BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                           Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair

                                          SB 462 (Blakeslee)
          
          Hearing Date: 05/26/2011        Amended: 05/04/2011
          Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-HernandezPolicy Vote: Education 9-0
          _________________________________________________________________
          ____
          BILL SUMMARY: SB 462 would require special education local plan 
          areas (SELPAs), in collaboration with the California Department 
          of Education (CDE) and in consultation with the Office of 
          Administrative Hearings (OAH), to develop a voluntary special 
          education advocate certification program and charge fees, as 
          specified.  This bill also requires OAH to administer a 
          certification test and charge fees, as specified.
          _________________________________________________________________
          ____
                            Fiscal Impact (in thousands)

           Major Provisions            2011-12      2012-13       2013-14     Fund
                                                                      
          DCA test administration                 Potentially significant 
          start-up costs*             General

          CDE oversight and coordination   $450-$1,200    $900 -$1,200     
           $300*          General 

          *Costs may be offset by fees over time.
          _________________________________________________________________
          ____

          STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE. AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED.

          

          This bill would require SELPAs in collaboration with the CDE and 
          in consultation with the OAH, to develop a voluntary special 
          education advocate certification program, including a test, as 
          specified. Requiring SELPAs both to develop the program and 
          implement aspects of it constitutes a new reimbursable mandate. 
          The mandate cost cannot be determined, as it will depend on the 
          parameters and requirements of the program created. This bill 
          would allow for some amount of fee recovery for providing 
          training, which could mitigate some mandate costs. However, at a 
          minimum, the costs to develop the test and program would be 








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          reimbursable. 



          This bill requires the OAH to administer the test, to certify a 
          person who has successfully passed the test and fulfilled the 
          SELPA training requirements, and to post a registry of certified 
          special education advocates on its website. The OAH does not 
          administer tests currently, and lacks appropriate staff to 
          fulfill this function, and would require five new positions, and 
          may require an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) to provide initial 
          guidance to test administrators, depending on the type of test 
          that is ultimately developed. The OAH estimates that five 
          positions to implement the provisions of this bill would cost 
          $700,000. A limited-term ALJ would cost $200,000 (including 
          benefits). 



          This bill would give fee authority to the OAH to charge a fee to 
          a person seeking certification as a special education advocate 
          that shall not exceed the reasonable costs of administering the 
          test and maintaining the registry. The fee level necessary would 
          depend on the number of people seeking certification. Because 
          certification would be voluntary, it is unclear how long it 
          would take to recover the initial and ongoing costs through fee 
          collection.



          The CDE believes that the measure will also create new workload 
          for the department to work with SELPAs to develop the test and 
          certification program, and ongoing oversight of the program. The 
          CDE estimates needing 4.5 to 5.5 new positions, at a cost of 
          $900,000 to $1.2 million.  


          Amend per author to make SELPA participation in the development 
          of a training program permissive, and to move test 
          administration to the Department of Consumer Affairs, Board of 
          Behavioral Sciences.











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