BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 304|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 304
Author: Lara (D)
Amended: 7/8/15
Vote: 27 - Urgency
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7- 0, 7/13/15
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza, Nielsen
SUBJECT: State claims
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill, an urgency measure, appropriates
$3,276,623.90 from specified funds to the California Victim
Compensation and Government Claims Board (board) for the payment
of 199 state claims.
ANALYSIS: Existing law authorizes the board to assess a
surcharge on a state entity against which an approved claim is
filed, in an 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.
This bill:
1)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.
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Page 2
2)Appropriates $2,610,709.44 in capital outlay bond funds to
reissue payments for Los Angeles Community College District
(LACCD) projects that previously received an allocation, but
the funds reverted.
3)Requires the State Controller to transfer specified surcharges
on claims for the support of the board, pursuant to provisions
in existing law.
Background
The State Board of Control was established in 1945. It was
revised and renamed the Victim Compensation and Government
Claims Board by AB 2491 (Jackson, Chapter 1016, Statutes of
2000). Government Code Section 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 Section 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 10 years of their maturity date (there
are no such claims in this bill), but the majority of warrants
are payroll or tax refund checks.
SB 304
Page 3
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 LACCD. These claims were denied
because the appropriation was thought to have reverted. These
eligible claims were previously approved in AB 139 (Fuentes,
Chapter 194, Statutes of 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 appropriates
funds directly from Fund 6049 to the board for payment of the
LACCD claims.
Prior/Related Legislation
AB 165 (Gomez, Chapter 7, Statutes of 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, Chapter 194, Statutes of 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.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: Yes Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
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.
Capital Outlay appropriations: Bond fund appropriations in the
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Page 4
amount of $2,610,709.44 to pay two claims to the LACCD 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.
SUPPORT: (Verified 7/15/15)
None received
OPPOSITION: (Verified 7/15/15)
None received
Prepared by:Mark McKenzie / APPR. / (916) 651-4101
7/15/15 16:41:48
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