BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 544
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Date of Hearing: June 25, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Joan Buchanan, Chair
SB 544 (DeSaulnier) - As Amended: June 5, 2014
[Note: This bill is doubled referred to the Assembly
Transportation Committee and was heard by that Committee as it
relates to issues under its jurisdiction.]
SENATE VOTE : Vote not relevant
SUBJECT : School safety programs: funding
SUMMARY : Requires the California Department of Education (CDE)
to apply to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) for the
purpose of creating a specialized license plate program to
generate funds for school violence prevention programs.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires the fees collected from the sale of the specialized
license plates to be deposited in the School Violence
Prevention Fund, established by this bill.
2)Requires the moneys in that fund to be allocated to the CDE in
order to carry out one or more of the purposes of the Carl
Washington School Safety and Violence Prevention Act and the
School Safety Consolidated Competitive Grant, as specified in
the Education Code on January 1, 2004, or as determined by the
CDE for purposes of school violence prevention.
3)Requires the CDE to comply with all the requirements of the
Vehicle Code that apply to a state agency sponsoring a
specialized license plate program.
4)Authorizes the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) to
consult with the Board of State and Community Corrections, the
State Department of Social Services, and the State Department
of Public Health on school violence prevention and
intervention in order to carry out one or more of the purposes
of the two grant programs.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the School Safety Consolidated Competitive Grant
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and requires the SPI, in partnership with the Attorney
General's Office, to distribute grant funds through a
competitive process.
2)Establishes the School Safety Violence Prevention Strategy
Program for the purpose of promoting school safety and
violence prevention programs among children and youth in
public schools. Requires the SPI to award grants used to
provide schools with personnel, including counselors, social
workers, nurses, and psychologists; install on-campus
communication devices; establish in-service training program
for school staff; establish cooperative arrangements with
local law enforcement agencies; or other strategies for
achieving school safety and prevention of violence.
3)Specifies that for Fiscal Year (FY) 2008-09 to FY 2014-15,
specified categorical program funds may be used for any
educational purposes.
4)Establishes the local control funding formula (LCFF), which
provides funding to local educational agencies (LEAs) through
a base grant and a supplemental grant, and additional funds
based on a concentration factor.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
COMMENTS : Prior to the FY 2009-10 school year, the state
provided funding to two categorical programs that focus on
school safety and violence prevention. The Carl Washington
School Safety and Violence Prevention Act (school safety block
grant) provided grants for LEAs to devise violence prevention
strategies in schools. Funds could be used to provide schools
with personnel, including counselors, social workers, nurses,
and psychologists; install effective and accessible oncampus
communication devices; establish in-service training program for
school staff to assist school staff in identifying and
communicating at-risk children and youth and referring these
pupils to counseling; establish cooperative arrangements with
local law enforcement agencies; or for use for other strategies
for achieving school safety and prevention of violence. In
2009-10, the program received almost $80 million.
The School Safety Consolidated Competitive Grants consolidated
six programs - the Safe School Planning and Partnership
Mini-grants, School Community Policing, Gang-Risk Intervention
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Program, Safety Plan for New Schools, School Community Violence
Prevention Training, and Conflict Resolution - into one program.
The program received $14.3 million in FY 2009-10. These funds
were also used for a contract with the Kern County Office of
Education to coordinate trainings for LEAs in various regions of
the state on three topics: safe school planning, crisis
preparedness and response, and bullying and cyberbullying
prevention and intervention.
The FY 2009-10 budget had an important impact on categorical
programs. The budget agreement imposed a 20% reduction on 39
categorical programs and gave LEAs that received those funds in
FY 2007-08 the flexibility to use the funds for any educational
purposes from FY 2008-09 through FY 2012-13 (SBX3 4 (Ducheny),
Chapter 12, Statutes of the 2009-10 Third Extraordinary
Session). This reduction and flexibility provision is commonly
known as "Tier 3" flexibility, which gave LEAs $4.5 billion in
additional unrestricted funds. SB 70 (Budget Committee),
Chapter 7, Statutes of 2011, extended categorical flexibility to
FY 2014-15. The local control funding formula, enacted last
year, eliminated most categorical programs and integrated
categorical program funds, including the Carl Washington School
Safety and Violence Prevention and the School Safety
Consolidated Competitive Grants, into school districts' base
grants. These programs no longer exist.
This bill attempts to re-establish these grant programs, or new
school violence prevention programs determined by the CDE, with
funds generated through the sale of specialized license plates.
This bill requires the CDE to apply to the DMV for a specialized
license plate. Specialized license plates created and the
revenue they generate must publicize or promote a state agency,
or the official policy, mission, or work of a state agency. At
least 7,500 paid applications must be received by the state
agency prior to notifying DMV to pay for costs that will be
incurred by the DMV. It is unclear what process the CDE will
use to collect 7,500 applications, whether the CDE will be
successful in collecting 7,500 applications, and how much money
will be generated.
A number of bills introduced over the last few years have
attempted to re-establish funding for various categorical
programs. While the other bills propose to use General Funds,
this bill proposes generating funds though private sources.
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The author states, "Youth violence is a tragic public health
problem that affects physical, mental and emotional health and
it is estimated that incidents of violence cost $70 billion a
year in the United States. Research shows that violence is
largely preventable and there are proven strategies to reduce
violence with early intervention and support for families and
communities exposed to violence?.SB 544 will improve services
for children and families exposed to violence and bring local
services providers and stakeholders together to strengthen
community response to violence and offer early intervention."
The Senate adopted a resolution on April 10, 2014 declaring a
moratorium on legislation proposing to establish new license
plate types until the Legislature can assess the impact of
ongoing increase in specialized license plates. The resolution
also directed the DMV to establish a task force to study and
make recommendations to the Legislature and the Governor on the
proliferation of license plate types authorized for use in the
state. SR 28 was authored by the Committee on Transportation
and Housing, chaired by the author of this bill.
Related legislation . AB 49 (Buchanan) of 2013, requires the
Department of Health Care Services to apply to DMV to establish
a specialized license plate that promotes breast cancer
awareness on a light pink background that the California Highway
Patrol (CHP) determines does not obscure the readability of the
license plate. This bill is pending in the Senate Rules
Committee.
AB 2450 (Perez and Logue) of 2014, requires the State Department
of Public Health to apply to DMV to sponsor a specialized
license plate that promotes awareness of kidney disease and
bears the name and official logo of the National Kidney
Foundation. The bill is pending in the Senate Transportation
and Housing Committee.
SR 28 (Senate Committee on Transportation and Housing) of 2014,
requests that the DMV create a task force made up of DMV, CHP,
and local law enforcement to study and make recommendations by
July 1, 2015, on license plate types and declares a moratorium
on legislation to increase the number of license plate types
that DMV may issue until the Legislature can assess the full and
long-term impact of the ongoing increase in license plate types.
This resolution was adopted by the Senate on April 10, 2014.
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Partnership to End Domestic Violence
National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter
Partnership for Children & Youth
Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916) 319-2087