BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 1890
                                                                  Page  1

          CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
          AB 1890 (Higher Education Committee)
          As Amended  June 22, 2010
          Majority vote
           
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          |ASSEMBLY:  |74-0 |(April 29,      |SENATE: |33-0 |(August 5,     |
          |           |     |2010)           |        |     |2010)          |
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           Original Committee Reference:    HIGHER ED.  

           SUMMARY :  Establishes a value threshold of $300 for unclaimed,  
          lost, or abandoned property that must be held in the possession  
          of the University of California (UC) and the California State  
          University (CSU) and provides that such property must be held  
          for three months prior to being placed for sale at a public  
          auction. 

           The Senate amendments  revise and recast the provisions of this  
          bill into a single code section.

           EXISTING LAW  establishes provisions requiring lost or abandoned  
          property, regardless of estimated value, turned into UC and CSU  
          to be held for a specified period of time.  

          AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY  , this bill contained substantially  
          similar content to the version passed by the Senate, except that  
          the provisions were contained in two separate code sections.
           
          FISCAL EFFECT  :  According to the Assembly Appropriations  
          Committee, by providing the universities flexibility in the  
          disposition of low value unclaimed properties, the segments will  
          likely realize minor administrative cost savings at each UC and  
          CSU campus.

           COMMENTS  :  Background:  Under current law, when an item is  
          turned into a UC or CSU campus, the campus is required to hold  
          this item for a defined period (three months for UC, six months  
          for CSU).  After this period of time UC and CSU are required to  
          sell the collected lost and abandoned property at a public  
          auction.  According to the CSU Chancellor's Office, any revenues  
          collected by the selling of items at CSU campuses are placed in  
          a scholarship fund, and any items that have not been sold at  
          auction are donated to non-profit organizations.  The CSU  








                                                                  AB 1890
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          Chancellor's Office reports that larger campuses maintain two  
          full-time employees to manage the lost property inventory, which  
          often includes items such as books, sunglasses, and articles of  
          clothing, in addition to more valuable, tangible items like  
          bicycles and computers.  The CSU Chancellor's Office is the  
          sponsor of this bill and argues that the changes to the  
          management of lost and abandoned property proposed by this bill  
          would allow campuses to streamline their process and use staff  
          more appropriately.    


           Analysis Prepared by  :    Laura Metune / HIGHER ED. / (916)  
          319-3960 


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