Copyright© 1999 by School Services of California, Inc.
1999 Chaptered and Vetoed Legislation
The following are the bills impacting community colleges that have either been signed or vetoed by the Governor through October 10, 1999. Bills that contain an urgency clause are effective upon the Governor's signature. All other bills become effective January 1, 2000, or later as specified. Bills that were tracked in Bills at a Glance are preceded by an asterisk.
Chaptered Legislation
Assembly Legislation
AB 31 (Reyes, D-Fresno), Chapter 650/1999: Teacher Training: Rural Schools
This bill expands the shortage service areas served by the existing Assumption Program of Loans for Education (APLE) program to include teachers who agree to teach in rural areas.
AB 109 (Knox, D-Los Angeles), Chapter 164/1999: Employment: Sick Leave
This bill requires an employer who provides sick leave for employers to permit an employee to use the sick leave to attend to the illness of a child, parent, or spouse.
*AB 232 (Alquist, D-Santa Clara), Chapter 800/1999: Retirement Benefits: PERS
This bill requires local public agencies that contract for retirement benefits services with the Public Employee's Retirement system (CalPERS) to allow the surviving spouses of deceased local contracting agency retirees and members to retain their monthly death benefits regardless of whether the surviving spouse remarries. AB 232 will also restore eligibility for allowances previously lost due to remarriage for surviving spouses of retirees and members of CalPERS' state, school and local agency members.
AB 264 (Mazzoni, D-San Rafael), Chapter 38/1999: Redevelopment: Hamilton Army Airfield
This bill authorizes the redevelopment agency of the City of Novato to pay Marin County, the Novato Fire Protection District and the Marin Community College District any amounts of money that in the redevelopment agency's determination are appropriate to alleviate any financial burden.
* AB 344 (Knox, D-Los Angeles), Chapter 878/1999: Academic Personnel Files
This bill authorizes institutions of higher education to provide academic employees with access to academic peer review records in a form that does not reveal the identity of any one of the reviewers. AB 344 will also exempt material that is part of an academic performance evaluation of an academic institution of higher education from material that may be deleted from an employee's personnel file if it has not been used as part of an official act of discipline of the employee within two years.
* AB 420 (Wildman, D-Los Angeles), Chapter 738/1999: Community College Faculty: Full-Time Hires
This bill extends health benefits to part-time faculty at California Community Colleges. Community Colleges provide a vital link between the K-12 education system and the CSU and UC systems. This bill is designed to keep and attract faculty to the teaching profession at Community Colleges. This bill also requires that the California Postsecondary Education Commission conduct a comprehensive study of California Community College part-time faculty employment, salary and compensation patterns. The study must be transmitted to the Governor and the Legislature on or before July 1, 2000. The preliminary findings of the study must be released on or before March 1, 2000.
AB 422 (Steinberg, D-Sacramento), Chapter 379/1999: Instructional Materials: Disabled Students
This bill requires publishers of instructional materials to provide the University of California, the California State University or the California Community Colleges with an unencrypted electronic format of any printed instructional material requested for use by disabled students. The electronic format must be provided in a timely manner and at no additional cost.
* AB 655 (Scott, D-Altadena), Chapter 954/1999: Nursing Report
This bill requires the University of California, the California State University, the California Community Colleges, and the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities to jointly develop a plan and budget to significantly increase the number of students graduating from nursing programs, and provide specialty training, and report their findings to the Governor and Legislature by January 1, 2001. This bill does not apply to the University of California unless the Regents adopt a resolution to do so.
AB 861 (Campbell, R-Orange), Chapter 179/1999: Seismic Safety Standards
This bill authorizes community college districts to acquire and use facilities on closed military bases that meet specified structural safety requirements in lieu of the Field Act.
AB 1127 (Steinberg, D-Sacramento), Chapter 615/1999: Employee Safety: Violations
This bill increases civil and criminal penalties for willful, serious, and repeat violations of occupational safety and health standards, provides that willful violation of such standards leading to death or permanent or prolonged injury of an employee may be prosecuted as a misdemeanor or a felony, and revises civil penalty enforcement procedures under the California Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA).
This bill also permits a school district, county board of education, community college district, State University, University of California, and related entities, to obtain a refund of a civil penalty, with interest, if all conditions previously cited have been abated, other outstanding citations have been abated, and if there has been no serious violation for two years at same school.
* AB 1193 (Leonard, R-San Barnardino), Chapter 576/1999: Sex Offender Registration
This bill requires an out-of-state resident convicted of specified sex offenses to register as a sex offender while working or attending school in California.
AB 1279 (Scott, D-Altadena), Chapter 337/1999: Postsecondary Education: Study Doctoral Education
This bill requires the California Post-secondary Education Commission (CPEC) to conduct a study on the current capacity of applied doctoral degree programs in the State. The study will help determine current educational needs of the state and requires the CPEC to report to the Governor and to the appropriate education policy committee of the Legislature its findings.
