BILL ANALYSIS
------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 3X|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
------------------------------------------------------------
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 3X
Author: Ducheny (D)
Amended: 12/18/08
Vote: 21
SENATE FLOOR : Not relevant
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : Not available
SUBJECT : State Budget Act of 2008
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill states that it addresses the fiscal
emergency declared by the Governor by proclamation issued
on December 1, 2008, pursuant to the California
Constitution.
Assembly Amendments amend the Budget Act of 2008 to make
adjustments to certain items of appropriations. The bill
authorizes the Director of Finance to allocate necessary
reductions in employee compensation from General Fund items
in the amount of $240,000,000 and from items relating to
other funds in the amount of 149,000,000. The bill states
the intent of the Legislature that reductions in employee
compensation will result in General Fund savings of
$417,000,000 and other fund savings of $255,000,000 in the
2009-10 fiscal year.
ANALYSIS :
CONTINUED
SB 3X
Page
2
Specifics of SB 3X:
1. Judicial Branch . Reduces the growth factor provided to
the Judicial Branch from 2.8 percent to 1.4 percent for
$35.1 million in General Fund (GF) savings in the
current fiscal year.
Transfers on a one-time basis $61 million from the Trial
Court Improvement Fund to the GF. However, provides the
Judicial Branch the flexibility to transfer a lesser
amount from the Trial Court Improvement Fund and instead
transfer funds from either the Modernization Fund or the
Court Facilities Trust Fund to achieve the total $61
million transfer.
2. Office of Emergency Services . Eliminates the Internet
Crimes Against Children task force and the California
Gang Reduction, Intervention and Prevention initiative
( CalGRIP ) for combined savings of $30 million. GF
savings result from a larger Restitution Fund transfer
to the GF.
Eliminates funding for various local assistance programs
resulting in savings of $23.9 million. Programs that
will be eliminated as a result of this reduction include
Vertical Prosecution Block Grants, Rural Crime
Prevention, California Multi-jurisdictional
Methamphetamine Enforcement Teams, High Technology Theft
Apprehension Program, Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement
Teams, and California Gang Suppression.
3. State Transit Assistance . Reduces funding for local
transit operations from $306 million to $150 million on
an ongoing basis. GF savings result because these
Public Transportation Account funds are used to support
other mass transportation activities that would
otherwise be GF.
4. Department of Motor Vehicles fund shift . Associated
with the local law enforcement provisions, reduces
Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) expenditures from the
Vehicle License Fee Account by $150 million and
increases DMV expenditures from the Motor Vehicle
CONTINUED
SB 3X
Page
3
Account by $150 million.
5. Department of Parks and Recreation fund shift . Achieves
GF savings of $15 million by shifting expenditures to
bond funds.
6. Defer loan repayment . Achieves GF savings of $6.7
million in 2008-09 by deferring repayment of loans made
from the Integrated Waste Management Board. Other loan
deferrals associated with the Integrated Waste
Management Board and the Public Utilities Commission can
be achieved administratively to bring total 2008-09 GF
savings to $31 million.
7. Regional Center funding reduction . Reduces funding for
Regional Centers in the Department of Developmental
Services budget to achieve GF savings of $28.7 million.
Savings will be achieved by: (a) reducing the Regional
Center systems' Purchase of Services line item by $40.4
million ($24.1 million GF) for 2008-09, and, (b)
suspending several administrative and case management
requirements in existing law from February 1, 2009 to
June 30, 2010, inclusive, in order to provide
flexibility to each Regional Center for the purpose of
reducing their Operations expenditures ($6.6 million
($4.6 million GF) in 2008-09.
8. SSI/SSP COLA . Suspends the pass-through of the Social
Security Income (SSI) / State Supplementary Payment
(SSP) federal cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) effective
April 1, 2009 for GF savings of $117.8 million.
Associated trailer bill language (SB 5 X1) specifies
continuation into 2009-10 for savings that year of $471
million. SB 5 X1 would also suspend the June 2010 state
cost of living adjustment for 2009-10 savings of $26
million GF.
9. Williamson Act funding elimination . Eliminates the
budget appropriation to make open-space (Williamson Act)
subvention payments to counties and several cities.
These payments are made on the basis of acreage under
open-space contracts and offset, to varying degrees, the
property tax revenue losses to the participating
counties and cities due to reduced assessed value of the
CONTINUED
SB 3X
Page
4
open-space lands. The 2008-09 Budget Agreement reduced
these subventions by 10 percent, and the Budget Act
appropriated $34.7 million from the GF to make these
payments. This bill eliminates the Budget Act
appropriation for 2008-09, and associated trailer bill
language (SB7 X1) eliminates the back-up continuous
appropriation in order to achieve a savings of $37.4
million annually, starting in 2008-09. To the extent
(if any) that local governments decide to cancel
contracts as a result of the elimination of the
subvention, the state would realize additional GF
savings, starting in about four years as assessed value
on the non-renewed lands gradually is restored to its
full Proposition 13 value and increased property tax
revenues to K-14 Education reduce the state's GF
education funding obligation (assuming that either Test
2 or Test 3 is in effect under Proposition 98 at that
time).
10. Local Law Enforcement Funding . Reduces, overall, the
funding for the Citizens Option for Public Safety (COPS)
program by $17.7 million in the current fiscal year.
Changes in this bill reduce GF spending for the COPS
program by $44.6 million GF. This reduction is
partially backfilled by other legislation that realigns
$26.9 million in vehicle license fee revenues to fund
this program in the current fiscal year.
Reduces, overall, funding for the Juvenile Justice Crime
Prevention Act (JJCPA) by $17.7 million in the current
fiscal year. Changes in this bill reduce GF spending
for the JJCPA program by $44.6 million GF. This
reduction is partially backfilled by other legislation
that realigns $26.9 million in vehicle license fee
revenues to fund this program in the current fiscal
year.
Reduces, overall, Juvenile Probation subventions
allocated by the Corrections Standards Authority by
$25.1 million in the current fiscal year. Changes in
this bill reduce GF spending for the Juvenile Probation
Funding by $63.3 million GF. This reduction is
partially backfilled by other legislation that realigns
$38.2 million in vehicle license fee revenues to fund
CONTINUED
SB 3X
Page
5
this program in the current fiscal year.
11. Corrections . Reduces the budget for the California
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation by $3.2
million to reflect additional savings from implementing
a corrections package that will reduce the inmate and
parolee populations. This package includes: (a)
changes to credits that inmates earn, (b) changes to
the parole system that would allow specified
non-violent, non-serious, non-sex offenders to be
discharged from parole after six months of continuous
clean time, and, (c) updating the threshold for certain
property crimes to reflect inflation.
12. State Employee Compensation . Adds Control Section 3.90
that reduces GF appropriations by $240 million to be
achieved through employee compensation savings agreed to
through the collective bargaining process. States the
intent of the Legislature that GF savings of $417
million also is achieved in the 2009-10 year.
13. Contingency Clause . Includes clause making this bill
contingent on the chaptering of AB 2 or SB 2 X1; and AB
9 or SB 9 X1.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: Yes Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
DLW:do 12/18/08 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: NONE RECEIVED
**** END ****
CONTINUED