Bill Text: CA SB891 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: School facilities: construction: ombudsman.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-01-31 - Returned to Secretary of Senate pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [SB891 Detail]
Download: California-2011-SB891-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: SB 891 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 23, 2011
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 24, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Senator Lowenthal
FEBRUARY 18, 2011
An act to add Section 17070.32 to the Education Code,
relating to school facilities. An act to amend Section
15490 of the Government Code, relating to school facilities.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 891, as amended, Lowenthal. School facilities: construction:
ombudsman.
Existing law, the Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act of 1998,
requires the State Allocation Board (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. Existing law requires the State Department of
Education, upon request of a school district, to provide assistance
in the evaluation and utilization of existing school facilities and
the justification of the need for schoolsites, new facilities, and
the rehabilitation or replacement of existing facilities, in
accordance with board regulations. Existing law
authorizes the board to appoint an assistant executive officer,
employ additional staff members and secure office space and
furnishings to support the assistant executive officer, and fix the
salary and compensation of the assistant executive officer.
Existing law, the Field Act, requires the Department of General
Services to supervise the design and construction of a school
building or the reconstruction or alteration of, or addition to, a
school building, if not exempted, to ensure that plans and
specifications comply with rules, regulations, and building standards
and to ensure that the work of construction is performed in
accordance with the approved plans and specifications.
Existing law requires the Department of General Services to assign
one full-time position within the Office of Public School
Construction for the purposes of providing advisory assistance to
school districts regarding the process of site acquisition for
projects for which the State Allocation Board has approved specified
funding and of formulating recommendations for administrative or
statutory revision to the manner in which schoolsites are acquired
and submitting those recommendations to the board. Existing law
requires the Department of General Services to establish a screening
unit or other mechanism within the Office of Public School
Construction to ensure that the office responds in a timely manner to
any inquiry regarding the status of an application for specified
project funding regarding site acquisition and related environmental
assessment and remediation.
This bill would, instead, authorize the board to appoint an
ombudsman, employ additional staff members and secure office space
and furnishings to support the ombudsman, and fix the salary and
compensation of the ombudsman. This bill would require the
board to appoint an ombudsman, who would report
directly to the board, to provide assistance and guidance to school
districts as their construction projects proceed through approvals
from the State Department of Education, the Department of Toxic
Substances Control, the Division of the State Architect, and the
Office of Public School Construction.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 15490 of the
Government Code is amended to read:
15490. (a) There is in the state government the State Allocation
Board, consisting of the Director of Finance, the Director of General
Services, a person appointed by Governor, and the Superintendent of
Public Instruction. The board shall also include three Members of the
Senate appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules, two of whom shall
belong to the majority party and one of whom shall belong to the
minority party, and three Members of the Assembly appointed by the
Speaker of the Assembly, two of whom shall belong to the majority
party and one of whom shall belong to the minority party.
(b) The members of the board and the Members of the Legislature
meeting with the board shall receive no compensation for their
services but shall be reimbursed for their actual and necessary
expenses incurred in connection with the performance of their duties.
(c) The Director of General Services shall provide assistance to
the board as the board requires. The board may, by a majority vote of
all members, do one or more of the following:
(1) Appoint an employee to report directly to the board as
assistant executive officer ombudsman. The
ombudsman shall provide assistance and guidance to school districts
as their construction projects proceed through approvals from the
State Department of Education, the Department of Toxic Substances
Control, the Division of the State Architect, and the Office of
Public School Construction .
(2) Fix the salary and other compensation of the
assistant executive officer ombudsman .
(3) Employ additional staff members, and secure office space and
furnishings, as necessary to support the assistant executive
officer ombudsman in the performance of his or
her duties.
SECTION 1. Section 17070.32 is added to the
Education Code, to read:
17070.32. The board shall appoint an ombudsman who shall report
directly to the board and provide assistance and guidance to school
districts as their construction projects proceed through approvals
from the State Department of Education, the Department of Toxic
Substances Control, the Division of the State Architect, and the
Office of Public School Construction.
