Copyright© 2000 by School Services of California, Inc.

July 7, 2000

Governor Vetoes Budget Trailer Bill Language

Budget trailer bills are pieces of legislation that contain provisions implementing various items in the State Budget. The "trailer bill" that implements the wider variety of educational provisions, including those for community colleges, is the "Omnibus" bill-SB 1667 by Senator Dede Alpert (D-Coronada).

On July 5, 2000 the Governor approved SB 1667 and a host of other trailer bills, but not before "blue penciling" numerous budget items that had been included in the budget by the Legislature. SB 1667, for instance contained several budget augmentations for community colleges, and most of these items were single district budget requests related to capital outlay.

The following is a summary of the budget items contained in the omnibus trailer bill and the actions of the Governor. SB 1667:

• Changes the current allocation of 7 percent of the fee waivers provided for financial aid to $0.91 per credit unit.
  
• Clarifies that the matching requirement for the office hours program shall be two dollars for every one dollar that the districts provide. And, in no event shall the allocation to any district in a fiscal year exceed two-thirds of the total costs of the compensation paid for office hours of part-time faculty.
  
• Specifies that the $100 million allocated on a one-time basis may only be expended for high priority projects for instructional equipment, library materials replacement, technology infrastructure, scheduled maintenance, special repairs, hazardous substances abatement, and the removal of architectural barriers. The funds shall be allocated to community college districts in an average amount per actual statewide full-time equivalent student enrollment (FTES) reported for the 1999-00 fiscal year.

Single District Items

• $575,000 for allocation on a one-time basis to the Santa Clarita Community College District for the purpose of preliminary plans, working drawings and construction of the welding technology and manufacturing lab renovation and expansion project was vetoed by the Governor.
  
• $551,000 for allocation on a one-time basis to the Victor Valley Community College District for the purpose of working drawings for a new computer lab was vetoed by the Governor.
  
• $1,000,000 for allocation on a one-time basis to the Compton Community College District for the purpose of preliminary plans, working drawings, and construction for the stadium renovation project was approved by the Governor.
  
• $1,500,000 for allocation on a one-time basis to Copper Mountain Community College for transition and technology costs was vetoed by the Governor.
  
• $900,000 for allocation on a one-time basis to the San Francisco City College, Mission Center, for the working drawings phase of the Mission Center capital outlay project which has previously been approved by the state was approved by the Governor.
  
• $50,000 for allocation on a one-time basis to the San Diego Community College District for the Faces of San Diego Project was approved by the Governor.
  
• $3,000,000 (reduced from $4 million) for allocation on a one-time basis to the Los Angeles City College for site acquisition and development of the Atwater Village Satellite Center was approved by the Governor pending approval by the Board of Governors and California Postsecondary Education Commission.

The signing of the "trailer bills" brings to a close the actions of the Governor on all aspects of 2000-01 State Budget except "clean-up" provisions in subsequent legislation to take care of the errors, omissions and ambiguities inevitable when hundreds of pages of legislation are drafted at the last minute.

--Arnold Bray