Legislation & Advocacy: Legislative Articles
11.04.11: 2012 Kids Education Plan
The following article is referencing a possible initiative for school funding. Because it has not yet been sent to the Attorney General for Title and Summary, the first step for an initiative before being able to collect signatures to place . . . read more
11.04.11: Kindergarten Promotion/Acceleration/Retention
Following is an example of board policy and form for Kindergarten Promotion/Acceleration/Retention. Click here for a pdf version. Board Policy Students . . . read more
10.27.11: Governor's Twelve Point Pension Reform Proposal
SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today proposed 12 major reforms for state and local pension systems that would end system-wide abuses and reduce taxpayer costs by billions of dollars over the long term. “It’s time to fix . . . read more
10.20.11: GASB Hearing Update
On October 13, 2011, the GASB met in San Francisco to discuss how public pensions should account for their assets and liabilities. CalSTRS presented their issues with the GASB proposal as did many other public pension systems. The . . . read more
10.14.11: AB 47 - Open Enrollment Act Reform
Because Governor Brown vetoed AB 47, the Open Enrollment Act reform legislation, SSDA suggests that any district that is currently subject to the Open Enrollment Act and that would have qualified for exemption from AB 47 consider requesting . . . read more
10.14.11: School Construction Project Retention
Because Governor Brown signed Senate Bill 293, school districts will be able to retain no more than five percent (current law has no cap but current practice is 10% retention) of a contract to ensure that a General Contractor (GC) or . . . read more
10.11.11: Legislative Update
Please click here to view the status of significant legislation. read more
09.08.11: Legislature Establishing Public Employees Pension Conference Committee
Senate Bill 827 and Assembly Bill 340 have been amended and will be put into conference committee as vehicles for comprehensive public employee pension reform. The only language in the bills is the conference committee intent to reform . . . read more
03.21.11: SB 27 Passes Senate Committee
On March 21 Dave Walrath, SSDA's lobbyist, testified to the Senate Public Employment and Retirement Committee in opposition to SB 27 (Simitian) which would limit administrator salaries that can be used for the CalSTRS defined benefit . . . read more
12.22.10: Legislative Update
The Legislature returned to Sacramento for a one-day session on December 6, 2010. Since then, they have started introducing new legislation. This is a brief update on some of the more interesting bills affecting education and small school . . . read more
12.16.10: Speaker Pérez Appoints Members to Assembly Education Committee
Speaker John Pérez has appointed membership to the Education Committee for the 2011-12 Regular Session: Assembly Member Julia Brownley, Chair Assembly Member Chris Norby, Vice-Chair Assembly . . . read more
06.28.10: Legislative Update
School Facilities Program Oversight Hearing The Assembly Education Committee held an oversight hearing last week on the School Facilities Program (SFP). The hearing was intended to determine how best to improve that . . . read more
04.22.10: Sponsored Legislation Update
SB 898 Ashburn (R ) relates to the After School Education and Safety Program to serve pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 9 at participating public elementary, middle, junior high and charter schools. The bill would establish a . . . read more
03.30.10: Developers Fight to Continue School Funding Cuts
State grants for new construction and modernization were cut for 2010 projects based on a flawed cost index proposed by the Office of School Construction (OPSC) and supported by representatives from the California Building Industry . . . read more
01.04.10: SSDA Update
The Governor’s budget will be released on January 8. The Assembly Education Committee will meet this week to hear Senate Bill 4 of the 5 th Extraordinary Session which is the Senate/Administration’s proposal for the statutory . . . read more
09.16.09: Assembly Announces Education Special Session Committee
Bass Names Special Education Committee to Put California in Lead in President’s Race to the Top Program SACRAMENTO – Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) and Assembly Education Committee . . . read more
07.01.09: Qualified School Construction Bond Update
I encourage all small school districts that are looking for funding for energy conservation and energy generation projects (solar, etc.) to consider these almost interest free bonds as a method to pay for the energy efficiency and new . . . read more
06.23.09: Supreme Court Expands Access to Public School Funding for Private School Placements
Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court held that school districts could be subject to reimbursing parents for placements in private schools even if the child had never been in a public school special education program. While the decision does . . . read more
05.01.09: An Interesting Week in Sacramento
Quiet Deadline Week The past week was the deadline for passing fiscal bills from their first policy committees. If a bill with costs did not pass the first policy committee by today it is effectively dead. . . . read more
08.23.09: AB 844 Background Information
Summary Assembly Bill 844 (Villines) would provide school districts with limited flexibility for existing state mandated programs and would create a streamlined reimbursement process for new mandates. . . . read more
12.01.08: Legislature Convenes for Next Session
California Senate President Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg announced his priorities for the first half of the new legislative session. He outlined an aggressive agenda for the first 120-days of this session and for the budget adoption . . . read more
10.01.08: Governor Acts on Legislation
Governor Schwarzenegger has completed his signs and vetoes on the legislation awaiting his action: Click Here for Signed Legislation Click Here for Vetoed Legislation Click Here for Failed Legislation read more
August 19, 2008: Proposition 1B School Bus Replacement
The Air Resources Board (ARB) has released the final guidelines for the Proposition 1B school bus replacement funds. The following are excerpts from the guidelines. For the complete guidelines, please visit . . . read more
August 8, 2008: Legislative Update
Click here for an update on the status of significant legislation. read more
March 17, 2008 - Assembly Republicans Defeat Oil Tax For Schools
On March 12, the Assembly Republicans did not vote in support of legislation that would have imposed an oil severance tax and a windfall profits tax on oil companies operating and extracting oil in California. The legislative . . . read more
March 17, 2008 - Assembly School Finance Working Group
The Assembly Education Committee has established a School Finance Working Group that will look at categorical program consolidation, the revenue limit and general purpose school funding mechanism, as well as other school . . . read more
March 17, 2008 - Governor’s Commission on School Funding to Report
Staff from the Governor’s Commission on School Funding have indicated that they intend to present the Commission’s report to the Governor and the Legislature on Friday, March 14. This will be a response to the Stanford . . . read more
March 17, 2008 - Legislature Goes On Break
Legislature Goes On Break The Legislature started its spring recess on Thursday, March 13. They will return to Sacramento on March 24 to continue hearings on legislation and the State Budget. read more
