2015-16 legislative sessions ends today; CSBA opposition helps stall orientation bill
Published: August 31, 2016
During today’s Senate floor session, AB 2835 (Cooper, D-Elk Grove), a bill to require in-person orientation sessions for newly-hired public employees, was moved to the inactive file and is unlikely to advance before the Legislature adjourns this evening. Although multiple amendments had been made to the bill throughout the final month of the session, narrowing the scope of the bill and somewhat reducing the potential cost and logistical impacts for Local Education Agencies, CSBA remained opposed to the bill. Additional details on the orientation bill and other legislative items (including the reserve cap) will be reported tomorrow.
Below is a list of bills which have been sent to Gov. Jerry Brown for his approval as of today’s floor votes. Both the Senate and Assembly have until midnight to conclude the 2015-16 session.
For a full list of bills CSBA is tracking throughout the session, click here.
Bills sent to Gov. Brown’s Desk:
AB 709 (Gipson, D-Carson) – Charter schools – Would expressly state that a charter school is subject to the Ralph M. Brown Act, unless it is operated by an entity governed by the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, in which case the charter school would be subject to the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act . The bill would also require compliance with conflict of interest provisions of the Political Reform Act and prohibit charter officers and employees from having a financial interest in any contract made in their official capacity.
Introduced in 2015, this CTA-sponsored bill was pulled off the inactive file in August and enrolled on Aug. 24 – however, similar legislation has been vetoed previously by two governors. CSBA Position: Support
AB 1719 (Rodriguez, D-Pomona) – Pupil instruction: cardiopulmonary resuscitation – Would require, commencing with the 2018-19 school year, the governing board of a school district or the governing body of a charter school that mandates a course in health education for graduation from high school to include instruction in performing compression-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation. CSBA Position: Support
AB 2016 (Alejo, D-Watsonville) – Pupil instruction: ethnic studies – Would require the Instructional Quality Commission to develop, and the State Board of Education to adopt, modify, or revise, a model curriculum in ethnic studies, and would encourage each school district and charter school that maintains any of grades 9 to 12, inclusive, that does not otherwise offer a standards-based ethnic studies curriculum to offer a course of study in ethnic studies based on the model curriculum. CSBA Position: Support
AB 2197 (Garcia, Cristina, D-Bell Gardens) – Unemployment insurance: classified employees – would delete the prohibition on the payment of unemployment benefits to education employees of a public school, other than teachers, researchers, and administrators, as specified, between 2 academic years. CSBA Position: Oppose
AB 2246 (O'Donnell, D-Long Beach) – Pupil suicide prevention policies – Would require the governing board or body of a local educational agency, as defined, that serves pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, to, before the beginning of the 2017-18 school year, adopt a policy on pupil suicide prevention, as specified, that specifically addresses the needs of high-risk groups. CSBA Position: Support
AB 2316 (O'Donnell, D-Long Beach) - School facilities: leasing property – Establishes a new competitive bid process for schools choosing the lease-leaseback option for school facilities construction. CSBA Position: Support
AB 2393 (Campos, D-San Jose) – School employees: sick leave: parental leave – Would provide that if a school district maintains a rule that credits a person employed in a position requiring certification qualifications at least 100 working days of sick leave paid at no less than 50% of his or her regular salary, when he or she has exhausted all available sick leave, including all accumulated sick leave, and continues to be absent from his or her duties on account of parental leave, the person employed in a position requiring certification qualifications would be compensated at no less than 50% of his or her regular salary for the remaining portion of the 12-workweek period of parental leave. CSBA Position: Oppose
AB 2548 (Weber, D-San Diego) – School accountability: statewide accountability system – Would require the state board to adopt a statewide accountability system that, among other things, is a single integrated system that aligns local, state, and federal accountability requirements. In identifying appropriate assistance for a school or local educational agency, the bill would require the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence and county superintendents of schools to analyze data aligned with all the state priorities in order to align the level of support, collaboration, and intervention to the needs of the local educational agency or individual school or schools. CSBA Position: Disapprove
AB 2862 – (O'Donnell, D-Long Beach) – Pupil instruction: visual and performing arts: revision of content standards – Would require the Superintendent, in consultation with the Instructional Quality Commission, to recommend revisions to the visual and performing arts content standards in certain subjects to the state board, and would require the state board to adopt, reject, or modify the recommendations on or before January 31, 2019. CSBA Position: Support
SB 123 (Liu, D, La Cañada Flintridge) – Medi-Cal: school-based administrative activities – Would require the State Department of Health Care Services to contract directly with an LEA, if the LEA chooses and the department has developed a process governing direct contracting, to perform school-based administrative activities necessary for the proper and efficient administration of the Medi-Cal program, as specified. CSBA Position: Support
SB 1072 (Mendoza, D-Artesia) – Schoolbus safety: child safety alert system – Would require transportation plans to include procedures to ensure that a pupil is not left unattended on a schoolbus, and would would require, on or before the beginning of the 2018-19 school year, schoolbuses to be equipped with a "child safety alert system," which is a device located at the interior rear of a vehicle that requires the driver to either manually contact or scan the device before exiting the vehicle, thereby prompting the driver to inspect the entirety of the interior of the vehicle before exiting. CSBA Position: Support