Governor Newsom has been busy this week acting on hundreds of bills before him. He has already decided the fate of bills that CASBO has taken a position on and have been closely monitoring. He has also signed AB 185 (Committee on Budget), the education omnibus trailer bill and AB 152 (Committee on Budget), the COVID 19 paid sick leave extension until December 31, 2022.
Governor Newsom has just a few hours left before meeting his September 30, 2022, deadline to act on bills, with just over 100 remaining.
Budget/Finance
AB 1973 (McCarty): Education finance: base grants: adjustments: kindergarten: minimum schooldays. This bill would have phased in, from the 2027-28 to the 2029-30 school year, a requirement for school districts and charter schools offering a kindergarten program to offer at least one full-day kindergarten class at each school site.
Position: Informational Only.
Governor’s Action: Vetoed. View veto message here.
SB 70 (Rubio): Elementary education: kindergarten: This bill would have required, beginning with the 2024-25 school year, a student to have completed one year of kindergarten before being admitted to the first grade of a public school.
Position: Informational Only.
Governor’s Action: Vetoed. View veto message here.
Health
SB 1479 (Pan): COVID-19 testing in schools: testing plans. This bill will require each local educational agency, after consulting with its local health department, to create a COVID-19 testing plan or adopt the State Department of Public Health’s framework that is consistent with guidance from the department and publish the testing plan on its internet website.
Position: Watch
Governor’s Action: Signed. The Governor signed this bill on September 29, 2022.
Labor
SB 931 (Leyva): Deterring union membership: violations. This bill will require the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) to impose civil penalties on public sector employers if it finds they deterred or discouraged workers from exercising collective bargaining rights and require public sector employers to pay the union’s attorney’s fees and costs if the union prevails in a legal action to enforce those rights. The bill also includes, upon a finding by PERB that the public employer violated those provisions, the public employer would be subject to a civil penalty of up to $1,000 for each affected employee, not to exceed $100,000 in total, and subject to attorney’s fees and costs. It also adds criteria to validate violations such as the public agency’s budget, severity of the violation and prior violations.
Position: Oppose Unless Amended
Governor’s Action: Signed. The Governor signed this bill on September 29, 2022.
Pension/Retirement
AB 1667 (Cooper): State Teachers’ Retirement System. This bill will ensure retired members are not held liable for prior overpayments, except in cases of fraud or intentional misrepresentation by the member, and establish a penalty, to be paid by the school district or California State Teachers’ Retirement System (whichever was at fault for the mistake), that partially replaces the retired member’s benefit reduction.
Position: Support
Governor’s Action: Signed. The Governor signed this bill on September 29, 2022.
Privacy
AB 1711 (Seyarto): Privacy: breach. In instances of data breaches, this bill would have required a public agency to post a notice on their agency’s website (if they have one), for a minimum of 30 days, even when the vendor maintaining the data was the source of the data breach.
Position: Oppose Unless Amended
Governor’s Action: Vetoed. View veto message here.
Facilities
SB 1144 (Wiener): Water efficiency and quality assessment reports: state buildings and public school buildings. This bill would have required state agencies and public schools to complete a water efficiency and quality assessment report on their facilities, including testing for lead, Legionella and other contaminants. If the report identifies noncompliant plumbing fixtures and appliances or contaminants, it requires remedying the problem at the earliest practical time, subject to available funding.
Position: Oppose
Governor’s Action: Vetoed. View veto message here.
Nutrition
SB 490 (Caballero): The Buy American Food Act. This bill will prohibit all local educational agencies from purchasing agricultural food products grown, packed, or processed non-domestically (outside of the United States) unless the price of the nondomestic agricultural food product is more than 25 percent lower than the bid or price of the domestic agricultural food product or the quality of the product is not comparable, or there is insufficient quantity, beginning January 1, 2024.
Position: Oppose
Governor’s Action: Signed. View signing message here. The Governor signed this bill on September 27, 2022.
Note: In the signing message, the Governor states, “This bill may result in additional costs beyond the funding for universal access to subsidized school meals provided in the budget. Any requests for additional resources to implement SB 490 will need to be reviewed and included in the annual budget process.”
For more on education bills signed by Governor Newsom, see the September 30 press release.