Legislative update: Assembly Bill 195, proposed SAB facility program amendments
Published: August 8, 2018
AB 195 ballot label requirements not heard by Legislature
With an August 10 deadline looming for local bonds to be placed on the November 2018 ballot, the Legislature is highly unlinkely to hear a bill this week that would have provided a temporary two-year exemption for local bond measures from the ballot labeling requirements of Assembly Bill 195, which was signed into law last year.
As a result, local bond measures in consideration for the November general election ballot will be subject to the requirements of AB 195.
Next steps:
CSBA members considering local bond elections in November are advised to proceed cautiously, considering their local communities and data.
It is important to note that local bonds that do include the AB 195 language have, in certain cases, been shown to poll well, yet perform poorly. Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates (FM3) has surmised that there is a potential significant negative impact of 10-plus percentage points on support for local bond measures when AB 195 language is used.
CSBA has been working in concert with the Coalition for Adequate School Housing, low income housing advocates and other local government organizations to include a two-year delay of AB 195 in a budget trailer bill, Senate Bill 863. However, SB 863 is unlikely to be heard by the Legislature and sent to the Governor in time to meet local and state elections deadlines. CSBA will continue to work toward a permanent solution to the AB 195 issue in 2019 when the Legislature convenes for the 2019–20 legislative session.
State Allocation Board will not consider School Facility Program amendments on Aug. 15
It was anticipated that, at its Aug. 15 meeting, the State Allocation Board would take up a proposal to amend its process for School Facility Program applications. Under the proposal (which is opposed by CSBA), the SAB would cease accepting applications for new construction and modernization project funding when the Board has received enough funding requests to account for all available bond authority — meaning that new project applications would not be added to the backlog when there is no remaining bond money.
The SAB will not consider these proposed amendments on Aug. 15, as the item does not appear on the current meeting agenda. CSBA will provide further updates if the proposed amendments are agendized at a later date.
Key CSBA sponsored/co-sponsored bills on the move:
Four of CSBA’s 2018 key co-sponsored bills now reside on the Senate Appropriations Committee’s suspense file after yesterday’s hearing:
AB 2808 (Muratsuchi, D-Torrance), Local Control Funding Formula base grant target increase
AB 276 (Medina, D-Riverside), Charter school transparency
AB 1951 (O’Donnell, D-Long Beach), Pathways to College Act
AB 3192 (O’Donnell, D-Long Beach), Medi-Cal Billing Option; audit guide
Appropriations committees in both houses will hear their suspense files on or before Friday, Aug. 17. The four CSBA co-sponsored bills above, if passed in suspense hearings, would then be heard on the Senate Floor.
AB 2285 (O’Donnell, D-Long Beach), also co-sponsored by CSBA, was signed into law by Gov. Brown on July 20. AB 2285 helps address the teacher shortage by more closely aligning California’s credentialing requirements for out-of-state teachers with its requirements for renewals of in-state credentials.
With the 2017–18 Legislative Session ending on Aug. 31, the Legislature will be focused on moving legislation out of fiscal committees and to the floors of each house in time to get bills to the Governor. The Governor then has until Sept. 30 to sign or veto bills.