BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Gloria Romero, Chair
2009-2010 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 2048
AUTHOR: Torlakson
AMENDED: March 24, 2010
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: June 16, 2010
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Kathleen Chavira
SUBJECT : School Facilities Construction Fees
KEY POLICY ISSUE
Should the issuance of a building permit by the Office of
Statewide Health Planning and Development be contingent
upon compliance with existing law requirements regarding
the payment of fees, charges or other school district
governing board requirements?
SUMMARY
This bill prohibits the Office of Statewide Health Planning
and Development (OSHPD) from issuing a building permit for
any construction absent certification by a school district
of compliance with any fee, charge, dedication, or other
requirement levied by the governing board of the school
district, and makes other conforming changes.
BACKGROUND
Current law authorizes the governing board of any school
district to levy a fee, charge, dedication, or other
requirement against any new commercial and industrial
construction, new residential construction, as specified,
and against the location, installation or occupancy of
manufactured or mobile homes within the boundaries of the
district, for the purpose of funding the construction or
reconstruction of school facilities. In addition, a city
or county is prohibited from issuing a building permit for
any construction absent certification by the appropriate
school district that; 1) the fee, charge, dedication, or
other requirement levied has been complied with or, 2) the
fee, charge, dedication, or other requirement is
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inapplicable to the construction project.
(Education Code 17620)
The fees, charges, or dedications authorized in the
Education Code are subject to specified limitations. These
include prescribed calculation of fee amounts and their
annual adjustment, and specified exemptions from these fees
for facilities used for religious purposes, private
full-time day schools, and facilities owned and occupied by
federal, state, or local governments.
(Government Code 65995)
SB 50 (Green, Chapter 407, Statutes of 1998) in addition to
establishing the current School Facility Program, revised
developer fee procedures for school facility purposes. SB
50 authorized three different levels of developer fees to
be assessed under specified conditions:
Level 1 - A district is authorized to levy per square
footage fees of $1.93 per square foot for residential
construction and $0.31 for commercial or industrial
construction to be adjusted for inflation every two
years according to the class B construction index as
determined by the SAB at its annual January meeting.
This fee level is currently at $2.97 per square foot
for residential construction, and is assessed if the
district conducts a Justification Study that
establishes the connection between the development
coming into the district and the assessment of fees to
pay for the cost of the facilities needed to house
future students.
Level 2 - A district may levy Level 2 fees if it has
conducted a needs analysis, as specified, has SAB
approval of eligibility for state funding, and meets
two of the following four conditions:
o The district has attempted to pass a local
bond at least once during the last four years and
received approval by the voters of 50 percent
plus one.
o For a K-6 district, it has at least 30
percent of its enrollment on a multi-track year
round schedule (MTYRE). For a high school
district, it has at least 30 percent of its
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enrollment or 40 percent of the K-12 students
within the high school attendance area, in MTYRE
schools.
o The district has issued debt or incurred
obligations for capital outlay equal to 15% of
the district's local bonding capacity for
indebtedness approved by voters before November
4, or 30% of capacity for indebtedness approved
by voters after November 4, 1998.
o Twenty percent of the teaching stations in
the district are in re-locatable classrooms.
The fee may not exceed 50% of construction and site
acquisition and development costs.
Level 3 - A district is authorized to seek 100 percent
of school facilities costs if the state has exhausted
state school bond funds and the SAB is no longer
approving apportionments for new construction
projects.
(GC 65995.5 - 65995.6)
ANALYSIS
This bill :
1) Prohibits the OSHPD from issuing a building permit for
any construction absent certification by an
appropriate school district of compliance with any
fee, charge, dedication, or other requirement levied
by the governing board of that school district.
2) Prohibits application of these provisions to the OSHPD
unless, in accordance with existing law requirements,
the agency has been notified of the adoption of, or
increase in, fees or other requirements.
3) Makes other technical and conforming changes.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . According to the author, due to the
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omission of OSHPD in Education Code 17620, the
lengths to which school districts have to go to levy
and collect school impact fees on non-public hospitals
vary widely, with some having to engage legal counsel
to levy and collect these fees. Because OSHPD is not
explicitly prohibited from issuing a building permit,
school districts are not assured that school impact
fees will be paid by developers who construct
non-public hospitals. This bill, by prohibiting the
issuance of a building permit, would create a means of
alerting districts to the collection of fees to which
they are entitled under current law.
2) OSHPD . The Facilities Development Division (FDD) of
the OSHPD reviews and inspects health facility
construction projects. FDD enforces building
standards, per the California Building Standards Code,
as they relate to health facilities construction and
is responsible for overseeing all aspects of general
acute care hospital, psychiatric hospital, skilled
nursing home and intermediate care facility
construction in California, including the development
of administrative regulations and building standards
for these facilities.
3) Is this a new fee ? No. As reflected in the
background of this analysis, current law authorizes
the collection of fees for school facility
construction purposes for any commercial, industrial,
or residential construction within a school district's
boundaries. This bill would provide a means for
ensuring compliance with current law requirements for
assessing developer fees on nonpublic hospitals.
4) Conforming technical amendments . Current law (GC
65995) provides for a specified fee per square foot
for "chargeable covered and enclosed space" within the
perimeter of a commercial or industrial structure, and
specifically requires the city or county building
department issuing the building permit to make this
determination. The bill does not currently make
provision for such determination for structures for
which OSHPD issues building permits.
Staff recommends the bill be amended to make the
following parallel addition within GC 65995 for
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buildings approved by OSHPD; "For any commercial or
industrial construction required to be approved by the
Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development,
the determination of the chargeable covered and
enclosed space within the perimeter of a commercial or
industrial structure shall be made by the project
Architect of Record submitting the project plans and
specifications to the Office of Statewide Health
Planning and Development.
Staff further recommends the bill be amended to
include the following additional conforming changes:
On page 3 line 35, and on page 4 line 15, and on page
4 line 17, add "or the Office of Statewide Health
Planning and Development" after "county."
Add and amend EC 17621(c) to add the Office of
Statewide Health Planning and Development to the
entities to receive specified information upon the
adoption of, or increase in, a fee, charge, or
dedication or other requirement.
SUPPORT
Coalition for Adequate School Housing
Elk Grove Unified School District
OPPOSITION
None received.