BILL NUMBER: SB 375	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Hancock

                        FEBRUARY 26, 2009

   An act to add Section 17075.20 to the Education Code, relating to
school facilities.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 375, as introduced, Hancock. School facilities.
   The Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act of 1998 establishes a
school facilities construction and modernization program that
requires the State Allocation Board to provide state per-pupil
funding to applicant school districts. The act authorizes a school
district that meets specified characteristics established pursuant to
regulations to receive financial hardship assistance for school
facility construction and modernization in cases of extraordinary
circumstances. Extraordinary circumstances may include the need to
repair, reconstruct, or replace the most vulnerable school facilities
that are determined by the department to pose an unacceptable risk
of injury to its occupants in the event of a seismic event.
   The Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities Bond Act
of 2006 provides that of the $1,900,000,000 of bond proceeds set
aside for new construction of school facilities up to 10.5% is
required to be available for purposes of seismic repair,
reconstruction, or replacement.

   This bill would require the State Allocation Board to review
criteria for funding eligibility under the Seismic Mitigation Program
and, if necessary, adopt regulations to provide greater access to
funding for school districts and county offices of education that
have seismically at-risk school buildings, as defined. The board also
would be required to review and adopt regulations for apportioning
funds pursuant to the Seismic Mitigation Program. The bill would
require apportionments to fund the evaluation by a structural
engineer or equivalent professional who is certified to test for the
structural safety of school buildings, of a facility to determine if
the building is determined to be seismically at risk, the repair,
reconstruction, or replacement of a building evaluated and determined
to be seismically at risk, and interim housing for displaced pupils
who would otherwise be housed in a school building that is evaluated
and determined to be seismically at risk.
   The board would be required to create an unfunded approval list of
applicants with buildings determined to be seismically at risk if
applications for funding exceed the amount of funds set aside for the
repair, reconstruction, or replacement of seismically at risk school
buildings.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  (a) The Legislature finds and declares as follows:
   (1) Section 17317 of the Education Code required the Department of
General Services to conduct an seismic safety inventory of the most
vulnerable school buildings.
   (2) The Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities Bond
Act of 2006 provided one hundred ninety-nine million five hundred
thousand dollars ($199,500,000) for purposes of repairing,
reconstructing, or replacing seismically at-risk school buildings.
   (3) The Department of General Services has received reports from
school districts of practical impediments to accessing those funds,
including regulations adopted by the State Allocation Board to
implement the program.
   (b) It is the intent of the Legislature to provide necessary
assistance for the repair, reconstruction, or replacement of school
facilities at risk during a seismic event.
  SEC. 2.  Section 17075.20 is added to the Education Code, to read:
   17075.20.  (a) The board shall review the regulations and criteria
for funding eligibility under the Seismic Mitigation Program and, if
necessary, adopt regulations to provide school districts and county
offices of education greater access to funding under that program for
seismically at-risk school buildings, including, but not limited to,
buildings that are identified as most vulnerable category 2
buildings, as defined in Section 1859 of Title 2 of the California
Code of Regulations.
   (b) The board shall review regulations and adopt new regulations
for apportioning the funds set aside pursuant to paragraph (1) of
subdivision (a) of Section 101012 for purposes of seismic repair,
reconstruction, or replacement.
   (c) Apportionments made pursuant to the Seismic Mitigation Program
shall fund the following:
   (1) The evaluation of a school facility to determine if the
building is seismically at risk by a structural engineer or
equivalent professional who is certified to test for the structural
safety of school buildings.
   (2) The repair, reconstruction, or replacement of a school
building evaluated and determined to be seismically at risk.
   (3) Interim housing for displaced pupils who would otherwise be
housed in a school building that is evaluated and determined to be
seismically at risk.
   (d) If applications for funding under this section exceed the
amount of funds set aside for the repair, reconstruction, or
replacement of seismically at risk school buildings pursuant to
paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 101012, the board shall
create an unfunded approval list of applicants with school buildings
determined be seismically at risk.