BILL ANALYSIS AB 1715 Page 1 CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS AB 1715 (Fuentes) As Amended July 1, 2010 2/3 vote. Urgency ----------------------------------------------------------------- |ASSEMBLY: |70-0 |(May 24, 2010) |SENATE: |27-5 |(August 18, | | | | | | |2010) | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Original Committee Reference: APPR. SUMMARY: This bill, one of two annual bills sponsored by the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board (board) and carried by the Appropriations Committee Chairs, appropriates $998,029 to pay claims against the state as approved by the board. The Senate amendments made minor technical adjustments. AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill, one of two annual bills sponsored by the board and carried by the Appropriations Committee Chairs, appropriates $998,377 to pay 257 claims against the state as approved by the board. FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee: 1)Appropriates $963,914 from the General Fund and $34,463 from special funds. 2)Appropriates, pursuant to current law, an additional 15% surcharge on the amount of each claim (excluding stale-dated warrants) to pay for the board's administrative costs. This surcharge amounts to $45,000. COMMENTS : 1)Rationale . The Government Code requires the board to take all necessary steps to ensure that all approved claims, for which there exists no legally available appropriation, are submitted for legislative approval at least twice each calendar year. AB 1715 Page 2 2)Support . This bill, supported by the board, the Department of Finance, and the administration, has no opposition. 3)The 10 largest claims - from $15,000 to $227,000, account for 68% of the costs of this bill ; the remaining claims average $1,312. 99; 7% of the claims are in two categories: a) Stale-dated warrants (expired state checks) - 238 claims for $701,124; and, b) Unredeemed bonds - 15 claims for $294,003. 4)Related legislation . SB 910 (Kehoe) is pending in the Assembly Appropriations Committee and includes claims approved through March. AB 92 (De Leon), Chapter 218, Statutes of 2009 and SB 327 (Kehoe), Chapter 45, Statutes of 2009 were the two claims bills last year. Both passed without a dissenting vote. Analysis Prepared by : Geoff Long / APPR. / (916) 319-2081 FN: 0005247