Sen. Bob Huff

The California Child Day Care Facilities Act prescribes licensure requirements for the operation of child day care facilities, day care centers, and family day care homes. The act exempts specified facilities and arrangements from its provisions. This bill, in addition, would exempt heritage schools, as defined, from the provisions of the act.

Existing law requires the Department of Finance, in its role of assisting the Governor in preparing the annual state budget, to develop, issue, and implement consistent and adequate guidelines for agencies required to submit budgets. This bill would additionally require the Department of Finance to develop a performance budgeting pilot project under which the budgets of at least 4 departments in specified fiscal years would be analyzed by specified criteria. The bill would require these pilot project budgets to be considered by the Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review and the Assembly Committee on Budget. The bill would require the Department of Finance to evaluate this pilot project and report its findings to the Chairperson of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee on or before January 1, 2014.

The Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act provides for the creation and regulation of common interest developments. The act defines a "condominium plan" for the purposes of these provisions. This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to these provisions.

(1) Existing law requires each person between the ages of 6 and 18 years not otherwise exempted to attend the public full-time day school or continuation school or classes in the school district in which his or her parent or guardian is a resident. Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district to adopt a resolution to become a school district of choice, as defined, and accept interdistrict pupil transfers. This bill would enact the Open Enrollment Act to enable pupils residing in the state to attend public schools in school districts other than their school district of residence, as defined. The bill would authorize the parent or guardian of a pupil enrolled in a low-performing school, as defined, to submit an application for the pupil to attend a school in a school district of enrollment, as defined. The bill would authorize a school district of enrollment to adopt specific, written standards for acceptance and rejection of applications for enrollment, subject to specified conditions and a specified priority scheme for applicants. Within 60 days of receiving an application for enrollment, the bill would require a school district of enrollment to notify the applicant parent or guardian and the resident school district in writing whether the application has been accepted or rejected and state in the notification the reasons for the rejection. The bill would require that the average daily attendance for pupils enrolled in a school district of enrollment, pursuant to the bill, be credited to the school district of enrollment pursuant to a specified statute. The bill would require the State Board of Education to adopt regulations to implement these provisions. The bill would make these provisions operative on July 1, 2010, make them inoperative on July 1, 2020, and repeal them on January 1, 2021. By requiring school districts to enroll nonresident pupils and perform other new duties, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.

Existing law authorizes local authorities and the Department of Transportation to establish exclusive or preferential use of highway lanes for high-occupancy vehicles. This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to that provision of law.

Existing law provides that criminal trials may only be continued for good cause. Under existing law, good cause is defined to include when a prosecutor assigned to specific types of criminal cases has another trial, preliminary hearing, or motion to suppress in progress in that court or another court. This bill would include, as good cause, a case involving a violent gang felony, as defined, when the assigned prosecutor has another case in progress, as specified. Existing law provides that only one such continuance per case may be granted to the prosecutor for cases involving stalking, hate crimes, or cases handled under the Career Criminal Prosecution Program. This bill would also limit the prosecutor to one such continuance per case in cases involving violent gang felonies.

Existing law provides state financing for construction of county jails, subject to matching funds from counties, as specified. Existing law requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the Corrections Standards Authority to give funding preference for those purposes to counties that assist the state in siting reentry facilities, as specified. This bill would require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the Corrections Standards Authority to give coequal funding preference to counties that assist the state in either siting reentry facilities or providing existing beds and program space in county jails for use as reentry facilities. The bill would provide that a county interested in providing reentry services to state inmates shall be required to enter into a long-term agreement with the department to provide those services and that the department shall certify that the proposed reentry services meet its approval.

Existing law requires the Governor to proclaim various days as holidays and days of remembrance. Existing law also designates certain days in each year as having special significance for purposes of encouraging schools to observe those days and conduct suitable commemorative exercises. This bill would require the Governor to annually proclaim March 30 of each year as "Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day." The bill would also encourage schools to conduct exercises on March 30 of each year to recognize the contributions of those involved in the Vietnam conflict.

(1) Existing law requires each person between the ages of 6 and 18 years not otherwise exempted to attend the public full-time day school or continuation school or classes in the school district in which his or her parent or guardian is a resident. Existing law authorizes 2 school districts to enter into an agreement that allows pupils to transfer between the 2 districts. This bill would establish the Open Enrollment Act to enable pupils residing in the state to attend public schools in school districts other than their school district of residence, as defined. The bill would authorize the parent or guardian of a pupil enrolled in a low-achieving school, as defined, to submit an application for the pupil to attend a school in a school district of enrollment, as defined. The bill would authorize a school district of enrollment, as defined, to adopt specific, written standards for acceptance and rejection of applications for enrollment, subject to specified conditions and a specified priority scheme for applicants. Within 60 days of receiving an application for enrollment, the bill would require a school district of enrollment to notify the applicant parent or guardian and the school district of residence, as defined, in writing whether the application has been accepted or rejected and, if an application is rejected, state in the notification the reasons for the rejection. The bill would require the State Board of Education to adopt emergency regulations to implement these provisions. The bill would require the Superintendent to contract for an independent evaluation of the program using federal funds appropriated for that purpose and to provide a final evaluation report to the Legislature, the Governor, and the state board on or before October 1, 2014. By requiring school districts to perform additional duties regarding the enrollment of nonresident pupils, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) The federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) , provides $4.3 billion for the State Incentive Grant Fund (Race to the Top Fund) , which is a competitive grant program designed to encourage and reward states that are implementing specified educational objectives. The ARRA requires a governor to apply on behalf of a state seeking a Race to the Top grant, and requires the application to include specified information. The United States Secretary of Education has issued regulations and guidelines regarding state eligibility under the Race to the Top program. This bill would require a local educational agency to implement one of several specified reforms for any other school which, after one full school year, is subject to corrective action pursuant to a specified provision of federal law and continues to fail to make adequate yearly progress, and have an Academic Performance Index score of less than 800, and where at least12 of the parents or legal guardians of pupils attending the school, or a combination of at least12 of the parents or legal guardians of pupils attending the school and the elementary or middle schools that normally matriculate into a middle or high school, as applicable, sign a petition requesting the local educational agency to implement one of the alternative governance arrangements, unless the local educational agency makes a finding in writing why it cannot implement the recommended arrangement and instead designates in writing which of the other alternative governance arrangements it will implement in the subsequent school year. The bill would require the local educational agency to notify the Superintendent and the state board if it decides to implement a different alternative governance option. The bill would limit this procedure to no more than 75 schools. (3) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions. (4) The bill would provide that it would become operative only if SB 1 of the 5th Extraordinary Session is also enacted and becomes operative.

(1) Existing law prescribes the minimum length of time for the instructional school year and the minimum number of instructional minutes per schoolday. Existing law imposes fiscal penalties on school districts and county offices of education that fail to maintain those minimum instructional times per school year or schoolday. This bill would deem the Chino Valley Unified School District to have offered the minimum number of days of instruction in the 2008–09 school year if the district meets specified conditions, including offering 10 additional schooldays between June 15, 2009, and July 1, 2011. (2) The California Constitution provides that a special statute is invalid in any case if a general statute can be made applicable. This bill would declare that, due to unique circumstances applicable only to the Chino Valley Unified School District, a general statute cannot be made applicable and a special statute is necessary. (3) 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 December 19, 2008. This bill would state that it addresses the fiscal emergency declared by the Governor by proclamation issued on December 19, 2008, pursuant to the California Constitution. (4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.