BILL NUMBER: SB 891	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  MARCH 24, 2011

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Lowenthal

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2011

   An act  to add Section 17070.32 to the Education Code, 
relating to school facilities.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 891, as amended, Lowenthal. School facilities: 
modernization.   construction: ombudsman. 
   Existing law, the Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act of 1998,
requires the State Allocation Board  (board)  to allocate to
applicant school districts, prescribed per-unhoused-pupil state
funding for construction and modernization of school facilities,
including hardship funding, and supplemental funding for site
development and acquisition. Existing law  makes a school
district eligible to receive an apportionment for the modernization
of a permanent school building that is more than 25 years old or a
portable classroom that is at least 20 years old. Existing law
requires the board to adopt regulations to adjust the per-pupil
amounts for modernization projects for school buildings that are 50
years old or older based on the higher costs associated with
modernizing older buildings.   requires the State
Department of Education, upon request of a school district, to
provide assistance in the evaluation and utilization of existing
school facilities and the justification of the need for schoolsites,
new facilities, and the rehabilitation or replacement of existing
facilities, in accordance with board regulations.  
   Existing law, the Field Act, requires the Department of General
Services to supervise the design and construction of a school
building or the reconstruction or alteration of, or addition to, a
school building, if not exempted, to ensure that plans and
specifications comply with rules, regulations, and building standards
and to ensure that the work of construction is performed in
accordance with the approved plans and specifications.  
   Existing law requires the Department of General Services to assign
one full-time position within the Office of Public School
Construction for the purposes of providing advisory assistance to
school districts regarding the process of site acquisition for
projects for which the State Allocation Board has approved specified
funding and of formulating recommendations for administrative or
statutory revision to the manner in which schoolsites are acquired
and submitting those recommendations to the board. Existing law
requires the Department of General Services to establish a screening
unit or other mechanism within the Office of Public School
Construction to ensure that the office responds in a timely manner to
any inquiry regarding the status of an application for specified
project funding regarding site acquisition and related environmental
assessment and remediation.  
   This bill would require the board to appoint an ombudsman, who
would report directly to the board, to provide assistance and
guidance to school districts as their construction projects proceed
through approvals from the State Department of Education, the
Department of Toxic Substances Control, the Division of the State
Architect, and the Office of Public School Construction. 

   This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation that would improve and enhance the program for
modernizing school facilities. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee:  no
  yes  . State-mandated local program: no.



THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   SECTION 1.    Section 17070.32 is added to the 
 Education Code  , to read:  
   17070.32.  The board shall appoint an ombudsman who shall report
directly to the board and provide assistance and guidance to school
districts as their construction projects proceed through approvals
from the State Department of Education, the Department of Toxic
Substances Control, the Division of the State Architect, and the
Office of Public School Construction.  
  SECTION 1.    It is the intent of the Legislature
to enact legislation that would improve and enhance the program for
modernizing school facilities.