BILL ANALYSIS
SB 305
Page 1
Date of Hearing: July 15, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
SB 305 (Corbett) - As Amended: May 6, 2009
Policy Committee: EducationVote:8-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Office of the State Architect (SA),
within existing resources, to update the inventory and existing
report regarding the seismic safety of public schools to more
accurately identify building deficiencies, as specified.
Specifically, this bill:
Requires the State Allocation Board (SAB) to use the information
from the updated inventory and report to inform the development
of eligibility criteria for the Seismic Mitigation program
authorized by the Kindergarten -University Public Education
Facilities Bond Act of 2006 (Proposition 1D).
FISCAL EFFECT
Minor, absorbable costs to the Department of General Services
(DGS) to complete the requirements of this measure. DGS reports
that it has almost completed the updating of the existing report
information, as required by this measure.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . AB 300 (Corbett), Chapter 622, Statutes of 1999,
required DGS, in consultation with the Seismic Safety
Commission, to conduct an inventory of K-12 public school
buildings that are concrete tilt-up school buildings and
buildings with non-wood frame walls that do not meet the
minimum requirements of the 1976 Uniform Building Code.
In November 2002, DGS released the report: Seismic Safety
Inventory of California Public Schools, which evaluated 9,659
schools built before 1978 for structural safety. The report
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concluded that 7,537 schools require a detailed seismic
evaluation to determine their ability to withstand an
earthquake. These buildings were classified as seismic
vulnerability Category 2. It further estimated that the
preliminary cost for seismic rehabilitation of these buildings
approached $4.7 billion, including evaluation costs. This
bill requires the SA to update the existing AB 300 report to
more accurately identify the deficiencies in the 7,537 schools
identified in the report as having issues related to seismic
safety.
2)Proposition 1D: Seismic Mitigation program . AB 127 (Nunez),
Chapter 35, Statutes of 2006, authorized Proposition 1D: the
Kindergarten- University Public Education Facilities Bond Act
of 2006 for $10.416 billion. The voters passed Proposition 1D
on November 7, 2006. Of the $10.416 billion, $7.329 billion
was allocated for K-12 education facilities and $3.087 billion
was provided for higher education facilities. According to the
Office of Public School Construction (OPSC), as of April 2009,
there is $3.9 billion remaining in K-12 education facilities
funds (i.e., new construction, modernization, charter schools,
and CTE facilities, etc.). Of this amount $499.3 million is
for new construction.
Chapter 35 established the Seismic Mitigation program, which
appropriated $199.5 million of new construction funding to the
most vulnerable school facilities that meet certain criteria
that pose an unacceptable risk of injury to its occupants in
the event of a seismic occurrence. These funds will be used to
repair, reconstruct, or replace qualifying school facilities.
The facilities that are intended to be repaired are those
identified as Category 2 in the AB 300 report.
In September 2007, the State Allocation Board (SAB) adopted
regulations that establish eligibility criteria for the
Seismic Mitigation program. Based on this criterion, the SA
determined that 77 K-12 public school facilities are eligible
for funding under this program. Through further research, it
was determined hat 52 of the 77 school facilities have already
been repaired. Therefore, only 25 facilities are eligible for
program funding under the SAB's existing regulations. As
such, many school districts have complained that the current
eligibility criteria is too limiting in scope. The SAB is
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currently working with DGS staff, including the SA, to
redefine eligibility criteria.
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081