SB 114: Education facilities: Kindergarten Through Grade 12 Public Education Facilities Bond Act of 2016.

(1)Existing law, the Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act of 1998, requires the State Allocation Board to allocate to applicant school districts prescribed per-unhoused-pupil state funding for construction and modernization of school facilities, including hardship funding, and supplemental funding for site development and acquisition.

This bill would revise the definition of modernization under the act to include the replacement of facilities on a site containing a permanent structure that is at least 25 years old or, in the case of a portable classroom, that is at least 20 years old, as specified.

The bill would require a school district, as a condition for participation in the school facilities program, to certify that it has a long-range school facilities master plan that is consistent with the regional sustainable communities strategy, as specified.

The bill would delete a provision requiring the State Allocation Board to conduct an evaluation of the cost of new construction and modernization of small high schools in conjunction with a specified pilot program.

The bill would require each school district that elects to participate in a new construction or modernization program to reestablish eligibility, as specified, and to conduct an inventory of existing facilities for purposes of maintaining a statewide school facilities inventory.

The bill would authorize a grant for new construction or modernization under the act to be used for seismic mitigation purposes and for related design, study, and testing costs, and require the State Allocation Board, in the development of guidelines and regulations, to provide a school district with maximum flexibility in the design, modernization, and new construction of school facilities.

The bill would require the Office of Public School Construction to recommend regulations to the State Allocation Board to provide school districts with flexibility in designing instructional facilities.

The bill would revise the provisions for the funding of joint-use facilities to allow an additional exemption from a general requirement that a joint-use partner contribute to at least 25% of eligible project costs, as specified. This additional exemption would apply if the joint-use agreement specifies that the joint-use partner will provide 100% of the operational costs of the joint-use project for a term of no less than 10 years.

The bill would require the State Department of Education, the Division of the State Architect, the Office of Public School Construction, and the Department of Toxic Substances Control to convene for purposes of developing an interagency plan to streamline the school facilities construction application, review, and audit processes in order to reduce the time and improve the efficiency of the school facilities construction process, as specified. The bill would require that this interagency plan be submitted to the Legislature on or before July 1, 2016.

(2)Existing law, the California Constitution, prohibits the Legislature from creating a debt or liability that singly or in the aggregate with any previous debts or liabilities exceeds the sum of $300,000, except by an act that (a) authorizes the debt for a single object or work specified in the act, (b) has been passed by a ²/₃ vote of all the members elected to each house of the Legislature, (c) has been submitted to the people at a statewide general or primary election, and (d) has received a majority of all the votes cast for and against it at that election.

This bill would enact the Kindergarten Through Grade 12 Public Education Facilities Bond Act of 2016 to authorize an unspecified amount of state general obligation bonds, as scheduled, to provide aid to school districts, county superintendents of schools, county boards of education, and charter schools to construct and modernize education facilities. The proceeds of these bonds would be deposited in the 2016 State School Facilities Fund, which the bill would establish as specified.

The proposed bond act would become operative only if approved by the voters at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, and the bill would provide for its submission to the voters at that election.

(3)This bill would specify that certain of its provisions would become operative only if the Kindergarten Through Grade 12 Public Education Facilities Bond Act of 2016 is approved by the voters at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election.

(4)This bill would make conforming and nonsubstantive changes in related provisions of existing law.