BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 581
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 581 (Wyland)
As Amended June 18, 2013
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :37-0
EDUCATION 7-0
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|Ayes:|Buchanan, Olsen, Chávez, | | |
| |Gonzalez, Nazarian, | | |
| |Weber, Williams | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Requires the governing board of a district to provide
the citizens' oversight committee a response to any and all
findings, recommendations and concerns raised in the Proposition
39 of 2000 annual, independent financial and performance audits
of local education bond funds within three months of receiving
the audits. Requires the final financial and performance audits
to be submitted to the citizens' oversight committee at the same
time they are submitted to school or community college
districts.
FISCAL EFFECT : None. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS : In 2000, voters passed Proposition 39, a
Constitutional Amendment which, among others, gave school and
community college districts the opportunity to seek approval of
a local education bond based on a 55% vote rather than a
two-thirds vote, provided that the local bond initiative meets
the following accountability measures:
1)The initiative identifies a list of the specific school
facilities projects that will be funded by bond proceeds.
2)A requirement that the school board, community college board,
or county office of education conduct an annual, independent
performance audit to "ensure that the funds have been expended
only on the specific projects listed."
3)A requirement that the school board, community college board,
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or county office of education conduct an annual, independent
financial audit of the proceeds from the sale of the bonds
until all of those proceeds have been expended for the school
facilities projects.
Both the financial and performance audits must be reviewed by an
independent citizens' oversight committee, established pursuant
to AB 1908 (Lempert), Chapter 44, Statutes of 2000, a companion
bill to Proposition 39, which requires each district, within 60
days of the passage of a local bond with 55% to appoint a
citizens' oversight committee to monitor and review expenditures
to ensure compliance with Proposition 39 requirements, and to
keep the public informed about bond expenditures.
Existing law requires the governing board of the district to
provide the citizens' oversight committee with any necessary
technical and administrative assistance and sufficient resources
to publicize the committee's conclusions, without using bond
funds. All committee proceedings must be open to the public and
notice to the public must be provided in the same manner as the
proceedings of the governing board. The committee is required
to issue regular reports at least once a year, on its
activities, and minutes of the proceedings and all documents
received and reports issued are required to be a matter of
public record and to be made available on an Internet Web site
maintained by the district.
SB 1473 (Wyland), Chapter 294, Statutes of 2010, requires the
audits to be conducted in accordance with the generally accepted
government auditing standards (GAGAS), informally known as the
"Yellow Book," issued by the comptroller general of the United
States, and SB 423 (Wyland), Chapter 237, Statutes of 2011,
requires the audits to be submitted to the citizens' oversight
committee by March 31 of each year.
This bill has two requirements. The first provision requires
the governing board to provide the citizens' oversight committee
with responses to any and all findings, recommendations, and
concerns addressed in the financial and performance audits
within three months of receiving the audits. The author states,
"The problem is that districts need to respond to their own
audit and justify it."
The second provision requires the final audit to be submitted to
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the citizens' oversight committee at the same time it is
submitted to the school district or community college district.
The author states that the citizens' oversight committees need
to be engaged in the process and requiring the audits to be
provided to the committees when they are submitted to the school
and community college districts will enable the committees to
prepare an appropriate analysis that has been coordinated at an
appropriate time.
Analysis Prepared by : Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087
FN: 0001216