Legislative Update: Education bills vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown
Published: October 5, 2016
In his 14th year as governor, Gov. Jerry Brown reached a “career high” veto rate in 2016, vetoing approximately 15 percent of the more than 1,000 bills which were passed by the Legislature and sent to his desk. With two years left in his term, many of Gov. Brown’s veto messages were definitive in what types of bills he is willing or unwilling to sign into law.
Among noteworthy vetoes is the CSBA-opposed Assembly Bill 2197 (Garcia, Cristina, D-Bell Gardens), a bill which would have extended unemployment insurance to classified school employees during the period between two academic years. Gov. Brown’s veto message reads, in part, “this bill creates several conformity issues with the federal Unemployment Insurance laws, which could result in sanctions from the federal government, including the loss of significant tax credits for California's employers.”
Two charter school bills which CSBA supported, AB 709 (Gipson, D-Carson) and SB 739 (Pavley, D-Agoura Hills) were also vetoed by the governor. The governor’s veto was expected on AB 709, which would express that charter schools are subject to the Brown Act, Political Reform Act, California Public Records Act and Government Code Section 1090; similar legislation has been vetoed in years past by Gov. Brown and prior administrations.
The governor’s signing message on SB 739, which would prohibit the governing board of a school district from authorizing new charter schools to locate outside district boundaries if said district has been assigned a negative certification, reads in part, “this bill attempts to address an issue currently being reviewed by the State Auditor… let's review the audit when it's released next spring to better determine the scope of the issue and what, if any, policy changes are necessary.”
A trio of bills were also vetoed under an umbrella message from Gov. Brown, proclaiming that he is not supportive of creating new unfunded mandates: AB 1783, AB 2182 and Senate Bill 1113, pertaining to classroom earthquake safety, neurocognitive testing for pupils with concussions and mental health, respectively.
For a list of education bills vetoed by Gov. Brown, click here.
For a complete list of education bills which were signed into law, download the “What’s New for 2017” report.