BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Gloria Romero, Chair
2009-2010 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 1240
AUTHOR: Davis
AMENDED: April 29, 2009
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: July 8, 2009
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Kathleen Chavira
SUBJECT : Lease/Sale of Community College Buildings
SUMMARY
This bill 1) extends the current exemption from the Field
Act for buildings leased by a community college district
from three years to five years for the Los Angeles
Community College District for leases entered into prior to
January 1, 2015; 2) repeals provisions requiring a
community college district to call for oral bids prior to
accepting any written proposal to buy or lease any real
property, and; 3) modifies the requirements which must be
met by a community college district to enter into a lease
or agreement related to property and buildings used by the
district.
BACKGROUND
Current law authorizes a community college district to
enter into leases and agreements relating to real property
and buildings to be used by the district. Before entering
into a lease or agreement, the district must have a site
upon which a building to be used by the district may be
constructed, it must have complied with law regarding the
selection and approval of sites, and it must have prepared
and adopted Field Act compliant plans and specifications
for the building. A district is declared to have a site
available for this purpose if it owns a site or if it has a
purchase option on the site.
Current law also authorizes the governing board of a
community college district to lease "temporary-use
buildings" defined as a building intended for use by the
district for no more than three years from the date of
first occupancy. A building leased for greater than three
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years, and in which students are expected to enter, is
subject to "Field Act" compliance. The "Field Act" was
enacted following a severe earthquake in Long Beach in
1933. The Field Act requires a comprehensive design
specification and construction inspection process for
"public school" educational facilities.
Current law authorizes the governing board of a community
college district to sell
or lease real property belonging to the district, together
with any personal
property located thereon, not needed for school classroom
buildings. Current law requires the district to call for
oral bids before accepting any written proposal to buy or
lease the property.
ANALYSIS
This bill :
1) Modifies the requirements which must be met by a
community college district before it can enter into a
lease or agreement, including a lease purchase
agreement, relating to real property and buildings to
be used by the district. Specifically, it deletes
current law which recognizes an option to purchase a
site as meeting the requirement that a district has a
site available for construction of a building for
district use.
2) Deletes the requirement that the board of a community
college district call for oral bids before accepting
any written proposal to purchase or lease community
college real property and makes other conforming
changes.
3) Authorizes the exemption of any temporary use building
leased by the Los Angeles Community College District
(LACCD) from the Field Act for a period of five years.
4) Restricts the exemption from the Field Act granted to
the LACCD to leases with an effective date, or
effective renewal date prior to January 1, 2015.
5) Declares that the unique circumstances of the LACCD
make a general statute inapplicable.
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STAFF COMMENTS
1) Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD)
provisions . According to the sponsor, the LACCD has
recently conducted a survey to identify outlying areas
which do not have sufficient access to educational
centers/campuses. The LACCD plans to enter into
short-term leases on facilities in these areas and
offer courses as a means of determining if these areas
do, in fact, hold long-term viability for the
district. The LACCD believes that in some areas it
will be difficult to determine in a 3 year period if
those areas are in fact suitable for long-term
investment. The ability to extend those leases to 5
years, without requiring compliance with the Field
Act, will enable the LACCD to better determine if the
designated site holds long-term viability.
2) Limiting community college district options ? Current
law requires a building to be compliant with the Field
Act upon entering a lease with an option to purchase.
Staff has been informed that it is the intent of the
author to modify these provisions to require Field Act
compliance only once the option to purchase is
actually exercised. However, the current modification
to section 81332 appears to prevent a district from
entering into a lease or agreement unless the district
owns the land upon which the building is to be
constructed and deletes the option for the district to
construct on a site where the district has an option
to purchase the site. These changes do not appear to
accomplish the author's intent and instead, appear to
restrict district options in this regard. Staff
recommends that the changes to Education Code section
81332 be deleted from the bill.
3) Conformity with other higher education institutions .
This bill repeals provisions requiring an oral bid
process before accepting any written proposal to buy
or lease any real property, together with personal
property located thereon. Staff notes that these
provisions are similar to those which currently exist
for K-12 districts. Deletion of this requirement
would conform community college processes to those of
California's other public postsecondary education
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segments which have no such requirement.
4) Need for conforming change . This bill modifies
existing law which makes provision for the payment of
a commission to the licensed real estate broker
involved in the oral bid transaction. This statute
appears to be applicable only in a situation where an
oral bid is tendered. It is unclear why any reference
to a real estate broker's commission is necessary
given the deletion of the oral bid provisions. Staff
recommends that Education Code section 81373 be
repealed to conform to other changes proposed in the
bill. Staff also recommends that amendments to
Education Code sections 81361 and 81367 be
incorporated in the bill to delete "and no oral bid
which would meet the requirements of Section 81371"
and "or stated in or with the oral bid" respectively,
in order to further conform existing law to the
changes proposed by the bill.
SUPPORT
Los Angeles Community College District
OPPOSITION
Professional Engineers in California Government