Legislative Update — August 20, 1998

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Last month the Assembly sent SB 50 (Karnette) to the Senate by a vote of 66 to 18 for concurrence in Assembly amendments. The Senate did not concur. SB 50 is a $9.0 billion education bond. Among the provisions are modifications to the developer fee provisions as well as the allocation method for K-12 facility funds. The K-12 portion of the bond is $6.5 billion with the remaining $2.5 billion for higher education. The higher education portion is allocated as follows: 1998-99 and 1999-2000 — $1.25 billion; 2000-01 and 2001-02 — $165 million for new campuses or centers for UC, CSU and community colleges and $1.085 billion for other projects. Most observers believe that the $165 million new campus funds are poorly camouflaged funds for UC, Merced. The bottom line for community colleges, assuming no access to the new campus funds, is 1998-99 – $208 million, 1999-2000 – $208 million, 2000-01 – $181 million, and 2001-02 – $181 million.

The Senate appointed a conference committee for SB 50, but the Assembly did not. The next rumored move will be a bill from the Senate (probably AB 40 (Mazzoni)), which will be amended to include the Senate's modifications to SB 50. The modifications will probably be to the developer fee provisions, and will be surgical rather than meat ax. The bond amount may be increased to $9.2 billion to increase the K-12 modernization allocations. There are no anticipated changes to the higher education portion.

This bill must be to the Governor and then the Secretary of State by August 27^th, which leaves virtually no time for negotiations. Monday, August 24^th is also the last day to amend a bill, so it should possible by then to see what the Senate proposes.

STATUS OF FACILITY LEGISLATION — AB 1921 (Scott) which would permit prebid qualification of bidders in community college projects, was voted off the Assembly Floor by a vote of 49 to 19 on Monday, August 17^th. The bill will now go to the Governor for his signature or veto. So far there has been no opposition from the administration, but obviously opposition surfaced in the Assembly. Assembly Member Bowen was concerned that the community colleges would be able to bypass the bidding process in a manner similar to what CSU did on a major agreement with software and electronics companies. The project has since unraveled, but memories in Sacramento are long.

AB 425 (Baldwin) — This bill would allow community college districts to lease or purchase commercial buildings for educational facilities under prescribed circumstances. The bill is still on the Senate Floor.

SB 2159 (Greene) — This bill would involve the BOG in the administration of any joint-use set aside of funds in future bond acts. It also allows K-12 and community colleges to develop joint-use projects utilizing their appropriate portion of future state bonds. The bill is still on the Assembly Floor.