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AB-916 School facilities construction: Twin Rivers Unified School District.(2007-2008)

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AB916:v88#DOCUMENT

Assembly Bill No. 916
CHAPTER 652

An act to add and repeal Section 35567 of the Education Code, relating to school facilities construction, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.

[ Approved by Governor  September 30, 2008. Filed with Secretary of State  September 30, 2008. ]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 916, Niello. School facilities construction: Twin Rivers Unified School District.
Existing law, the Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act of 1998, requires the State Allocation 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. The act requires an applicant school district for new construction to submit to the board a one-time report of existing school building capacity that is to be calculated pursuant to a specified formula, and requires ongoing eligibility for new construction funding to be determined by completing a series of calculations based on projected enrollment compared to existing school building capacity. A school district newly formed, reorganized, or affected by reorganization, pursuant to an election that occurred on or after November 4, 1998, is required to calculate or recalculate its existing school building capacity pursuant to regulations adopted by the State Allocation Board.
This bill would authorize the Twin Rivers Unified School District to occupy a portion of the East Natomas Education Complex project without jeopardizing its future eligibility for funding for purposes of constructing and housing up to 1,000 unhoused pupils within the middle school of the East Natomas Education Complex project, pursuant to the Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act of 1998. The bill would establish a procedure for the nullification of the authority granted under the bill through the submission of a resolution of the governing board of the district to the State Allocation Board.
This bill would state findings and declarations of the Legislature regarding the need for special legislation.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Vote: 2/3   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 (a) The Legislature finds and declares as follows:
(1) On November 6, 2007, residents of the north Sacramento area approved Measure B at an election held on that date for the purpose of voting on whether to reorganize four area school districts into one unified school district. The four school districts that were unified to form the new Twin Rivers Unified School District were the Del Paso Heights School District, the Grant Joint Union High School District, the North Sacramento School District, and the Rio Linda Union School District.
(2) In January 2007, the Grant Joint Union High School District entered into a construction contract to construct a grade 7 to 12, inclusive, middle and high school, the East Natomas Education Complex, which, as approved, was designed to house approximately 3,000 pupils once completed in 2010. In July 2008, the East Natomas Education Complex, which was already under construction, became the property and obligation of the recently reorganized Twin Rivers Unified School District.
(3) Under current law, a school district newly formed, reorganized, or affected by reorganization, pursuant to an election that occurred on or after November 4, 1998, is required to calculate or recalculate its existing school building capacity pursuant to regulations adopted by the State Allocation Board. Upon beginning this process and taking possession of the East Natomas Education Complex, the Twin Rivers Unified School District discovered that it shall not have sufficient eligibility to access necessary state funding to complete the entire East Natomas Education Complex project as originally proposed.
(4) Regulations adopted by the State Allocation Board require an application for new construction funding to be submitted before the date of occupancy for any classrooms included in the construction contract. Thus, the Twin Rivers Unified School District will be ineligible for new construction funding to complete the East Natomas Education Complex project if it occupies any space in the complex before submitting a new construction application for the East Natomas Education Complex to the State Allocation Board. Consequently, the Twin Rivers Unified School District finds itself with an uncompleted project that may have to be left vacant, resulting in substantial maintenance and security costs to the district.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this act to provide the Twin Rivers Unified School District with a temporary exemption from requirements regarding new construction eligibility in order to allow that district to establish eligibility and complete construction commenced by its predecessor high school district.

SEC. 2.

 Section 35567 is added to the Education Code, to read:

35567.
 (a) This section shall be implemented only if the State Allocation Board determines that the Twin Rivers Unified School District has insufficient eligibility for a grant of funds pursuant to Chapter 12.5 (commencing with Section 17070.10) of Part 10 of Division 1 of Title 1 with which to complete the East Natomas Education Complex project as contracted by the Grant Joint Union High School District.
(b) Notwithstanding paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 17071.75 and related regulations regarding occupancy for purposes of determining eligibility for new construction funding, the Twin Rivers Unified School District may occupy a portion of the East Natomas Education Complex project without jeopardizing its future eligibility for funding, pursuant to Chapter 12.5 (commencing with Section 17070.10) of Part 10 of Division 1 of Title 1, for purposes of constructing and completing the East Natomas Education Complex project. The occupancy exception set forth in this subdivision shall be limited to the number of classrooms necessary to house up to 1,000 pupils pursuant to Section 17071.25 within the footprint of the middle school as contracted by the Grant Joint Union High School District. The number of classrooms to be occupied and grade levels of pupils to be housed in the East Natomas Education Complex project pursuant to the occupancy exception authorized pursuant to this subdivision shall be specifically delineated and submitted to the State Allocation Board before the Twin Rivers Unified School District occupies any part of the East Natomas Education Complex.
(c) (1) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), eligibility for new construction funding for the East Natomas Education Complex project shall be subject to all other requirements of Chapter 12.5 (commencing with Section 17070.10) of Part 10 of Division 1 of Title 1 and implementing regulations.
(2) Once the State Allocation Board determines that the Twin Rivers Unified School District has sufficient eligibility, and grants funds pursuant to Chapter 12.5 (commencing with Section 17070.10) of Part 10 of Division 1 of Title 1 with which to house up to 1,000 unhoused pupils within the middle school of the East Natomas Education Complex project as contracted by the Grant Joint Union High School District, the Twin Rivers Unified School District shall no longer be entitled to use the occupancy exception set forth in subdivision (b).
(d) If the Twin Rivers Unified School District calculates or recalculates, pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 17071.10, its existing school building capacity on a districtwide basis, the district shall use its eligibility to complete construction of the East Natomas Education Complex project before submitting an application for other new construction projects in the school district. If the Twin Rivers Unified School District calculates or recalculates, pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 17071.10, its existing school building capacity on the basis of high school attendance area, the district shall use its eligibility to complete construction of the East Natomas Education Complex project before submitting an application for other new construction projects in that attendance area.
(e) This section does not exempt the district’s baseline eligibility from adjustment to reflect the additional classrooms generated by the project once the project is completed.
(f) The governing board of the Twin Rivers Unified School District may initiate nullification of the occupancy exception granted by this section by submitting a board resolution, adopted at a regularly scheduled meeting of the governing board and requesting that nullification, to the State Allocation Board. Upon receipt of this written notification by the State Allocation Board, the occupancy exception granted by this section shall be nullified.
(g) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2015, and, as of January 1, 2016, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2016, deletes or extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.

SEC. 3.

 Due to the unique circumstances of the Twin Rivers Unified School District as set forth in Section 1 of this act regarding the formation of Twin Rivers Unified School District by the reorganization and unification of the Grant Joint Union High School District and three other school districts and the commitment of the Grant Joint Union High School District prior to that reorganization to construct the East Natomas Education Complex, the Legislature finds and declares that a general statute cannot be made applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution.

SEC. 4.

 This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order to allow the Twin Rivers Unified School District, in a timely manner, to establish eligibility for funds to complete the construction commenced by its predecessor high school district of a school facility and to avoid leaving the project uncompleted and vacant, which would result in substantial maintenance and security costs to the newly formed Twin Rivers Unified School District, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.