BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 304 Page 1 Date of Hearing: August 26, 2015 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Jimmy Gomez, Chair SB 304 (Lara) - As Amended July 8, 2015 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy | N/A |Vote:| N/A | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Urgency: Yes State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No SUMMARY: This bill, an urgency measure, one of two annual state claims bills introduced pursuant to California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board (board) determinations and carried by the Appropriations Committee chairs, appropriates $3,277,141.90 SB 304 Page 2 from specified funds to the (board) for the payment of 199 state claims. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriates $3,277,141.90 from various funds to the (board), including $621,535.15 from the General Fund, to the board for the payment of 197 state claims for reissuance of stale-dated warrants and $2,610,709.44 in capital outlay bond funds, for two claims, to reissue payments for Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) projects that previously received an allocation, but the funds reverted. COMMENTS: 1)Rationale. The Government Code Section 13928 requires the board to ensure that all claims approved by the board, for which no legally available appropriation exists, are submitted for legislative approval at least twice during each calendar year. In general, the board approves claims in November and February. The re-issuance of stale-dated warrants (expired checks) is the most prevalent claim approved by the board. For stale-dated warrants, the Controller must confirm the check was not cashed and that more than three years has passed 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. Electronic claims were submitted for grants from the 2006 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. SB 304 Page 3 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. 2)Related Legislation. AB 165 (Gomez, Chapter 7, Statutes of 2015), an urgency measure, appropriated $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 appropriated $968,400 to the board for payment of three specified erroneous conviction claims. Analysis Prepared by:Pedro R. Reyes / APPR. / (916) 319-2081