BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1662|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1662
Author: Fong (D)
Amended: 4/26/12 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 7-1, 6/13/12
AYES: Lowenthal, Alquist, Hancock, Liu, Price, Simitian,
Vargas
NOES: Huff
NO VOTE RECORDED: Runner, Blakeslee, Vacancy
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 54-15, 5/3/12 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : County boards of education: members
SOURCE : California School Employees Association
DIGEST : This bill permits an employee of a school
district that is not within the jurisdiction of the county
board of education eligible to be a member of a county
board of education.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1.Prohibits an employee of a school district from being an
elected or appointed member of that school district's
governing board unless and until he/she resigns as an
employee. If the employee does not resign, the
CONTINUED
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employment will automatically terminate upon being sworn
into office.
2.Prohibits a county superintendent of schools, any member
of his/her staff, or any employee of a school district
from being a member of the county board of education.
3.Prohibits a local agency officer (defined to include
governing board members) from engaging in any employment
that is inconsistent, incompatible, in conflict with, or
inimical to his or her duties as a local agency officer
(incompatibility of office doctrine).
This bill permits an employee of a school district that is
not within the jurisdiction of the county board of
education eligible to be a member of a county board of
education.
Comments
According to the author's office, existing law prohibits an
employee of a school district from being a member of a
county board of education. This prohibition applies even
if the school district employee is seeking to serve on the
county board of education in a county other than the one in
which he or she is employed. The policy of this bill is
supported by a 1986 Attorney General (AG) opinion, in which
the AG concluded that a member of a county board of
education is eligible to serve as a substitute teacher in a
school district that falls outside the board's
jurisdiction. By eliminating the unnecessary prohibition
against school employees serving on county boards of
education in counties other than the ones in which they are
employed, this measure will protect the constitutional
rights of school employees while allowing county boards of
education to benefit from the unique insight that these
employees can offer.
In a similar matter, the AG, in Opinion No. 86-601, when
posed the question, "may a member of a county board of
education serve as a substitute teacher for a district
which falls within the board's jurisdiction and may he or
she do so for one which does not?" The opinion concluded
"?a member of a county board of education may not serve as
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a substitute teacher in a district which falls within the
board's jurisdiction but may do so in one which does not."
Prior Legislation
AB 1212 (Thompson, 1999), which would have allowed a school
district employee within that particular county eligible to
be a member of a county board of education, was vetoed by
then Governor Gray Davis. The veto message read: "This
bill would violate the common law rule against the holding
of incompatible offices. The purpose of this rule is to
disallow a person from holding two or more offices in which
he or she is in a position in one office to review and
approve his or her actions in the other office, and to
disallow the holding of offices wherein his or her duties
and loyalties are incompatible. County boards of education
have jurisdiction over several areas which would present
such a conflict, such as fiscal oversight, budgeting, and
student discipline and transfer. Moreover, I note that
current law prohibits school district employees from being
elected or appointed members of their school district
governing boards. For this reason, I cannot support this
measure."
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/14/12)
California School Employees Association (source)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees
Association of California School Administrators
California Federation of Teachers
California Labor Federation
California Professional Firefighters
Services Employees International Union
OPPOSITION : (Verified 6/14/12)
California County Superintendents Educational Services
Association
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : Proponents argue this bill is
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consistent with the 14th amendment of the United States
Constitution, the equal treatment of all people under the
law, that essentially all citizens should be treated
equally and that being a school employee should not exclude
you as a class from being able to run for office. We have
doctors, lawyers, business owners, and other professionals
running for elected office. There are ample provisions in
existing law to prevent any conflict of interest.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : Opponents argue this bill
enables a fundamental shift in governance away from lay,
community member oversight. The independent role of county
boards is best protected by maintaining the current
requirement that its members not be school district
employees.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 54-15, 5/3/12
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall,
Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bradford, Brownley,
Buchanan, Butler, Campos, Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro,
Davis, Dickinson, Eng, Feuer, Fong, Fuentes, Galgiani,
Gatto, Gordon, Gorell, Hayashi, Hill, Huber, Hueso,
Huffman, Jeffries, Lara, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza,
Mitchell, Monning, Nestande, Norby, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V.
Manuel P�rez, Portantino, Silva, Skinner, Solorio,
Swanson, Torres, Wieckowski, Yamada, John A. P�rez
NOES: Conway, Donnelly, Beth Gaines, Garrick, Grove,
Hagman, Halderman, Knight, Logue, Mansoor, Miller,
Morrell, Nielsen, Valadao, Wagner
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bonilla, Charles Calderon, Cook,
Fletcher, Furutani, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hern�ndez, Jones,
Smyth, Williams
PQ:do 6/14/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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