CASH Legislation 2018 Status Update: Last Two Weeks of the 2018-2019 Legislative Session

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The Legislature concludes its business on Friday, August 31st, so the final stretch of this year’s Legislative Session is upon us. The Senate and Assembly Appropriations Committees met on Thursday, August 16th to review Suspense File bills, and the final two weeks will involve hearing bills that were approved by the Appropriations Committees on the Senate and Assembly Floors. The following is a summary of legislation on the CASH bill list that was approved by the Appropriations Committees, with the exception of AB 2570 (Nazarian) regarding Mandatory Use of Green Cleaning Products, which was held in the Senate Appropriations Committee. Some bills were amended in the Appropriations Committees, and CASH will have more information on the amendments when it becomes available.

CASH will report next in two weeks when the Legislature concludes its business for the year on August 31st and after September 30th, which is the last day that the Governor has to sign or veto bills passed by the Legislature. The CASH advocacy team will be making a full presentation on all legislative and regulatory issues during the Fall Conference in Newport Beach on Wednesday, October 17, 2018.

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State Allocation Board Meeting: CTEFP Regulatory Amendments & No Action on Acknowledged List Proposal

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Today the State Allocation Board (Board) met to hear routine business items, adopt regulatory amendments to the Career Technical Education Facilities Program, and receive a report on the Material Inaccuracy provision.  Additionally, in her Executive Officer Statement, Lisa Silverman addressed the issue of accepting applications once bond authority has been exhausted, which was not on the agenda for discussion or action at today’s Board meeting.

Executive Officer Statement

Ms. Silverman reported on the stakeholder meeting conducted July 11, 2018, on the proposed regulation to cease accepting applications once bond authority has been exhausted.  Ms. Silverman indicated that OPSC received a significant amount of input on the proposal.  Based on that stakeholder feedback and absent further Board direction, Ms. Silverman announced that Office of Public School Construction (OPSC) staff are not bringing forth an action item to amend the regulations at this time.  CASH opposed the proposal and had urged the Board to defer action at its June 27, 2018 meeting and to thoroughly vet the impacts of the proposal.

Thank you to all of the CASH members who actively engaged in this process by contacting their legislators or providing comments at the stakeholder meeting.  Your efforts made a difference in achieving this positive outcome!

Ms. Silverman also announced that OPSC has tentatively scheduled the first stakeholder meeting to develop the Full-Day Kindergarten Facilities Grant Program for Tuesday, August 28, 2018 at the Department of General Services Offices in West Sacramento.  Budget trailer bill AB 1808 provides $100 million for school districts to build new or retrofit existing facilities for the purpose of providing full-day kindergarten classrooms.

Regulatory Amendments to the Career Technical Education Facilities Program

The Board approved regulatory amendments to the Career Technical Education Facilities Program (CTEFP) to create additional criteria for tie-breakers in the funding order of applications.  During the processing of applications for the fourth funding cycle, there were multiple instances of tied rankings in the funding order.  The approved amendments include three new subsections to define the criteria for funding order when a tie exists among two or more CTEFP approved applications:

  • First: fund the application with the highest total score in all weighted areas.
  • Next: fund the applicant that does not have another application that will receive funding in the current cycle or did not receive funding in the prior funding cycle.
  • If the tie is not resolved, funding order may be based on a lottery.

Material Inaccuracy Overview

The Board received a report outlining the material inaccuracy statute, Education Code Section 17070.51, and historical background of its application in the past.  Chair Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez indicated that the report was brought forward at this time to educate the Board members about this provision.

Information on the Application of Construction Cost Index Adjustments

This item was withdrawn from the agenda.  Chair Wong-Hernandez indicated that staff needed additional time to research the issue, and it will come back to a future meeting, possibly in September.

School Facility Program Workload List

The Unfunded List (Lack of AB 55 Loans) dated June 27, 2018 includes projects worth a total of $507,936,867.  This includes $84.5 million for 52 projects for Charter School Facilities Program Preliminary Apportionments for Design and Site funding.

The workload list dated July 31, 2018 contains projects worth the following:

New Construction:          $2,480,363,845
Modernization:                $1,644,677,102
Total:                               $4,125,040,947

The next State Allocation Board meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, September 26 at 2 pm.

~Rebekah Cearley, Legislative Advocate

 

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August Facility Planners Update 2018

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The CASH Facility Planners Meeting Update for August 2018 is now available and includes information regarding:

  • OPSC Conducts Stakeholders Meeting on Proposal to Stop Accepting Applications
  • Legislative Update
  • Storm Water Mitigation and Schools: SB 541 Implementation and Outreach Workshops
  • CASH August Workshop
  • CASH Networking Mixer

Click here to view the update.

~ CASH Staff

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Message From the Chair – A Call to Action

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In light of the Office of Public School Construction’s (OPSC) recent regulatory proposal to end the School Facility Program (SFP) as we know it and the Administration’s delayed sale of Proposition 51 bonds, state support for school facilities in California is in jeopardy.  We appreciate the State Allocation Board’s (SAB) June 27th decision to defer action on the OPSC proposal, but we need your help to prevent the SAB from adopting it at a future meeting. We also need your help to show state decision-makers, including the Governor, Governor Candidates, and the Legislature, what funding local school construction and modernization projects means to students and local communities.  The following is an update on CASH’s actions to preserve the principals of the SFP, and ensure Proposition 51 bonds are sold and projects are funded. 

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