BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 235
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 235 (Gatto)
As Amended April 29, 2013
2/3 vote. Urgency
APPROPRIATIONS 12-0
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|Ayes:|Gatto, Bocanegra, | | |
| |Bradford, | | |
| |Ian Calderon, Campos, | | |
| |Eggman, Gomez, Hall, | | |
| |Holden, Pan, Quirk, Weber | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : This bill, one of two annual bills sponsored by the
California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board
(board) and carried by the Appropriations Committee chairs,
appropriates $1.1 million to pay 343 claims against the state as
approved by the board.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriates $1,080,581 ($1,014,072 General Fund
(GF); $66,509 special funds) to the board for payment of claims,
339 of which are stale-dated warrants - state checks that were
lost or expired and never cashed.
COMMENTS :
1)Rationale . The Government Code requires the board to take all
necessary steps to ensure that all approved claims, for which
there exists no legally available appropriation, are submitted
for legislative approval at least twice each calendar year.
2)Support . This bill, supported by the board, the Department of
Finance, and the administration, has no opposition.
3)339 of the 343 claims are for stale-dated warrants (expired
checks) , ranging from $8 to $86,607. The 20 stale-dated
warrant claims over $10,000 account for $460,563, 42% of the
costs of this bill; the remaining 323 claims average $1,824.
For stale-dated warrant claims, the Controller must confirm
the check was not cashed and that at least three years have
AB 235
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passed since the check was issued and the monies have reverted
to the GF.
In addition to the stale-dated warrants, there are two
contract claims, $121,833 to the Office of Emergency Services
for a gang intervention grant that was delayed due to
procedural problems, and $95,056 for State Controller legal
services in excess of the contracted amount. The funds for
these two claims will be appropriated from the departments'
budgets.
There is also one tort claim for $701 to reimburse approve
state employee travel expenses that were filed late. Finally,
there is a $1,297 claim for travel expenses that were not
processed properly due to lost forms in an office move, and a
$1,567 claim to reissue an unclaimed property payment that was
paid to an individual with the same name who is now indigent.
4)Prior legislation . The two 2012 claims bills, SB 1065
(Kehoe), Chapter 357, Statutes of 2012, appropriated $624,673
and passed this house 79-0 and passed the Senate 36-0; and AB
1531 (Fuentes), Chapter 156, Statutes of 2012, appropriated
$859,739 and passed this house 73-0 and the Senate 36-0.
Analysis Prepared by : Geoff Long / APPR. / (916) 319-2081
FN: 0000333