BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ķ



                                                                     AB 677


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          Date of Hearing:  May 13, 2015


                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS


                                 Jimmy Gomez, Chair


          AB  
          677 (Dodd) - As Amended April 30, 2015


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          |             |Higher Education               |     |11 - 2       |
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          Urgency:  No  State Mandated Local Program:  YesReimbursable:   
          Yes


          SUMMARY:


          This bill requires K-12 and higher education institutions to  
          equip the doors of every classroom with locks that allow the  
          doors to be locked from the inside.  Specifically, this bill:  








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          1)Requires, on and after January 1, 2016, modernization projects  
            submitted to the Division of the State Architect (DSA) and  
            funded through future bond funds, as specified, to include  
            locks that allow doors to classrooms and any room with an  
            occupancy of five or more persons to be locked from the  
            inside. 
          2)Requires, no later than January 1, 2022, the governing board  
            of each school district and each county superintendent of  
            schools, for each school within its jurisdiction, to equip the  
            doors of every classroom and every room with an occupancy of  
            five or more persons with locks that allow the doors to be  
            locked from the inside. These requirements are also contingent  
            upon future bond funds.


          3)Requires the California Community Colleges (CCC) and  
            California State University (CSU) Trustees, and the urges the  
            University of California (UC) Regents, when constructing or  
            modernizing a campus or facility within its jurisdiction, to  
            equip classrooms, offices, or other rooms where students and  
            school staff gather with locking mechanisms that allow the  
            doors to be locked from the inside, or equip doors with the  
            best alternative technology that accomplishes the same result.


          FISCAL EFFECT:


          1)Annual state school construction bond cost pressure,  
            potentially in the range of $700,000 to $2.2 million, to  
            require locks that allow doors to classrooms or any other  
            specified room to be locked from the inside, as specified.   
            The most recent estimate of classrooms that need to be  
            modernized annually for the next five years to meet the  
            state's need is 7,083. Costs related to modernizing classroom  
            door locks can range from $500 to $1,500 for each door  
            depending on the extent of repair needed.  








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            AB 127 (Nuņez), Chapter 35, Statutes of 2006, authorized  
            Proposition 1D: the Kindergarten-University Public Education  
            Facilities Bond Act of 2006 for $10.416 billion. New  
            construction and modernization funds authorized by this bond  
            have been exhausted since 2012. Any cost pressure related to  
            this bill would be applied to future bond measures.


          2)Annual State and local facility projects costs to CCC, CSU and  
            UC, likely in the millions, to require locks that allow doors  
            to classrooms, or any other specified room, to be locked from  
            the inside, as specified.

          COMMENTS:


          1)Purpose. According to the author, following the recent school  
            shooting tragedies in Newtown, Connecticut and Taft,  
            California, the state needs to rethink safety procedures in  
            schools. "Lockdowns," a temporary confinement of students and  
            staff to classrooms, offices and other rooms during or  
            following a disturbance, have proven to be an effective tool  
            used on school campuses to facilitate the safety of both  
            students and staff during a violent or potentially violent  
            situation. In many cases, lockdown procedures are required in  
            school safety plans. The door locks in many school classrooms,  
            offices and other rooms where students and school staff gather  
            can only be locked from the outside. The safety of students  
            and school staff may be jeopardized as staff must enter  
            hallways in an attempt to lock their doors during a  
            "lockdown."



            Existing law, authorized by AB 211 (Mendoza), Chapter 430,  
            Statutes of 2010, requires, as a condition for state education  
            bond funds, all new construction projects submitted to the DSA  
            on and after July 1, 2011, to include locks that allow a door  








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            to be locked from the inside of a classroom or any room that  
            accommodates five or more people.  





            The California Federation of Teachers is sponsoring this bill  
            to extend the requirement to K-12 modernization projects  
            submitted to the DSA.  The bill also requires all schools to  
            be equipped with locks that can be locked from the inside by  
            January 1, 2022, regardless of whether the school is  
            undergoing any rehabilitation. This requirement would be  
            contingent upon a school facilities bond approved by the  
            voters.


          2)Opposition. The California Association of School Business  
            Officials (CASBO) is opposed to this bill due to significant  
            fiscal pressure on school general fund budgets. The note that  
            retrofitting door locks on older buildings could trigger other  
            required upgrades, such as compliance with revised ADA  
            requirements. With 10,134 schools in California, the cost  
            could reach several millions, if not billions. Further, CASBO  
            notes the provision requiring all rooms to be retrofitted with  
            security locks by January 1, 2022, if a new state school bond  
            is approved, is problematic because school bond funds are not  
            specifically allocated for the replacement of security locks  
            at the state level. Because of the way school bond funding  
            works, school districts must apply under the current state  
            school facilities program to receive matching funds from a  
            state bond, which would only cover funding for the specific  
            project under consideration and not the replacement of  
            security locks at all schools.  CASBO recognizes the need to  
            modernize existing school infrastructure and to enhance  
            critical components of school buildings. However, they  
            encourage these issues to be considered in a comprehensive  
            fashion and in the context of California's ongoing discussions  
            to finance school facilities construction and modernization.








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          Analysis Prepared by:Misty Feusahrens / APPR. / (916)  
          319-2081