BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 304 (Lara) - State claims
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|Version: February 23, 2015 |Policy Vote: N/A |
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|Urgency: Yes |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: July 13, 2015 |Consultant: Mark McKenzie |
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This bill does not meet the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File. Pursuant to the Committee's rules, the Suspense
File rule does not apply to this bill as claims are considered
valid obligations of the state. Additionally, claims may have
time sensitivity.
Bill
Summary: SB 304, an urgency measure, would appropriate
$3,276,623.90 from specified funds to the California Victim
Compensation and Government Claims Board (board) for the payment
of 199 state claims.
Fiscal
Impact:
Stale-dated warrants : General Fund appropriations in the
amount of $621,535.15 to pay 171 claims, and appropriations
from specific budget items in the amount of $44,897.31 to pay
26 claims (various funds). All of these claims are for
reissuance of stale-dated warrants (expired checks). The
individual claim amounts range from $50 to $93,758.06.
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Captial Outlay appropriations : Bond fund appropriations in the
amount of $2,610,709.44 to pay two claims to the Los Angeles
Community College District for expenditures that were
previously approved, but for which the original bond fund
allocations had reverted. (Community College Capital Outlay
Bond Fund - Fund 6049)
Board Surcharges : Shift of $110,025.69 in funds from the
Community College Capital Outlay Bond Fund to the General Fund
for surcharges related to the Capital Outlay claims that
support of the board's activities.
Background: The State Board of Control was established in 1945. It was
revised and renamed the Victim Compensation and Government
Claims Board by Chapter 1016/2000 (AB 2491, Jackson).
Government Code 13928 requires the board to ensure that all
claims that have been approved by the board, and for which no
legally available appropriation exists, are submitted for
legislative approval at least twice during each calendar year.
In general, the board will approve claims in November and
February. Those claims are reported to the chairs of the
Appropriations Committees who introduce bills appropriating
General Funds and special funds to pay the claims. These bills
may appropriate funds in amounts to the penny for tens to
hundreds of claims. Government Code 906 provides for the
payment of interest on claims approved by the board for which an
appropriation has been made beginning 30 days after the
effective date of the law by which the appropriation is enacted.
The re-issuance of stale-dated warrants is the most prevalent
claim approved by the board. For stale-dated warrants, the
Controller must confirm that (1) the check was not cashed and
has not been issued and (2) more than three years have elapsed
since the check was issued and the monies have reverted to the
General Fund or to the relevant special fund. For these
warrants an appropriation is needed to reissue the payment.
This category also may include state treasury bonds that have
not been redeemed within ten years of their maturity date (there
are no such claims in this bill), but the majority of warrants
are payroll or tax refund checks.
Existing law authorizes the board to assess a surcharge on a
state entity against which an approved claim is filed, in an
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amount not to exceed 15 percent of the total approved claim.
These surcharges support the board's activities, but do not
apply to approved claims to reissue expired warrants.
Proposed Law:
SB 304, an urgency measure, appropriates $3,276,623.90 in
various state funds, including $621,535.15 from the General
Fund, to the board for the payment of 197 state claims for
reissuance of stale-dated warrants. The bill also appropriates
$2,610,709.44 in capital outlay bond funds to reissue payments
for Los Angeles Community College District projects that
previously received an allocation, but the funds reverted.
Related
Legislation: AB 165 (Gomez), Ch. 7/2015, an urgency measure,
appropriates $504,743.99 in various state funds, including
$227,308.96 from the General Fund, to the board for the payment
of 110 state claims for reissuance of stale-dated warrants. The
bill also appropriates $968,400 to the board for payment of
three specified erroneous conviction claims.
AB 139 (Fuentes), Ch. 194/2011 appropriated various funds to the
board for the payment of state claims. The claims for the Los
Angeles Community College District that are in this bill were
also included in AB 139, but were never paid because the funding
source was not identified correctly in the bill and was
considered invalid.
Staff
Comments: Electronic claims were submitted for grants from the
2006 Budget Act Community College Capital Outlay Bond Fund (Fund
6049) for contract costs incurred by the Los Angeles Community
College District. These claims were denied because the
appropriation was thought to have reverted. As noted above,
these eligible claims were previously approved in AB 139
(Fuentes) in 2011, but could not be paid because the funding
source was identified as a specific 2011 Budget Act item
(6870-303-6049), which was invalid. This bill would appropriate
funds directly from Fund 6049 to the board for payment of the
LACCD claims.
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The bill also requires the Controller to transfer specified
surcharges on claims for the support of the board, pursuant to
provisions in existing law.
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