BILL ANALYSIS AB 1890 Page 1 CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS AB 1890 (Higher Education Committee) As Amended June 22, 2010 Majority vote ----------------------------------------------------------------- |ASSEMBLY: |74-0 |(April 29, |SENATE: |33-0 |(August 5, | | | |2010) | | |2010) | ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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 Page 2 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 FN: 0005389