AB 14

Bill Subjects

Abstract

(1) Existing law prohibits certain General Fund payments to the California Community Colleges, the trial courts, the California State University, and the University of California scheduled for March 2010 from being paid sooner than April 15, 2010, or later than May 1, 2010, except as specified. This bill would require the Controller, subject to the approval of the Department of Finance, to pay the full amount of the apportionment payments for March 2010 for a community college for which the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges determines, in consultation with the Director of Finance, on or before March 15, 2010, that a deferral of payment would present an imminent threat to the fiscal integrity and security of the community colleges. The bill would also delete an extraneous cross reference. (2) Existing law, until September 1, 2011, enacts a cash management plan to authorize the Controller, Treasurer, and Director of Finance to defer General Fund payments for up to 60 or 90 days, as specified, beginning July 2010, for specific entities, including county offices of education, public schools, and charter schools, subject to certain conditions. Existing law provides a process by which county offices of education, public schools, and charter schools may receive payments that would otherwise be deferred if certain determinations are made and the Department of Finance is notified on or before May 17, 2010. This bill would prohibit the total amount of deferrals to school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools from exceeding $2,500,000,000 at any given time. The bill would require the Controller, Treasurer, and Director of Finance to determine and jointly provide a written declaration of the amounts and timing of payment deferrals for the 2010–11 fiscal year to the Legislature and to the State Department of Education, and would require the State Department of Education to provide this information to school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools. The bill would require this declaration to be provided no later than March 31, 2010. The bill would revise the process pursuant to which county offices of education, public schools, and charter schools may receive payments that would otherwise be deferred, and would permit these entities to apply for a hardship waiver in order to receive payments even if earlier payments were deferred. The bill would require that deferred payments for specified public schools be paid no later than April 29, 2011. (3) Existing law extends the deferral of specified apportionments from the Highway Users Tax Account in the Transportation Tax Fund to cities, counties, and cities and counties from July 2010 to March 2011, inclusive, and limits the amount of those deferrals to no more than $50,000,000 per month. Existing law permits cities, counties, and cities and counties to borrow certain designated funds from their accounts in the fund for the purpose of meeting cash obligations for local street and road maintenance and operations, as specified. This bill would provide that these deferrals from July 2010 to March 2011 are to be made on a pro rata basis, as determined by the Controller, from all allocations to cities, counties, and cities and counties from the Highway Users Tax Account. The bill would require that borrowing by cities, counties, and cities and counties, as described above, be repaid with interest and would direct that the interest repaid be applied to a specified purpose. (4) The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to declare a fiscal emergency and to call the Legislature into special session for that purpose. The Governor issued a proclamation declaring a fiscal emergency, and calling a special session for this purpose, on January 8, 2010. This bill would state that it addresses the fiscal emergency declared by the Governor by proclamation issued on January 8, 2010, pursuant to the California Constitution. (5) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.