URGENCY, effective September 7, 1999.
AB 1570 (Villaraigosa, D-Los Angeles), Chapter 916/1999: Postsecondary Education
This bill requires the California Postsecondary Education Commission to expand its existing database to support longitudinal studies of individual students, provide the interactive use of data and provide each of the educational segments access to the data. Data provides information on student drop-out patterns through use of student identification numbers.
Senate Legislation
* SB 16 (Burton, D-San Francisco), Chapter 30/1999: Prevailing Wage Calculation
This bill establishes the methodology for calculating the general prevailing rate of per diem wages to be paid to workers in public works contracts.
SB 105 (Burton, D-San Francisco), Chapter 341/1999: State Retirement System: Northern Ireland
This bill requires the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) and the State Teachers' Retirement system (STRS) to annually investigate the extent to which U.S. corporations operating in Northern Ireland adhere to principles of nondiscrimination in employment and freedom of workplace opportunity. Specifically, this bill places pressure on businesses operating in Northern Ireland to end religious discrimination in the workplace by making sure that companies comply with the principles of fair employment known as the "MacBride Principles."
* SB 132 (Brulte, R-Rancho Cucamonga), Chapter 82/1999: Community College Districts: Formation
This bill creates the Copper Mountain Community College District from a portion of the Desert Community College District, implementing the Governor's allocation of $1 million in the FY 1999-00 Budget. Specifically SB 132 provides for the contractual agreement between the Desert Community College District on matters of employees, disposition of property and records and the accreditation status of the new district. SB 132 ties up loose ends left by existing law and clarifies the actions needed to be taken.
URGENCY, effective July 12, 1999.
* SB 251 (Knight, R-Palmdale), Chapter 689/1999: Tuition: Children of Deceased or Disabled Veterans
This bill makes more students eligible to participate in the Department of Veterans Affairs college tuition and fee waiver program by increasing the total amount of annual income and family support a child may receive. SB 251 changes the maximum annual income that a child of specified veterans of the United States military may have in order to qualify for fee waivers for attending public higher education institutions from a maximum of $7,000 to a level not to exceed the poverty threshold for one person, as most recently calculated by the Bureau of the Census.
* SB 361 (Dunn, D-Santa Ana), Chapter 688/1999: Cross Enrollment Program
This bill extends the sunset date from January 1, 2000 to January 1, 2004 for the authorization for students to cross enroll among the different public segments of higher education. The cross-enrollment program facilitates the transfer and articulation of students among the three systems of public higher education, primarily by allowing community college students to take courses at the California State University and the University of California. This provides students with the opportunity to become familiar with four-year institutions while working toward meeting transfer requirements for those institutions.
* SB 400 (Ortiz, D-Sacramento), Chapter 555/1999: PERS/State and School Member Benefits
This bill reduces state pension costs while enhancing employee benefits by making numerous changes to the CalPERS law. The legislation implements the new service retirement formulas which were recently collectively bargained for state members, provides school members with similar retirement benefits and grants ad hoc cost-of-living adjustments, and provides state members of the Second Tier Plan with the ability to elect coverage under the First Tier Plan.
* SB 437 (Rainey, R-Walnut Creek), Chapter 432/1999: Retirement Benefits: Surviving Spouse
This bill restores benefits to a surviving spouse of a deceased State Teachers' Retirement System (STRS) member if the surviving spouse lost the benefit due to remarriage.
SB 522 (Wright, R-Simi Valley), Chapter 307/1999: State Employee Benefits
This bill makes various changes to the California Public Employees' Retirement System's (CalPERS) Supplemental Contributions Program (SCP) to insure that it operates as a separate defined contribution plan, permitting more frequent evaluation and crediting of earnings to participants accounts. SB 522 will also provide the structure necessary to improve customer service and would provide that the participants' earnings continue to be tax-deferred through compliance with federal law.
SB 713 (Burton, D-San Francisco), Chapter 632/1999: STRS: Benefits
This bill establishes a minimum annual retirement allowance, depending upon a member's years of credited service, payable to eligible members of the State Teachers' Retirement System, their beneficiaries and surviving spouses. This bill will appropriate $750,000 to STRS from the Teachers' Retirement Fund to implement this change.
AB 734 (Romero, D-Los Angeles), Chapter 402/1999: Community College: Finance
This bill would require the California Community Colleges to report to the Governor and Legislature by January 15, 2000 regarding the public financing of community colleges.
SB 1074 (Senate P.E. & R.), Chapter 939/1999: STRS
This bill codifies and adjusts existing reporting requirements for school and community college districts. SB 1074 also adjusts the costing methodology for the purchase of out-of-state service credit and makes a variety of technical and conforming changes to current California State Teachers' Retirement System law.
