Legislative Update: Gov. Brown signs legislation, other key bills still alive in the Legislature
Published: August 17, 2016
For a full list of 2015-16 bills with CSBA positions, click here.
For a list of bills passed and held by Appropriations Committees on August 11, click here.
Bills signed by Governor Brown (Aug. 17)
Today, Gov. Jerry Brown signed several pieces of legislation, including four education bills monitored by CSBA:
AB 1557 (Mathis, R-Visalia) - School facilities: use by nonprofit youth organizations: recreational youth sports leagues – Existing law, known as the Civic Center Act, authorizes the governing board of a school district to grant the use of school facilities or grounds as a civic center, for specified purposes, upon terms and conditions deemed proper by the governing board of the school district. This bill would specifically authorize a governing board of a school district to authorize the use of school facilities or grounds by a nonprofit organization, or by a club or an association organized to promote youth and school activities, that is a recreational youth sports league that charges participants an average of no more than $60 per month. CSBA Position: Oppose
AB 1660 (Cooper, D-Elk Grove) - Interscholastic athletics: California Interscholastic Federation: report – On January 1, 2017, current law requiring the California Interscholastic Federation to report to the Legislature and the Governor on its evaluation and accountability activities will be repealed. This bill would delete the repeal date, and would require the California Interscholastic Federation, on or before January 1, 2023, and on or before January 1 every 7 years thereafter, to report to the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature and the Governor on its evaluation and accountability activities undertaken pursuant to specified provisions. CSBA Position: Support
AB 1918 (O’Donnell, D-Long Beach) - Teacher credentialing: temporary certificates - Current law authorizes a county board of education or city and county board of education to issue temporary certificates to certified employees whose credentials are being processed by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing. This bill would authorize a county board of education or city and county board of education to issue temporary certificates to certified employees, including individuals certified in another state, whose credentials are being processed by the commission. CSBA Position: Tracking
AB 2116 (Gallagher, R-Plumas Lake) - School bonds: projections of assessed property valuations – Would require the governing board of a school district and the governing board of a community college district to obtain reasonable and informed projections of assessed property valuations that take into consideration projections of assessed property valuations made by the county assessor. CSBA Position: Neutral
Bills on Governor’s Desk:
A few key education bills – including CSBA’s sponsored “LCFF cleanup” bill – have been enrolled to Governor Brown and are awaiting his signature or veto. These include:
SB 1211 (Huff, R-Diamond Bar) - Educational programs – Repeals existing categorical programs no longer necessary under LCFF. CSBA Position: Sponsor
SB 1178 (Vidak, R-Hanford) – Superintendent of Public Instruction: child abuse and neglect: poster – Would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to create a poster that notifies children of the appropriate telephone number to call to report child abuse or neglect; to be produced in five different languages. CSBA Position: Support
SB 1343 (Wolk, D-Davis) – Pupils: intradistrict transfer of pupil convicted of violent felony or misdemeanor – Would authorize school district governing boards to transfer to another school in that school district pupils enrolled in that school district who have been convicted of violent felonies, as defined, or designated misdemeanors if the pupil to be transferred and the victim of the crime for which the pupil was convicted are enrolled at the same school, if certain requirements are satisfied, including, but not limited to, that the governing board of the school district adopts a policy and notifies parents or guardians of the policy as part of its annual notification to parents and guardians, as specified. CSBA Position: Support
Bills still active in Senate and Assembly:
With the deadline passed for policy and fiscal committees to meet and review bills, the Senate and Assembly are now immersed in floor sessions leading up to the Aug. 31 end-of-session deadline.
The issue of the school district reserve cap also remains active during the last two weeks of the session – efforts are ongoing to move a bill to the Governor’s desk before the session ends.
Some of the key education bills both houses will consider before Aug. 31 are:
AB 1639 (Maienschein, R-San Diego) – Pupil health: The Eric Paredes Sudden Cardiac Arrest Prevention Act – Would require the State Department of Education to post on its Internet Web site guidelines, videos, and an information sheet on sudden cardiac arrest symptoms and warning signs, and other relevant materials relating to sudden cardiac arrest. The bill would require a pupil in any public school, including a charter school, or private school that elects to conduct athletic activities, and the pupil's parent or guardian, to sign and return an acknowledgment of receipt of an information sheet on sudden cardiac arrest symptoms and warning signs each school year before the pupil participates in an athletic activity, as specified. 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, and the governing body of a charter school, offering instruction to pupils in grades 9 to 12, inclusive, to provide instruction in performing compression-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation as part of a course required to be offered, as provided. The bill would require this instruction to be provided to a pupil only one time. CSBA Position: Support
AB 1783 (Dodd, D-Napa) – School facilities: nonstructural earthquake hazards: inspection – Current law requires the Office of Emergency Services to develop an educational pamphlet for use by school personnel to identify and mitigate the risks posed by nonstructural earthquake hazards. This bill would require each school district, county office of education, and charter school, on or before January 1, 2020, to complete an inspection of the contents in areas that are accessible to or occupied by pupils in each of its school buildings located in an area of higher seismicity, as defined, to assess whether the contents in each area comply with the guidelines set forth in the pamphlet and to develop corrective actions to bring noncompliant contents into compliance with the published guidelines. CSBA Position: Neutral
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 two 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; would require the department to develop and maintain a model policy to serve as a guide for local educational agencies. CSBA Position: Support
AB 2316 (O’Donnell, D-Long Beach) – School facilities; leasing property – Would establish a competitive bidding and selection process, similar to design-build, for school districts that choose lease-leaseback for school construction projects. CSBA Position: Support
SB 1156 (Huff, R-Diamond Bar) – School accountability: Open Enrollment Act: low-achieving schools – The Open Enrollment Act defines “low-achieving school” to mean a school on a list created annually by the Superintendent of Public Instruction of 1,000 schools ranked by increasing Academic Performance Index score with the same ratio of elementary, middle, and high schools as existed in decile 1 in the 2008-09 school year. Commencing July 1, 2018, this bill would instead define a “low-achieving school” for purposes of the act to include, among others, a school identified by the Superintendent or the State Board of Education for comprehensive support and improvement pursuant to federal specified accountability system requirements, including, among others, a school identified as being in the lowest performing 5 percent of all Title I schools, or a high school failing to graduate 1/3 or more of its pupils. CSBA Position: Neutral
A similar bill school district of choice bill, SB 1432, also authored by Sen. Huff, was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee on Aug. 11.