written approval from the district for a delay in delivery, the publisher or manufacturer shall be liable for damages in the amount of $500 for each working day that the order is delayed beyond 60-calendar days. 2. Specifies that if late delivery results from natural disasters, terrorist attacks, acts of war, or worker strikes that prevent the normal transit of instructional materials, or there is a delay in the implementation of governing board requirements, the publisher or manufacturer shall not be held liable. 3. Prohibits a publisher or manufacturer from being liable for an amount greater than $20,000 for any individual purchase order placed by a school district pursuant to this subdivision. 4. Requires districts seeking to recover damages pursuant to this bill to give the publisher or manufacturer written notification of the actual delivery date of the instructional materials and the date upon which damages began to accrue. 5. Applies only to contracts with districts enrolling 25,000 or fewer pupils. Comments In August 2004, the state entered into a settlement agreement in the Williams v. California ( Williams ) case that required the state to ensure, among other items, that pupils have access to reasonably current textbooks and instructional materials, in useable condition, in each core subject to use in class and to take home. School districts CONTINUED AB 146 Page 3 are required to make every attempt to prioritize the provision of instructional materials to schools affected by the Williams settlement. Nevertheless, the author suggests that there is no incentive for publishers to make sure textbooks are delivered on time upon a district placing a purchase order. This bill provides school districts a tool that can help them fulfill the requirements of the Williams settlement. A prior version of Section 9530 of Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations imposed penalties on publishers that failed to deliver instructional materials within 60 days of the receipt of a purchase order. Because there was no statutory authority for districts to impose these penalties on publishers, a recent revision of the Title 5 Regulations included the deletion of these penalty provisions. The penalties proposed by this bill are identical to the penalties in the previous Title 5 Regulations. According to the author's office, "Ensuring that our youth are equipped with the necessary learning tools should be our primary goal so that they can be properly educated. AB 146 helps accomplish this goal by holding the publishers or manufacturers of K-8 instructional materials accountable to the previous California [Code of Regulations]." Prior Legislation A similar bill, AB 357 (Mendoza) of 2008, would have made a publisher or manufacturer liable for damages if it fails to deliver instructional materials within 60 days of the receipt of a purchase order from a school district. AB 357 was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger with the following veto message: While I am supportive of efforts to ensure that school districts have instructional materials available for their students on a timely basis, this bill is unnecessary. Districts may enter into contractual agreements with publishers and can negotiate any level of penalty based on a variety of contract terms, even without statutory mandate. CONTINUED AB 146 Page 4 FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local: No SUPPORT : (Verified 9/3/09) American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO Antioch Unified School District Association of California School Administrators California Federation of Teachers Riverside County Schools Advocacy Association OPPOSITION : (Verified 9/3/09) Governor's Office of the Secretary of Education ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees writes, "AFSCME supports this bill because instructional materials are key to classroom instruction and if these materials are not received in a timely manner, schools cannot do their job properly. Late delivery of instructional materials impacts a teacher's ability to properly prepare for classroom instruction and may affect the schedule of classroom learning." ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The Governor's Office of the Secretary of Education refers to the veto message of AB 357 why they are opposed. They state that districts purchase directly from publishers and should negotiate any terms related to damages and delays in deliveries. ASSEMBLY FLOOR : AYES: Ammiano, Arambula, Beall, Bill Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield, Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Carter, Chesbro, Coto, De Leon, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Galgiani, Garrick, Gilmore, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jones, Krekorian, Lieu, Bonnie Lowenthal, Mendoza, Monning, Nava, Nestande, John A. Perez, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Skinner, Solorio, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Yamada, Bass CONTINUED AB 146 Page 5 NOES: Adams, Anderson, Tom Berryhill, Conway, Cook, DeVore, Duvall, Emmerson, Fuller, Gaines, Hagman, Harkey, Jeffries, Knight, Logue, Miller, Niello, Nielsen, Silva, Smyth, Audra Strickland, Villines NO VOTE RECORDED: Charles Calderon, Davis, De La Torre, Hall, Ma, Tran DLW:nl 9/3/09 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED