BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                       



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                              UNFINISHED BUSINESS


          Bill No:  SB 548
          Author:   Hollingsworth (R)
          Amended:  7/16/07
          Vote:     27 - Urgency

           
           SENATE GOVERNMENTAL ORG. COMMITTEE  :  7-0, 3/27/07
          AYES:  Florez, Denham, Battin, Maldonado, Wiggins, Wyland,  
            Yee
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Negrete McLeod, Vincent

           SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE  :  16-0, 5/31/07
          AYES:  Torlakson, Cox, Aanestad, Ashburn, Cedillo, Corbett,  
            Dutton, Florez, Kuehl, Oropeza, Ridley-Thomas, Runner,  
            Simitian, Steinberg, Wyland, Yee
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Battin

           SENATE FLOOR  :  40-0, 6/7/07 (Consent)
          AYES:  Aanestad, Ackerman, Alquist, Ashburn, Battin,  
            Calderon, Cedillo, Cogdill, Corbett, Correa, Cox, Denham,  
            Ducheny, Dutton, Florez, Harman, Hollingsworth, Kehoe,  
            Kuehl, Lowenthal, Machado, Maldonado, Margett,  
            McClintock, Migden, Negrete McLeod, Oropeza, Padilla,  
            Perata, Ridley-Thomas, Romero, Runner, Scott, Simitian,  
            Steinberg, Torlakson, Vincent, Wiggins, Wyland, Yee

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  79-0, 7/19/07 - See last page for vote


           SUBJECT  :    California Emergency Services Act

           SOURCE  :     Governors Office of Emergency Services

                                                           CONTINUED





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           DIGEST  :    This bill reestablishes, in statute until  
          January 1, 2009, the Disaster Response-Emergency Operations  
          Account in the Special Fund for Economic Uncertainties.

           Assembly Amendments  (1) deleted from the Senate version,  
          language relative to the Department of Corrections and  
          Rehabilitation and related conditions that would not be  
          included under what constitutes a "state of emergency"  
          within the current definition, and (2) reestablished the  
          provisions until January 1, 2009, instead of extending the  
          sunset date because the statute was repealed on July 1,  
          2007.

           ANALYSIS  :    Existing law provides that the Director of the  
          Office of Emergency Services (OES) is responsible for  
          coordinating the emergency activities of all state agencies  
          in connection with a state emergency.

          Existing law, within the Emergency Services Act (Act),  
          establishes the Disaster Response-Emergency Operations  
          Account (DREOA) in the Special Fund for Economic  
          Uncertainties.  Moneys in the DREOA are continuously  
          appropriated subject to specified limitations for  
          allocation by the Director of the Department of Finance  
          (DOF) to state agencies for disaster response operation  
          costs incurred as a result of a proclamation by the  
          Governor of a state of emergency.  Existing law repeals  
          these provisions on July 1, 2007.  
           
           Background  

          According to the OES, this bill is necessary because the  
          DREOA provides the Director of DOF authority to make  
          certain disaster response allocations.  The DREOA, which is  
          established within the Special Fund for Economic  
          Uncertainties, has been utilized to provide an immediate  
          funding source for extraordinary emergency response costs  
          expended by state (and at one time local) agencies.  This  
          funding source provides the state an opportunity for a more  
          expeditious response to and recovery from disasters.  In  
          addition, the DREOA provides flexibility to the Governor as  
          the DREOA could be and has been used as an expedient  
          alternative to the cumbersome budget deficit process for  







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          necessary disaster related costs to state agencies.    

          The authority of the DREOA expired on July 1, 2007.  This  
          bill reestablishes the DREOA and extends its authority  
          until January 1, 2009. 

           Prior Legislation  

          SB 1102 (Hollingsworth), Chapter 561, Statutes of 2005,  
          extended the sunset date applicable to the DREOA within the  
          Special Fund for Economic Uncertainties from January 1,  
          2006 to July 1, 2007.  The Senate passed the bill, with a  
          vote of 33-0, on September 8, 2005.

          SB 1102 (Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee),  
          Chapter 227, Statutes of 2004, among other things,  
          continued until January 1, 2006, the DREOA within the  
          Special Fund for Economic Uncertainties and allocated $1  
          million to the DREOA at the beginning of each fiscal year.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :    Appropriation:  Yes   Fiscal Com.:  Yes    
          Local:  No

          According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:

                          Fiscal Impact (in thousands)

             Major Provisions                2007-08     2008-09     
             2009-10               Fund  

            Sunset extension              $0 to $1,000 or more in  
            any year            General

          Existing law expresses the intent of the Legislature that  
          the DREOA have an unencumbered balance of $1 million at the  
          beginning of each fiscal year and if the DREOA requires  
          additional moneys to meet claims against the account, the  
          Director of DOF may transfer moneys from the Special Fund  
          for Economic Uncertainties to the account in an amount  
          sufficient to pay the amount of claims that exceed the  
          unencumbered balance in the account.

          The fiscal impact of the bill would be the difference in  
          any year between what the Director of DOF allocates and  







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          what the Legislature appropriates in the annual budget act.  
           

           SUPPORT  :   (Verified  7/20/07)

          Governor's Office of Emergency Services (source)
          American Federation of State, County and Municipal  
          Employees
          Department of Finance


           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  : 
          AYES:  Adams, Aghazarian, Anderson, Arambula, Bass, Beall,  
            Benoit, Berg, Berryhill, Blakeslee, Brownley, Caballero,  
            Charles Calderon, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De  
            Leon, DeSaulnier, DeVore, Duvall, Dymally, Emmerson, Eng,  
            Evans, Feuer, Fuentes, Fuller, Gaines, Galgiani, Garcia,  
            Garrick, Hancock, Hayashi, Hernandez, Horton, Houston,  
            Huff, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Karnette, Keene,  
            Krekorian, La Malfa, Laird, Leno, Levine, Lieber, Lieu,  
            Ma, Maze, Mendoza, Mullin, Nakanishi, Nava, Niello,  
            Parra, Plescia, Portantino, Price, Richardson, Sharon  
            Runner, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Silva, Smyth, Solorio,  
            Soto, Spitzer, Strickland, Swanson, Torrico, Tran,  
            Villines, Walters, Wolk, Nunez
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Carter


          TSM:mw  7/20/07   Senate Floor Analyses 

                         SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  SEE ABOVE

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