BILL ANALYSIS �
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 392|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
CONSENT
Bill No: AB 392
Author: Jones-Sawyer (D)
Amended: 6/5/13 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE GOVERNANCE & FINANCE COMMITTEE : 6-0, 6/12/13
AYES: Wolk, Knight, Beall, DeSaulnier, Emmerson, Liu
NO VOTE RECORDED: Hernandez
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 75-0, 5/9/13 (Consent) - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : State mandates: prorated claims
SOURCE : State Controller John Chiang
DIGEST : This bill allows the State Controller to use the most
cost effective allocation method for payment when the state
budget appropriates $1,000 or less for state-mandated program
reimbursement.
ANALYSIS : Existing law requires the Legislature to either,
appropriate funds in the budget bill to pay all outstanding
claims for a mandate, or suspend or repeal the mandate
(Proposition 1A, 2004). This requirement does not apply to
school and employee relations mandates. When the state budget
appropriates an amount that is insufficient to pay all mandate
reimbursement claims approved by the State Controller's Office
(SCO), state law requires the SCO to prorate claims in a
CONTINUED
AB 392
Page
2
specified manner.
This bill requires the State Controller to determine the most
cost-effective allocation method for reimbursing approved claims
for the costs of state-mandated local programs when the state
budget allocates one thousand dollars or less for a program.
This bill repeals a requirement that the State Controller must
report to the Director of Finance and the Chairperson of
specified legislative committees whenever the State Controller
finds it necessary to prorate claims.
Comments
When the state budget appropriates an amount that is
insufficient to pay all claims for a state mandate, the SCO must
prorate the payments it makes to claimants. When the budget
appropriates $1,000 or less to pay claims for a mandate, the
administrative costs of prorating hundreds of claims can far
exceed the total value of the reimbursements. The SCO cites one
state mandated local program for which it was forced to prorate
$1,000 of appropriated state funds among 520 eligible claimants.
At an estimated average cost of $22 per claim, this process
cost the SCO more than $11,000 to process payments that ranged
from $1 to $10 for each of the 520 claimants. This is not an
isolated example. SCO staff notes that the Budget Act of 2009
appropriated $1,000 to reimburse mandate claims for each of 39
school district programs. The SCO issued 1,861 warrants for
claims related to those 39 programs, of which 1,626 were for
less than $5.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/25/13)
State Controller John Chiang (source)
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 75-0, 5/9/13
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom,
Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown,
Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Conway,
Cooley, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier,
Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray,
AB 392
Page
3
Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hern�ndez, Jones,
Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mansoor,
Medina, Melendez, Mitchell, Morrell, Mullin, Muratsuchi,
Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, V. Manuel
P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas,
Skinner, Stone, Ting, Torres, Wagner, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk,
Williams, Yamada, John A. P�rez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Donnelly, Holden, Logue, Waldron, Vacancy
AB:ej 6/25/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
**** END ****