* SB 1118 (Alarcon, D-Sylmar), Chapter 667/1999: School and Community College District Governing Boards: Bonds
This bill streamlines the process by which local school districts and community college districts issue voter-approved bonds.
* SB 1262 (O'Connell, D-San Luis Obispo), Chapter 664/1999: Golden State Scholarshare Trust Act
This bill transfers the responsibility and authority for administering the Golden State Scholarshare Trust Act (GSSTA) from the California Student Aid Commission (CSCA) to the Scholarshare Investment Board under the auspices of the State Treasurer. This measure also makes changes to the composition of the Board as well as expanding its membership from 3 to 7 members. In addition, SB 1261 also makes technical changes to conform the program to federal law governing the administration of state-sponsored college savings programs.
Vetoed Legislation
Assembly Legislation
* AB 91 (Hertzberg, D-Sherman Oaks): Public School Employers: Joint Powers Agencies
This bill would have expanded the definition of "public school employer "or "employer" to include joint powers agencies created as an entity separate from the parties to the joint powers agreement with separate employees that meet certain additional criteria. The bill, by requiring those newly created joint powers agencies to engage in collective bargaining with their separate employees, would have imposed a state-mandated local program.
The Governor's veto message stated:
"The costs incurred by public school employers for collective bargaining are currently reimbursable by the State. The need to extend collective bargaining in school-related joint powers agencies has not been demonstrated.
However, for school districts and county offices of education choosing to form joint powers agencies, this bill may result in situations where the State is required to backfill Public Employees' Retirement System contributions for employees whose employment is transferred to joint powers agencies."
* AB 164 (Romero, D-Los Angeles): College Campuses: Voter Registration
This bill would have required the Trustees of the California State University (CSU) and the governing board of each community college district to direct their respective campuses to make every effort to distribute a voter registration form annually to each newly admitted student. The measure would have also required officials at each institution to make voter registration materials available at central campus locations. This measure requests the Regents of the University of California (UC) to adopt a similar policy.
The Governor's veto message stated:
"While I support good faith efforts to distribute voter registration materials at our institutions of higher learning, I am opposed to imposing a state-mandated cost on the California community college districts. The 1999 Budget Act did not appropriate funding for these purposes, and I continue to believe that it is not necessary to provide funding for an activity that could easily be undertaken by campus groups or other civic groups."
AB 214 (Wiggins, D-Santa Rosa): Public Contracts: Materials Origin
This bill would have required all state and municipal procuring authorities to contract only with people or entities who agree to use or supply materials of United States origin when writing contracts of $50,000 or more. It also would have established a 5% price preference for California-made products for those contracts.
The Governor's veto message stated:
"While the intent of this legislation is laudable, it could result in California companies and workers actually losing millions of dollars in domestic contract and export opportunities. As written, this bill would automatically trigger reciprocal preferences against California companies in 35 out of 50 states, thus negating any benefit of the preference. This bill also appears to violate the Agreement on Government Procurement provisions of the World Trade Organization, which could result in billions of dollars in retaliatory trade measures aimed at U.S. and, in particular, California industries.
This bill would also increase the cost of public works projects in California by as much as hundreds of millions of dollars. In fact, construction costs for building new public schools alone could increase as much as $77 million."
* AB 311 (Honda, D-San Jose): STRS: Board
This bill would have expanded and changed the composition of the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) Board of Directors by adding three elected members, removing restrictions on current appointment authority, and adding three seats to the board.
The Governor's veto message stated:
"While I support the election of STRS Board members, as well as the removal of restrictions on my current appointment authority, I believe that no more than two elected members would be an appropriate composition of the board. The expansion of the Board to 15 members would add unnecessary cost and could make it difficult for the board to operate efficiently."
AB 378 (Steinberg, D-Sacramento): Classified Employees: Rules and Regulations
This bill would have permitted the governing board of any non-merit system school district or community college district to delegate decisions on discipline of classified employees to binding arbitration. This bill would have also clarified existing law to provide that districts that have adopted the merit system are not precluded from negotiating a provision that makes the findings and decision of a hearing officer or other authorized representative binding.
The Governor's veto message stated:
"While I am supportive of binding arbitration in some cases, I see no reason to alter the current system of discipline in school and community college districts with regard to classified employees. School districts and community college districts should retain the authority granted under current law."
AB 1328 (Cardenas, D-Sylmar): Postsecondary Education: Community Colleges
This bill would have required the Board of Trustees of the Los Angeles Community College District to establish seven trustee areas in the district, and would have required members of the governing board to be elected by trustee area.
