BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 63
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|Author: |Bonilla |
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|Version: |May 28, 2015 Hearing |
| |Date: June 24, 2015 |
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|Urgency: |No | Fiscal: | Yes |
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|Consultant:|Lynn Lorber |
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Subject: School safety programs: funding.
NOTE: This bill has been referred to the Committees on
Education, and Transportation and Housing. A "do pass"
motion should include referral to the Committee on
Transportation and Housing.
SUMMARY
This bill 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.
BACKGROUND
Existing law:
1)Establishes the School Safety Violence Prevention Strategy
Program for the purpose of promoting school safety and
violence prevention programs for grades K-7 in public
schools. The Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) is
required to award competitive grants to provide schools with
personnel such as 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
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agencies; or other strategies for achieving school safety and
prevention of violence.
(Education Code § 35294.10 and § 35294.11)
2)"Flexed" funds for numerous categorical programs, from fiscal
years 2008-09 to 2014-15, and provided that those former
categorical funds may be used for any educational purpose.
(SB 4 of the Third Extraordinary Session, Ducheny, Chapter 12,
Statutes of 2009)
3)Modified the structure of school funding by establishing the
Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), which provides funding
to local educational agencies through a base grant and a
supplemental grant based on enrollment of students who are
low-income, English learners, or in foster care, and
additional funds based on a concentration factor for
enrollment of such students. (EC § 42238.02)
4)Authorizes any state agency to apply to the Department of
Motor Vehicles (DMV) to sponsor a specialized license plate
program. The DMV is required to issue specialized license
plates for that program if the agency complies with all
statutory requirements. The DMV is prohibited from
establishing a specialized license plate program for an agency
until it receives 7,500 paid applications for the agency's
specialized license plates. The applicant agency is required
to collect and hold applications for the specialized plates
and once the agency has received at least 7,500 applications,
it must submit the applications, along with the necessary fees
to DMV. (Vehicle Code § 5151 et seq.)
ANALYSIS
This bill requires the California Department of Education (CDE)
to apply to the 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 CDE to apply to the DMV to create a specialized
license plate program, and requires the CDE to comply with all
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of the requirements for state agencies that sponsors a
specialized license plate program.
2)Establishes the School Violence Prevention Fund (Fund) in the
State Treasury, and requires the DMV to deposit, after
deducting its administrative costs, the fees collected from
the sale of the specialized license plates in the Fund.
3)Requires the funds, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to be
allocated to the CDE to carry out one or more of the purposes
for which the School Safety Violence Prevention Strategy
Program was established, or another school violence prevention
effort, as determined by the CDE.
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
for which the School Safety Violence Prevention Strategy
Program was established.
5)Specifies that funds are to be available for all public schools
(both traditional and charter schools).
STAFF COMMENTS
1)Need for the bill. According to the author, "Prior to 2010, the
state provided funding for two categorical programs - the
School Safety and Violence Prevention Act (school safety block
grant) and the School Safety Consolidated Competitive Grant -
to implement programs to improve school safety and reduce
violence. Previously these programs were funded through
categorical grants, but with the enactment of the local
control funding formula, these categorical grants were
integrated into school districts' base grants and are no
longer in existence. AB 63 attempts to re-establish school
safety and violence prevention programs by creating a new
source
of direct funding derived from the sale of a specialized
license plate, which will also help increase awareness of the
importance of addressing youth violence and bullying."
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2)Former categorical programs. As is indicated in Comment #1, the
State used to provide funding for categorical programs for
school safety and violence prevention. The 2009 Budget Act
imposed a 20% reduction for 39 categorical programs and gave
school districts the flexibility to use the funds for any
educational purposes. The local control funding formula
(LCFF), enacted in 2013, eliminated most categorical programs
and integrated categorical program funds, including those for
school safety programs, into school districts' base grants.
These programs exist in statute but are no longer specifically
funded. A number of bills introduced over the past few years
have attempted to re-establish funding for various categorical
programs. While the other bills propose to use Proposition 98
funds, this bill proposes generating funds through a
specialized license plate program.
