Legislative Update: Gov. Brown signs public meeting notification bill and other items
Published: September 21, 2016
More than 130 bills affecting public education were sent to Gov. Brown before the legislative session concluded on Aug. 31. Below is a partial list of bills affecting K-12 education that have been signed as of Sept. 21; the governor has until Sept. 30 to sign or veto all 2016 legislation.
Among the bills signed by the Governor is Assembly Bill 2257 (Mainschein, R-San Diego), which allows LEAs to utilize their websites to post public meeting notifications, in compliance with the Brown Act, stipulating that agendas posted online be “accessible through a prominent, direct link.”
For a full list of bills CSBA is tracking,
click here.
CSBA’s “What’s New for 2017” report detailing all new laws signed in 2016 will be available in October.
Bills signed by Gov. Brown:
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 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 2056 (Garcia, D-Coachella) – Cal Grant Program: graduation verification – The Cal Grant Program establishes the Cal Grant A and B Entitlement awards, the California Community College Transfer Entitlement awards, the Competitive Cal Grant A and B awards, the Cal Grant C award, and the Cal Grant T award under the administration of the Student Aid Commission. It also establishes eligibility requirements for awards under these programs for participating students attending qualifying institutions. This bill stipulates that the commission, if it requires the verification of high school graduation or its equivalent, must provide guidance to high schools or high school districts on graduation verification standards. Specifically, they must ensure that high schools and high school districts verify the graduation of their pupils as soon as possible and no later than Aug. 31 of the academic year following the pupils' graduation. CSBA Position: Support
AB 2071 (Harper, R-Huntington Beach) – Vote by mail ballots – Current law requires that all vote-by-mail ballots cast be received by the elections official from whom they were obtained or by the precinct board no later than the close of the polls on election day or no later than 8 p.m. on election day, as specified. Notwithstanding this requirement, current law provides that a vote by mail ballot is considered cast in a timely fashion if it is received by the voter's election official via the United States Postal Service or a bona fide private mail delivery company no later than three days after election day, if a specified requirement is met. This bill would define "bona fide private mail delivery company" for purposes of the above-described exception for ballots delivered after election day. CSBA Position: Tracking
AB 2259 (Medina, D-Riverside) – School accountability: dropout recovery high schools – Extends the repeal date to January 1, 2020 on current law requiring the Superintendent and the State Board of Education to allow no more than 10 dropout recovery high schools to report the results of an individual pupil growth model that is proposed by the school and certified by the Superintendent pursuant to specified criteria instead of reporting other indicators. CSBA Position: Support
AB 2476 (Daly, D-Anaheim) – Local governments: parcel taxes: notice – Would require the legislative body of a local agency, as defined, to provide notice of a new parcel tax to the owner of a parcel affected by the tax, if that owner does not reside within the jurisdictional boundaries of the taxing entity. This bill would require the notice to include specified information and to be provided to the property owner in a specified manner. This bill would provide that the local agency may recover the reasonable costs of the notice from the proceeds of the parcel tax. CSBA Position: Oppose
SB 1169 (McGuire, D-Healdsburg) – Pupil nutrition: competitive food service and standards – Current state law establishes nutritional standards for all food and beverages sold or served to pupils in elementary, middle, and high school. This bill would enact the Healthy Food, Healthy Student Act to update state law regarding school nutritional standards to conform to the federal standards. CSBA Position: Tracking
SB 1455 (Block, D-San Diego) – Pupil enrollment: military dependents – Would provide that a pupil complies with a school district's residency requirements for school attendance in that school district if he or she is a pupil whose parent is transferred or is pending transfer to a military installation within the boundaries of the school district while on active military duty pursuant to an official military order. The bill would require a school district to accept applications by electronic means for enrollment and course registration for those pupils. CSBA Position: Tracking
Key bills awaiting action by Gov. Brown:
AB 709 (Gipson, D-Carson) – Charter schools – Would state that charter schools are subject to the Brown Act, Political Reform Act and the California Public Records act. This is a two-year bill introduced in 2015; Governor Brown has previously vetoed similar legislation. CSBA Position: Support
SB 739 (Pavley, D-Agoura Hills) – Charter schools: sited outside boundaries: prohibition – Would prohibit the governing board of a school district from authorizing new charter schools to locate outside the boundaries of the school district if the school district is assigned a negative certification. CSBA Position: Support
AB 2316 (O’Donnell, D-Long Beach) – School facilities: leasing property
Would establish a new competitive bidding process for schools choosing the lease-leaseback option to finance school construction projects. 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 classified public school between two academic years, and would phase in up to 8 weeks of benefits available to those specified employees over a four-year timeframe. CSBA Position: Oppose