The Governor's veto message stated:
"The decision to create single-member trustee areas is best made at the local level, not by the state. Furthermore, current law allows registered voters residing in the Los Angeles Community College District to petition for the creation of trustee areas."
AB 1657 (Assembly Utilities and Commerce): Capital Facilities Fees: Municipal Public Utilities
This bill would have established a procedure for notification by public electric utility companies to affected school districts, county offices of education, community college districts, California State University, University of California, and all state agencies, of the imposition of a new capital facilities fee or the increase of an existing capital facilities fee.
The Governor's veto message stated:
"The intent of this measure was to impose a prospective 120-day statute of limitations for initiating a judicial challenge to these fees. However, AB 1657 does more than accomplish those stated purposes. Unfortunately, the bill also establishes two new statue of limitations in the Public Utilities Code relating to the imposition of utility fees and charges on the entire school community, K-12 schools and higher education for other than electric service. These provision would apply to capital facilities fees even when such fees have not been notice or disclosed and arguable could be applied retroactively, thus justifying improper fees previously charged to public education entities and state agencies. The fiscal impact to the entire education community would be over $100 million and substantial more for state agencies. Therefore, I cannot sign AB 1657 with such broad fiscal impacts on educational facilities and state agencies relative to the imposition of capital facilities fees. If appropriate changes are made to this measure and returned to my desk, I will sign it during the next legislative session. "
Senate Legislation
* SB 76 (Murray, D-Los Angeles): Community College: Student Transfer
This bill would have guaranteed admission to the University of California or the California State University for community college students who attain associate of arts or associate of science degrees in liberal arts.
The Governor's veto message stated:
"While I am supportive of the bill's provision that seeks to examine the feasibility of an integrated associate degree program as a method of improving student transfer, I believe that any consideration of creating new admissions priorities for transfer should not occur until after a feasibility study is completed."
SB 172 (Escutia, D-Montebello): Employees: Inspection of Personnel Records
This bill would have expanded existing laws related to employee access to employee's personnel files and to the process by which employees may amend information contained in the files.
The Governor's veto message stated:
"The bill is flawed in several respects. First, it is vague and ambiguous. Currently, there are no established requirements regarding the content of personnel files, nor is there even a legal requirement for employers to maintain such files. So, it is unclear what exact files would come within the purview of SB 172.
Second, assuming there is a personnel file with negative material, this bill would allow removal of that material after two years and places some burdens on the employer to purge files after two years. This could make it difficult to establish the existence of adequate cause for a disciplinary action should it become necessary at a later date.
Third, allowing an employee to inspect his or her file at any time during business hours, with no loss of compensation, would be quite disruptive to the workplace environment. Employers should be allowed to establish rules of access."
SB 234 (Hughes, D-Inglewood): PERS Benefits
This bill would have deleted the annual transfer of specified amounts to supplemental accounts to fund purchasing power protection allowance and instead requires all monthly allowances paid by the system to be increased to 80% of the purchasing power of the initial monthly allowance and required the costs of those benefits to be paid from employer assets in the system.
The Governor's veto message stated:
"This bill reflects an agreement negotiated between local governments and CalPERS to increase the Purchasing Power Protection allowance to 80% of the original value of the pension. Local governments opted for this approach rather than an across-the-board cost of living increase for their retirees. I would be pleased to sign a bill next year reflecting this agreement made between local governments and CalPERS. I cannot sign SB 234, however, because it also increases benefits to state employees who did get an across-the-board cost of living adjustment and who did not bargain for the increased Purchasing Power Protection allowance."
SB 320 (Solis, D-El Monte): Workers Compensation: Administration and Benefits
This bill would have proposed to increase workers' compensation benefits.
The Governor's veto message stated:
"SB 320, while seeking to increase benefits for injured workers, fails to meet the test of moderation. While I recognize that some benefits for injured workers have fallen behind the cost-of-living in recent years, SB 320 increases benefits far beyond what I believe California employers can absorb without negatively impacting the economy.
Workers' Compensation costs have a direct impact on the bottom line and the ability of California's employers to remain competitive in a global economy. Before enactment of the 1993 reforms, California's workers' compensation system was in crisis: premiums were skyrocketing, fraud was rampant, and thousands of businesses cited workers' comp costs as the number one reason for moving out of state."
SB 869 (Schiff, D-Burbank): CalWORKS: Employment Training Programs
This bill would have provided for the concurrent enrollment in regional occupational centers of 16 and 17 year old CalWORKs recipients who were eligible for a county community school or a community day school, or independent study program. This bill would have also put requirements on local workforce investment boards regarding the development of instructional and job training plans.
The Governor's veto message stated:
"Although I am concerned with the educational needs of children receiving public assistance, this bill could negatively impact funding for public education by allowing students to be concurrently enrolled in both regional occupational programs and independent study, thereby creating a situation where double funding of students could occur."