The Assembly and Senate Appropriations Committees concluded the suspense file hearings a day before the August 16^th fiscal deadline. The bills are referred to the suspense file to consider their fiscal impact as a whole and have met a minimum threshold in costs of $50,000 or more to the General Fund or $150,000 or more to a special fund.  This fiscal committee deadline determines which proposals will make it to the Assembly and Senate floors for a final vote, to decide which proposals will head to the Governor’s desk.

The committees of both houses considered over 800 legislative proposals and passed a total of 561 bills to the floor. Due to the ongoing deficit, bills were held at a significantly higher rate than usual with the Assembly holding 30% of the bills and the Senate holding about 34%.

ASSEMBLY APPROPRIATIONS CMTE SUSPENSE FILE:

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS CMTE SUSPENSE FILE:

This report summarizes the key legislative proposals CASBO will work on during the final two weeks of the session. For bills that continue to move forward with amendments, the updated version of the bill will be posted this week. Should the Legislature seek additional changes to proposals once on the Assembly or Senate Floor, the statutory deadline to amend legislation on the Senate and Assembly Floor is Friday, August 23^rd, 2024.

Below is the list of CASBO position bills that were heard in the Appropriation Suspense Committee hearing, and their status. For a full list of current CASBO Position Bills, please find them on our website here.

Bills That Passed the Committee

Governance/Accountability

SB 1315 (Archuleta): Reporting requirements. This bill would require CDE on or before March 1, 2025, and every two years thereafter, to provide a report to the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Governor, and the Legislature on the number and types of reports that LEAs are required to annually submit.

CASBO Position: Co-Sponsor

Status: Passed

Note: Please make your voice heard by signing the Call-To-Action below at the end of this NewsBreak.

SB 1288 (Becker): AI working group. This bill would require the California Department of Education and Superintendent of Public Instruction to develop and or convene a working group to study Artificial Intelligence in education. The guidance on the safe use of AI in education must be developed on or before January 1, 2026. The developed model policy, to be posted on the working group’s website on or before July 1, 2026. A report of findings or recommendations to be submitted on or before January 1, 2027, to the legislature.

CASBO Position: Support

Status: Passed

Human Resources

AB 1997 (McKinnor) Teachers’ Retirement Law.  This bill would redefine “annualized pay rate” to mean the salary, as described, a person could earn during a school term in a position subject to membership if creditable service were performed for that position on a full-time basis, to be determined according to a publicly available pay schedule by a prescribed method.

CASBO Position: Support

Status: Passed

AB 2088 (McCarty): Public postings: vacancies.  This bill would require an education employer to accept a current part-time classified employee who meets the minimum qualification of a position with the most seniority, regardless of the prior positions held with the employer. It would also require classified employees who work part-time assignments that equal the number of hours for a full-time assignment to receive the same benefits as employees who work full-time.

CASBO Position: Oppose

Status: Passed

Note: Please make your voice heard by signing the Call-To-Action below at the end of this NewsBreak.

AB 2245 (Carrillo): Permanent status: RCOPs. This bill deletes, beginning July 1, 2025, the prohibition on counting service as an instructor at regional occupational centers or programs (ROCPs) toward the service required to attain permanent employee status and instead requires service as an instructor to be included in computing the service required to attain permanent employee status at a school district.

CASBO Position: Oppose

Status: Passed

Bills that were Amended in Suspense

AB 2901 (Aguiar-Curry): Paid leave.  This bill would require a public school employer to provide up to 14 weeks of fully paid leave for certificated or classified employees who are absent due to pregnancy-related conditions.   

CASBO Position: Oppose

Status: Passed*

Amendments: Delayed implementation to 2028, and contingent upon appropriations*

SB 1374 (Becker): Net energy metering. This bill would require the California Public Utilities Commission, by July 1, 2025, that any contract or tariff, as part of the Net Energy Metering program for renewable electrical generation facilities constructed, to serve multiple customers with meters on a single property or multiple meters of a single customer on a property or a set of contiguous properties to be eligible to use or collect their electrical load.

CASBO Position: Support

Status: Passed

Amendments: Removes UCs and CSUs from the bill language.

Bills that Stalled

The following bills stalled due to failing passage in the policy committee and are considered “Dead”.

AB 2112 (Muratsuchi): Expanded Learning Opportunities Program.  This bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to establish a workgroup to develop and provide recommendations related to funding and operations of Expanded Learning Opportunities Programs in schools to the Legislature by November 1, 2025.  

CASBO Position: Support

Status: Dead

AB 2557 (Ortega): Contracts for special services and temporary help: performance reports. The bill would require, as of July 1, 2025, each board of supervisors that solicits for and enters a specified contract for special services to post that contract and any related documents on its internet website. It would also require, as of July 1, 2026, each contract to include the objectives, desirables, and goals of the contract.

CASBO Position: Oppose

Status: Dead

What’s Next

• The 2024 Legislative Session will conclude on Saturday, August 31, 2024.
• Governor Newsom will have until September 30^th, 2024, to determine the faith of the proposals that make it to his desk.

Proposition 28 Update

The California Department of Education extended the deadline for LEAs to submit their board-approved Proposition 28 annual reports from July 31, 2024, to September 30, 2024. The CDE advises LEAs that their annual reports will need to be approved by their local governing board no later than September 30, 2024. The portal will ask each LEA to provide the date the board approved the report, as well as a link to the location on the LEA’s website where the report can be found and accessed.

Failure to meet this requirement to the portal may result in an audit finding that would require an LEA to return their 2023-24 Proposition 28 allocation because the submission of the report is a condition of funding under Proposition 28 and is subject to audit.

Call to Action – SB 1315 and AB 2088

Now that we have passed the final fiscal committee deadline, we are approaching the end of session and the last opportunity to engage the Legislature before bills reach the Governor.

CASBO has activated two campaigns to ensure our voices are heard as Assembly and Senate floor votes take place:

Tell your Assemblymember to Vote “YES” on SB 1315

SB 1315 (Archuleta): annual reporting requirements, a CASBO co-sponsored bill with CSBA, will help address the sheer volume and breadth of requirements that are straining LEAs’ capacity to balance public accountability with educational priorities.

Tell your Senator to Vote “NO” on AB 2088

AB 2088 (McCarty): K-14 classified employees: part-time or full-time vacancies: public postings. would create restrictions on how and when classified position vacancies are filled, to the detriment of K-14 students and other current and future school employees.

Please follow the link to sign on and take action!