BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
375 (Hancock)
Hearing Date: 05/28/2009 Amended: 04/14/09
Consultant: Dan Troy Policy Vote: ED 7-0
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BILL SUMMARY: SB 375 would authorize the State Allocation
Board (SAB) to review regulations and adopt regulations for
apportioning funds provided under the Seismic Mitigation Program
(SMP). The bill would specify that apportionments from the SMP
shall fund repair, reconstruction, or replacement of school
buildings determined to be seismically at risk, and would
further allow the use of apportionments to fund structural
evaluations and interim housing costs for displaced pupils.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 Fund
Bond pressure $20 million Bond*
Application review $90 $90 $90 Bond*
*Proposition 1D
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STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE.
Current law establishes the School Facility Program (SFP) under
which the state provides general obligation bond funding for
various school construction projects including new construction,
modernization, joint-use facilities, and programs to
specifically address the construction needs of overcrowded
schools, charter schools, and career technical education
facilities.
Proposition 1D (AB 127, Nunez and Perata, Chapter 35, Statutes
of 2006) passed by the voters in November of 2006, provided up
to $199.5 million for the seismic mitigation of vulnerable
school buildings. In April of 2008, the SAB adopted regulations
for the SMP, but as March of 2009, only two buildings totaling
$14 million in retrofitting costs have been determined eligible
for funding under the SMP. These regulations require districts
to submit structural engineering reports that detail building
deficiencies to be eligible for funding.
According to the author's office, some districts find the cost
of structural evaluations and interim housing for pupils for
pupils in schools determined to be seismically at risk
prohibitive. By allowing the SMP to fund these costs, the bill
is intended to encourage greater use of the program. According
to the office Public School Construction, statutory
authorization is required to allow funding of these activities.
A seismic safety inventory released by the Department of General
Services (DGS) and the Division of the State Architect in 2002
estimated the cost for retrofitting school
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SB 375 (Hancock)
buildings not expected to perform well in an earthquake at $4.7
billion, while the cost for retrofitting the most vulnerable
buildings at $800 million. DGS cautions that these estimates
may overstate the need, as the report was based on new
construction applications. Given that, some of the vulnerable
buildings may have already been retrofitted or replaced.
DGS estimates that the cost of interim pupil housing and
structural evaluations will increase funding pressure on the
bonds by $21 per square foot of seismic mitigation. This
roughly represents a 10 percent increase over current costs.
Expressed in terms of the total amount of funding made available
through the SMP, this bill would have bond pressure of
approximately $20 million. Also, DGS indicates a need for
$90,000 in additional expenditure authority for staffing related
to analyzing the structural reports and interim housing
requests.