BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
SB 891 (Lowenthal)
Hearing Date: 05/26/2011 Amended: 05/23/2011
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-HernandezPolicy Vote: Education 7-3
_________________________________________________________________
____
BILL SUMMARY: SB 891allows the State Allocation Board (SAB) to
do one or more of the following: (1) Appoint an employee to
report directly to the board as ombudsman; (2) fix the salary
and other compensation of the ombudsman; (3) employ additional
staff members, and secure office space and furnishings, as
necessary to support the ombudsman in the performance of his or
her duties.
_________________________________________________________________
____
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 Fund
Ombudsman position $68
$136 $136 General
Support staff $150-200
$300-400 $300-400 General
_________________________________________________________________
____
STAFF COMMENTS: 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
SB 891 (Lowenthal)
Page 1
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
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 authorize the SAB to, at a minimum, create an
ombudsman to provide assistance and guidance to school districts
negotiating the school facilities construction process. This
bill allows the salary or level of position to be set by the
SAB, 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.
This bill further authorizes the SAB to employ additional staff
members, and secure office space and furnishings, as necessary
to support the ombudsman in the performance of his or her
duties. Depending on the scope of the ombudsman's duties in the
process, additional analyst and support staff positions may be
required.