BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 63
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Date of Hearing: March 25, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Patrick O'Donnell, Chair
AB 63
(Bonilla) - As Introduced December 15, 2014
[Note: This bill is doubled referred to the Assembly
Transportation Committee and will be heard by that Committee as
it relates to issues under its jurisdiction.]
SUBJECT: School safety programs: funding
SUMMARY: Requires the California Department of Education (CDE)
to apply to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) for the
purpose of creating a specialized license plate program to
generate funds for school violence prevention programs.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the fees collected from the sale of the specialized
license plates to be deposited in the School Violence
Prevention Fund, established by this bill.
2)Requires the moneys in that fund to be allocated to the CDE in
order to carry out one or more of the purposes of the School
Safety Violence Protection Act, as specified in the Education
Code on January 1, 2004, or as determined by the CDE for
purposes of school violence prevention.
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3)Requires the CDE to comply with all the requirements of the
Vehicle Code that apply to a state agency sponsoring a
specialized license plate program.
4)Authorizes the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) to
consult with the Board of State and Community Corrections, the
State Department of Social Services, and the State Department
of Public Health on school violence prevention and
intervention in order to carry out one or more of the purposes
of the grant program.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes the School Safety Violence Protection Act and the
School Safety Violence Prevention Strategy Program for the
purpose of promoting school safety and violence prevention
programs among children and youth in public schools. Requires
the SPI to award competitive grants used to provide schools
with personnel, including counselors, social workers, nurses,
and psychologists; install on-campus communication devices;
establish in-service training program for school staff;
establish cooperative arrangements with local law enforcement
agencies; or other strategies for achieving school safety and
prevention of violence.
2)Specifies that for Fiscal Year (FY) 2008-09 to FY 2014-15,
specified categorical program funds may be used for any
educational purposes.
3)Establishes the local control funding formula (LCFF), which
provides funding to local educational agencies (LEAs) through
a base grant and a supplemental grant, and additional funds
based on a concentration factor.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
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COMMENTS: Background on school safety programs. Prior to the
FY 2009-10 school year, the state provided funding to two
categorical programs that focus on school safety and violence
prevention. The Carl Washington School Safety and Violence
Prevention Act (school safety block grant) provided direct
grants for LEAs to devise violence prevention strategies in
schools. Funds could be used to provide schools with personnel,
including counselors, social workers, nurses, and psychologists;
install effective and accessible on campus communication
devices; establish in-service training program for school staff
to assist school staff in identifying and communicating at-risk
children and youth and referring these pupils to counseling;
establish cooperative arrangements with local law enforcement
agencies; or for use for other strategies for achieving school
safety and prevention of violence. In FY 2009-10, the program
received almost $80 million.
The School Safety Consolidated Competitive Grants consolidated
six programs - the Safe School Planning and Partnership
Mini-grants, School Community Policing, Gang-Risk Intervention
Program, Safety Plan for New Schools, School Community Violence
Prevention Training, and Conflict Resolution - into one program.
The program received $14.3 million in FY 2009-10. These funds
were also used for a contract with the Kern County Office of
Education to coordinate trainings for LEAs in various regions of
the state on three topics: safe school planning, crisis
preparedness and response, and bullying and cyberbullying
prevention and intervention.
The FY 2009-10 budget agreement imposed a 20% reduction on 39
categorical programs and gave LEAs that received those funds in
FY 2007-08 the flexibility to use the funds for any educational
purposes from FY 2008-09 through FY 2012-13 (SBX3 4 (Ducheny),
Chapter 12, Statutes of the 2009-10 Third Extraordinary
Session). This reduction and flexibility provision is commonly
known as "Tier 3" flexibility, which gave LEAs $4.5 billion in
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additional unrestricted funds. SB 70 (Budget Committee),
Chapter 7, Statutes of 2011, extended categorical flexibility to
FY 2014-15. The LCFF, enacted in 2013, eliminated most
categorical programs and integrated categorical program funds,
including the Carl Washington School Safety and Violence
Prevention and the School Safety Consolidated Competitive
Grants, into school districts' base grants. These programs no
longer exist.
What does this bill do? This bill attempts to generate funds
for school safety and violence prevention activities through the
sale of specialized license plates. The bill requires the CDE
to apply to the DMV for a specialized license plate after
collecting 7,500 applications. Funds generated through the sale
of the license plates will be directed for the purposes
established by the School Safety and Violence Prevention
Strategy Program, which is a competitive grant program, or other
school violence prevention purposes determined by the CDE.
