BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
983 (Skinner)
Hearing Date: 08/17/2009 Amended: As Introduced
Consultant: Dan Troy Policy Vote: ED 6-2
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BILL SUMMARY: AB 983 would authorize providers of After School
Education and Safety programs to operate on weekends in addition
to weekdays.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 Fund
ASES weekend operation Potentially millions in cost
pressure General*
*Counts toward meeting the Proposition 98 minimum funding
guarantee
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STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Proposition 49 (2002) increased funding for before and after
school programs and renamed them the After School Education and
Safety (ASES) program. ASES programs are partnerships between
school districts and local community resources and provide
enriching before and after school activities for pupils from
kindergarten through 9th grade. Approximately $547 million has
been appropriated for ASES for the 2009-10 fiscal year.
As the ASES program is intended to provide services to students
before and after school, there is currently no authorization for
the programs to expend funds for weekend operation. This bill
would allow programs the option to operate on weekends as long
funds expended were within existing grant allocations. The bill
further provides that participation of pupils during weekend
activities shall not be included in the program's attendance for
purposes of calculating grant awards.
According to the Department of Education, 197 providers were
unable to expend all of their grant awards in the 2007-08 fiscal
year, resulting in $32 million of funds available for other
weekday before and after school activities. These funds are
ultimately reappropriated for other weekday programs. By
allowing programs to operate and expend program funds on
weekends, this bill would likely result in a loss of savings and
effectively shift funds from weekday programs to full-week
programs. By expanding the uses of grant funding beyond the
original intent of the program, this bill may result in cost
pressure to backfill weekday program needs that would otherwise
have been met.
SB 1647 (Torlakson, 2008), legislation which included a
provision similar to the contents of this bill, was vetoed by
the Governor last year, whose message indicated that weekend
operation would be a diversion from Proposition 49's intent.