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.

                                      -- END --








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