BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 58
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Date of Hearing: April 29, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
58 (Rodriguez) - As Amended April 20, 2015
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
Yes
SUMMARY: This bill requires school safety plans to include
procedures in response to individuals with guns on school
campuses. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires school safety plans to include procedures related to
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individuals with guns on school campuses and at school-related
functions, including but not limited to, training programs
related to active shooters and active terrorists. Requires
schools to consider the most cost-effective method of
preparing students and staff for an active shooter situation.
Requires the school resource officer and school-employed
mental health professionals to be involved in the planning and
evaluation process.
2)Requires an updated file of all safety-related plans and
materials to be readily available for inspection by law
enforcement and school employees, in addition to the public.
3)Requires the school accountability report card (SARC) to
include the date the school safety plan was adopted and a
description of the safety plan's elements.
4)Requires each principal to provide a written or electronic
notice to each teacher and classified employee of that school
that the adopted school safety plan is readily available for
inspection.
5)Requires, no later than October 15, 2016, and each year
thereafter, each school district and County Office of
Education (COE) to provide written notification to the
Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) certifying that
each school within the school district and COE has adopted a
school safety plan, as specified.
FISCAL EFFECT:
1)Potential annual GF/98 state reimbursable mandated costs of at
least $200,000 to school districts and COEs to include
additional information in the school safety plans, notify
school employees of the completion of the plan, copy/make
available plans for inspection by law enforcement and,
starting in 2016, certify to the SPI that each school has
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adopted a plan. There are over 500,000 teachers and
classified employees employed in the 10,000 schools in the
state subject to these requirements.
2)GF administrative costs of approximately $300,000 annually for
three years to add school safety planning requirements to
CDE's current monitoring practices. Currently, CDE only
monitors a handful of categorical programs and in the last
three monitoring cycles, school safety was not included. CDE
would be required to review over 10,000 school site safety
plans over the course of three years.
SUMMARY Con't:
1)Requires each principal to keep and maintain a copy of the
most recent school safety plan for that school, and each
district superintendent or COE to keep a copy of the most
recent school safety plan and notification made to the SPI
certifying each school has complied with the requirement to
develop a school safety plan.
2)Requires all books, documents, records, and other papers kept
and maintained to be open for inspection and copying during
specified hours. Specifies that an electronic version of a
book, document, record or other paper is sufficient to meet
the requirements of this provision.
3)Strikes the provision authorizing a complaint of noncompliance
with the school safety planning requirement of Title IV of the
federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 to be filed with the
CDE under the Uniform Complaint Procedures.
4)Requires the CDE to monitor compliance using an existing
monitoring framework.
COMMENTS:
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1)Purpose. According to the author, active shooter situations
are unpredictable and evolve quickly. As such, individuals
must be prepared to deal with an active shooter situation
before law enforcement officers arrive on the scene. By having
plans in place to keep students and staff safe, schools play a
key role in taking preventative and protective measures to
stop an emergency from occurring or reduce the impact of an
incident.
2)K-12 Mandate Block Grant. The existing Comprehensive School
Safety Plan mandate is currently included in the K-12
Education Block Grant. Under the block grant, a Local
Education Agency (LEA) may choose to receive a per-pupil
allocation to conduct existing K-12 mandated activities rather
than receive full payment under the existing claims process.
LEAs can file a claim with the Commission on State Mandates to
re-determine the existing mandate or file a new mandate claim
to consider new activities required under this bill. If the
CSM determines these requirements impose a higher level of
service, this could place pressure on the Legislature to
increase funding under the K-12 Mandate Block Grant.
3)Prior related legislation. SB 49 (Lieu), substantially
similar to this bill, was held on the Suspense file in this
committee.
Analysis Prepared by:Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
AB 58
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