BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
SB 891 (Lowenthal)
Hearing Date: 05/16/2011 Amended: 03/24/2011
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-HernandezPolicy Vote: Education 7-3
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BILL SUMMARY: SB 891 would require the State Allocation Board
(SAB) to appoint and ombudsman to provide assistance and
guidance to school districts as their construction projects
proceed through approvals from various state agencies.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 Fund
Ombudsman position $68 $136
$136 General
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STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Existing law establishes the 10-member SAB, provides for its
membership, and authorizes the SAB to apportion funds for the
construction of school facilities and to establish any
qualifications, procedures and policies, and rules and
regulations for administering and expending funds made available
for school facility construction.
In the summer of 2010, in response to a series of concerns
regarding the duration and complexity of the state agency
approval process, the Department of General Services (DGS)
initiated the California Public School Construction Process
Review in an effort to improve and streamline the process. The
DGS, in partnership with the California Department of Education
(CDE) created an Expert Workgroup (EWG), comprised of various
stakeholder subject matter experts and school district
representatives, to provide input into the review. The DGS then
issued a report of the EWG, which identified one of the critical
issues in the school construction process noted by all parties
as: the lack of communication and coordination. The report noted
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a need for enhanced, more efficient communication and
responsiveness between each of the involved state agencies, as
well as with the agencies' customers and stakeholders. One of
the recommendations, for addressing this concern was the
creation of an ombudsman for guidance and project assistance.
This bill would create an ombudsman to provide assistance and
guidance to school districts negotiating the school facilities
construction process, and who would report directly to the SAB.
This bill is silent on the salary or level of position it
creates, but the level of expertise that would be required to
coordinate with school districts and state agencies as they go
through the facility construction process would likely result in
a position similar to the SAB's Assistant Executive Officer
position, which costs $136,000 annually (including benefits). To
the extent that an ombudsman is effective in coordinating
communication between districts and departments, there will be
some level of process efficiency and workload savings for both
state agencies and participating school districts.