BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1199|
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 1199
Author: Brownley (D)
Amended: 5/25/12 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 7-0, 6/13/12
AYES: Lowenthal, Alquist, Hancock, Huff, Liu, Price,
Simitian
NO VOTE RECORDED: Runner, Blakeslee, Vargas, Vacancy
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 67-0, 1/17/12 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : School bonds: citizens oversight committee
SOURCE : State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom
Torlakson
DIGEST : This bill extends the number of terms that a
member of a local bond citizens oversight committee (COC)
may serve, from two to three consecutive terms and provides
that members must serve for a minimum term of two years.
ANALYSIS : Article XI, Section 18 of the California
Constitution, as amended by voter initiative measure
(Proposition 39, November 2000), authorizes a school
district, community college district, or county office of
education to incur bond indebtedness for the construction,
reconstruction, rehabilitation, or replacement of school
facilities, with the approval of 55% of the voters of the
district or county. Article XIII A provides that this vote
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threshold only applies if, among other things,
constitutionally specified accountability requirements are
met. These include requirements that the local bond
measure includes a specific list of school projects to be
funded and that the authorizing board conduct annual,
independent financial and performance audits until all bond
funds have been spent to ensure they are used exclusively
for the projects listed in the measure.
Existing law provides that if a bond measure is authorized
under the Constitutional provisions established by
Proposition 39, the governing board of the school or
community college district must establish and appoint
members to a COC within 60 days of entering the election
results on its minutes. Among other things, the purpose of
the COC is to review and report on bond fund expenditures
to ensure a district's compliance with the purposes and
accountability requirements outlined in the California
Constitution as the result of the passage of Proposition
39. (Education Code (ED) Section 15278)
Existing law also provides that the COC consist of at least
seven members to serve a term of two years for no more than
two consecutive terms, and makes provision for the make-up
of the COC. (ED Section 15282)
This bill modifies the terms of service on a local bond COC
established pursuant to the constitutional provisions
established by Proposition 39. More specifically, it:
1. Provides that members of the COC must serve a minimum
term of two years.
2. Increases the number of consecutive terms that COC
members may serve from two to three two year terms,
thereby authorizing members to serve for a total of six,
rather than four years.
3. Makes a number of technical and clarifying changes.
Comments
Proposition 39 was passed by voters in 2000. Among others,
the Proposition, a Constitutional Amendment, reduced the
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voting threshold for the passage of local general
obligations bonds from two-thirds to 55% provided that the
local bond initiative meets the following accountability
measures:
1. The initiative identifies a list of the specific school
facilities projects that will be funded by bond
proceeds.
2. A requirement that the school board, community college
board, or county office of education conduct an annual,
independent performance audit to "ensure that the funds
have been expended only on the specific projects
listed."
3. A requirement that the school board, community college
board, or county office of education conduct an annual,
independent financial audit of the proceeds from the
sale of the bonds until all of those proceeds have been
expended for the school facilities projects.
Both the financial audit and performance audit must be
reviewed by an independent COC. AB 1908 (Lempert), Chapter
44, Statutes of 2000, a companion bill to Proposition 39,
required each district, within 60 days of the passage of a
local bond with 55% vote to appoint a COC to monitor and
review expenditures to ensure compliance with Proposition
39 requirements, and to keep the public informed about bond
expenditures. The bill specified that the COC must be
comprised of a minimum of seven members, appointed for no
more than two consecutive two-year terms. The bill also
specified that members shall not be compensated and shall
include representatives of business, senior citizen,
taxpayers', parent teacher organizations, and parents of
children enrolled in the school district.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/12/12)
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson
(source)
California League of Bond Oversight Committees
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Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : Under existing law, the State
Board of Education (SBE) is authorized to waive certain
sections of the ED or any regulations adopted by the SBE
(ED Section 33050). Since 2006, the SBE has granted 19
requests from school districts to waive the term limit of
members of local COCs to allow existing members to serve an
additional term. The predominant reasons for the requests
stem from districts' inability to find qualified
individuals interested in serving on the COCs and the need
for continuity. This bill extends the term of the
appointments by one term to enable COC members to serve six
years instead of four. A local governing board is not
required to appoint individuals to three terms. This bill
will alleviate the need for districts to pursue waivers to
reappoint existing members to an additional term and reduce
the workload at the SBE to process and approve the waivers.
The author states, "School construction projects can take
five years or longer. Enabling oversight committee members
the ability to oversee projects from beginning to end
enhances accountability of local dollars, as envisioned by
the authors of Proposition 39."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 67-0, 1/17/12
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bill
Berryhill, Block, Bonilla, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan,
Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos, Carter, Cedillo,
Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Dickinson, Eng, Feuer, Fong, Beth
Gaines, Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Grove, Hagman, Halderman,
Hall, Hayashi, Roger Hern�ndez, Hill, Huber, Hueso,
Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Lara, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal,
Ma, Mansoor, Mendoza, Miller, Mitchell, Monning, Morrell,
Nestande, Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Pan, Perea, Portantino,
Silva, Skinner, Solorio, Swanson, Torres, Valadao,
Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. P�rez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Beall, Blumenfield, Davis, Donnelly,
Fletcher, Fuentes, Furutani, Galgiani, Gorell, Harkey,
Huffman, V. Manuel P�rez, Smyth
PQ:k 6/14/12 Senate Floor Analyses
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SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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