The Vehicle Code authorizes state agencies to apply to the DMV
to sponsor a specialized licensed plate program. Specialized
license plates created must publicize or promote a state agency,
or the official policy, mission, or work of a state agency. At
least 7,500 paid applications must be received by the state
agency before the state agency can notify DMV; this is to ensure
that there are sufficient funds to pay for costs that will be
incurred by the DMV. It is unclear what process the CDE will
use to collect 7,500 applications, whether the CDE will be
successful in collecting 7,500 applications, or how much money
will be generated.
A number of bills introduced over the last few years have
attempted to re-establish funding for various categorical
programs. While the other bills propose to use the General
Fund, this bill proposes generating funds though private
sources.
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The author states, "According to the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, homicide and suicide remain the leading causes
of death among youth aged 10 to 24. In addition, a recent study
by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
found that nearly 17% of school-aged children experience
bullying. Nationally this equates to approximately 1.6 million
children in grades 6 through 10 being bullied once a week and
approximately 1.7 million children bullying other children.
Much of this violence is preventable with strategies focused on
identifying high-risk individuals, providing early intervention,
and supporting communities, families, and those who are exposed
to violence or prone to violent behavior."
According to the DMV, the following plates have been created
pursuant to legislation:
9-11 Memorial
Coastal Commission
Tahoe Conservancy
Yosemite National Park
Arts
Veterans
Have a Heart, Be a Star, Help Our Kids
Two plates, Two Pet Lovers and Agriculture, were developed by
agencies pursuant to statutory authority.
Questions the Committee may wish to consider:
1)Does this bill re-create a categorical program?
2)Is it inconsistent with the LCFF?
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3)Would establishing a licensed plate that focuses on violence
prevention present a negative impression of schools?
4)What are the administrative costs to the CDE and what is the
source of funds to pay for those administrative costs?
Committee amendment. It is unclear why the bill references the
code section in print on January 1, 2004. Staff recommends
changing the reference to January 1, 2015.
Prior legislation. This bill is nearly identical to last year's
SB 544 (DeSaulnier), which was held in the Assembly Education
Committee. The difference is that SB 544 would have directed
the funds towards both the School Safety Consolidated
Competitive Grants and the School Safety and Violence Prevention
Strategy Program. This bill only directs the funds for the
latter program, mainly because the statute establishing the
School Safety Consolidated Competitive Grants programs were
repealed through SB 971 (Huff), Chapter 923, Statutes of 2014,
which repealed a number of categorical programs no longer in
existence due to LCFF.
SB 544 passed the Assembly Transportation Committee on a 10-3
vote but failed in this Committee due to a lack of a motion and
a second to move the bill. Members of the Committee believed
the bill violated SR 28, a resolution authored by the Senate
Committee on Transportation and Housing adopted on April 10,
2014 declaring a moratorium on legislation proposing to
establish new license plate types until the Legislature can
assess the impact of ongoing increase in specialized license
plates. According to the Senate Transportation and Housing
Committee staff, the moratorium was directed at licensed plates
that differ from the normal specialized licensed plate styles.
Related legislation. AB 270 (Nazarian), pending in the Assembly
Transportation Committee, requires the Department of Public
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Health to apply to the DMV to sponsor a diabetes awareness,
education, and research license plate program.
AB 932 (Daly and Thurmond), pending in the Assembly
Transportation Committee, requires an unspecified state agency
to apply to the DMV to sponsor a professional sports franchise
license plate program.
Prior related legislation. AB 49 (Buchanan), Chapter 351,
Statutes of 2014, requires the Department of Health Care
Services to apply to the DMV to sponsor a breast cancer
awareness license plate program.
AB 1096 (Nestande), Chapter 353, Statutes of 2014, requires the
Department of Fish and Wildlife to apply to the DMV to sponsor a
Salton Sea license plate program.
AB 2321 (Gomez), Chapter 358, Statutes of 2014, requires the
Office of Emergency Services to apply to the DMV to sponsor a
domestic violence and sexual assault awareness license plate
program.
AB 2450 (Logue), Chapter 359, Statutes of 2014, requires the
Department of Public Health to apply to DMV to sponsor a kidney
disease awareness license plate program.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
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Adam Christianson, Stanislaus County Sheriff-Coroner
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
Concord Police Department
Contra Costa County Office of Education
Stanislaus County Office of Education
STAND! For Families Free of Violence
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087
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