3)Determination of the use of funds. This bill requires the funds,
upon appropriation by the Legislature, to be allocated to the
California Department of Education (CDE) to carry out one or
more of the purposes for which the School Safety Violence
Prevention Strategy Program was established, or another school
violence prevention effort, as determined by the CDE.
Therefore, this bill provides CDE with complete discretion as
to which school safety efforts may be funded pursuant to this
bill.
4)Specialized licensed plate program. Existing law requires at
least 7,500 paid applications to be provided prior to the
development of the specialized license plate by Department of
Motor Vehicles (DMV); this ensures there are sufficient funds
to pay for costs that will be incurred by the DMV. According
to the Assembly Education Committee's analysis of this bill,
the following plates have been created pursuant to
legislation: 9/11 Memorial; Coastal Commission; Tahoe
Conservancy; Yosemite National Park; Arts; Veterans; and, Have
a Heart, Be a Star, Help Our Kids. Two plates, Two Pet Lovers
and Agriculture, were developed by agencies pursuant to
statutory authority, rather than through legislation.
5)Fiscal impact. According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
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a) Potential one-time special fund costs of approximately
$440,000 to DMV to establish the specialized license plate
program, including computer programming changes and
updating forms. Pursuant to current law, DMV will make
computer programming and form changes only after program
applications meet a 7,500-application threshold.
Therefore, the DMV will incur these costs only if it
receives enough applications to require the CDE to
implement the program. The DMV will incur minor ongoing
costs to continue issuing specialty license plates and
renewals under the program. All of the DMV's initial and
ongoing costs will be covered by a portion of the
additional $50 fee paid for original specialized license
plates and the additional $40 fee to renew such plates.
b) Minor costs to California Department of Education (CDE) to
submit the program application and license prototype to
DMV, design and print the license plate application, and
collect and hold applications and fees until 7,500
applications are received.
c) Potential ongoing revenue to CDE for grants to school
districts, from a portion of the additional fees for new
and renewed specialty license plates generated after the
funding requirements are satisfied.
6)Related and prior legislation.
RELATED LEGISLATION
SB 257 (Bates, 2015) requires the Department of Motor Vehicles
(DMV) to issue personalized Gold Star License Plates upon
payment of specified fees. SB 257 is pending in the Assembly
Transportation Committee.
AB 192 (Allen, 2015) requires the State Coastal Conservancy (SCC)
to apply to the DMV to sponsor a coastal conservancy
specialized license plate program. AB 192 is pending in the
Senate Transportation and Housing Committee.
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AB 270 (Nazarian) requires the Department of Public Health (DPH) to
apply to the DMV to sponsor a diabetes awareness, education,
and research license plate program. AB 270 is pending in the
Senate Transportation and Housing Committee.
AB 932 (Daly and Thurmond) requires the State Department of Parks
and Recreation (SDPR) to apply to the DMV to sponsor a
specialized license plate program using professional sport
team logos. AB 932 is pending in the Senate Transportation
and Housing Committee.
PRIOR LEGISLATION
SB 544 (DeSaulnier, 2014) was very similar to this bill. SB 544
failed passage in the Assembly Education Committee.
Over the past five years, 13 bills have been introduced directing a
state agency to sponsor a specialized license plate for a
variety of causes; eight of these bills were passed by the
Legislature and signed by the Governor. Most recently, the
following four bills were enacted: AB 49 (Buchanan, Chapter
351, Statutes of 2014) for breast cancer awareness, AB 1096
(Nestande, Chapter 353, Statutes of 2014) for Salton Sea
restoration, AB 2321 (Gomez, Chapter 358, Statutes of 2014)
for domestic violence prevention, and AB 2450 (Logue, Chapter
359, Statutes of 2014) for kidney disease research.
SUPPORT
California Council of Community Mental Health Agencies
Concord Police Department
Contra Costa County Office of Education
Mental Health America of California
STAND! For Families Free of Violence
Stanislaus County Office of Education
Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department
Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Torlakson
OPPOSITION
None received.
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