Education finance: Higher Education Facilities Bond Act of 2020.

(1) Under the Higher Education Facilities Bond Act of 1986, the Higher Education Facilities Bond Act of 1988, and the Higher Education Facilities Bond Act of June 1992, the issuance, pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law, of bonds in an amount not to exceed $400,000,000, $600,000,000, and $900,000,000, respectively, and the expenditure of the revenues therefrom, were authorized for the purpose of aid to the University of California and the California State University for, among other things, the construction and equipping of educational facilities, as specified. Existing law establishes the Higher Education Facilities Finance Committee to administer those acts, and to authorize the issuance and sale of bonds to the extent necessary to fund the education facilities construction apportionments expressly authorized by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act. More recently, the Class Size Reduction Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities Bond Act of 1998, the Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities Bond Act of 2002, the Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities Bond Act of 2004, and the Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities Bond Act of 2006 authorized the issuance of bonds and the expenditure of revenues therefrom for the University of California and the California State University, as well as for the California Community Colleges and public elementary and secondary schools. Article XVI of the California Constitution requires measures authorizing general obligation bonds to specify the single object or work to be funded by the bonds, and further requires a bond act to be approved by a 23 vote of each house of the Legislature and a majority of the voters. This bill would enact the Higher Education Facilities Bond Act of 2020 which, upon approval by the state electorate, would authorize the issuance of state general obligation bonds in the total amount of $7,000,000,000. The proceeds of the bonds issued and sold under the bill would be available for the construction, reconstruction, and remodeling of existing or new facilities, as specified, at the University of California, the Hastings College of the Law, and the California State University in specified proportions, including $3,000,000,000 for the construction of new campuses of the California State University. (2) This bill would provide for the submission of the Higher Education Facilities Bond Act of 2020 to the voters at the November 3, 2020, statewide general election.