BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 1715
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 19, 2010

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                    AB 1715 (Fuentes) - As Amended:  May 5, 2010 

          Policy Committee:                               
          AppropriationsVote:

          Urgency:     Yes                  State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:               

           SUMMARY  

          This bill, one of two annual bills sponsored by the California  
          Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board (board) and  
          carried by the Appropriations Committee chairs, appropriates  
          $998,377 to pay 257 claims against the state as approved by the  
          board. 

           FISCAL EFFECT  


          1)Appropriates $963,914 from the GF and $34,463 from special  
            funds.  


          2)Appropriates, pursuant to current law, an additional 15%  
            surcharge on the amount of each claim (excluding stale-dated  
            warrants) to pay for the board's administrative costs. This  
            surcharge amounts to $45,000.


           COMMENTS  


           1)Rationale.  The Government Code requires the board to take all  
            necessary steps to ensure that all approved claims, for which  
            there exists no legally available appropriation, are submitted  
            for legislative approval at least twice each calendar year. 


           2)Support  . This bill, supported by the board, the Department of  
            Finance, and the administration, has no opposition.  








                                                                 AB 1715
                                                                  Page  2



          3)The 10 largest claims - from $15,000 to $227,000, account for  
            68% of the costs of this bill  ; the remaining claims average  
            $1,312. Virtually all of the claims (99.7%) are in two  
            categories:


             a)   Stale-dated warrants (expired state checks) - 238 claims  
               for $701,124.


             b)   Unredeemed bonds - 15 claims for $294,003.


           4)Related Legislation  . SB 910 (Kehoe) will be heard in this  
            committee later this year and will include claims approved  
            through March 2010. AB 92 (De Leon, Statutes of 2009) and SB  
            327 (Kehoe, Statutes of 2009) were the two claims bills last  
            year. Both urgency bills passed without a dissenting vote.


           Analysis Prepared by  :    Geoff Long / APPR. / (916) 319-2081