California Assembly Bill AB2560 Amended / Bill

 BILL NUMBER: AB 2560AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 15, 2010 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 14, 2010 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Brownley (Coauthor: Senator Hancock) FEBRUARY 19, 2010 An act to add Section 12001.6 to the Education Code, relating to education finance  , and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately . LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 2560, as amended, Brownley. Education finance: federal tax credit bond volume cap. Existing law assigns specified amounts of the state's 2009 federal tax credit bond volume cap to the State Department of Education and the California School Finance Authority, to be assigned and distributed to school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools, as specified. This bill would authorize the department to assign and distribute the state's 2010 federal tax credit bond volume cap for qualified school construction bonds to or for the benefit of school districts and county offices of education and would authorize the authority to assign and distribute the state's 2010 federal tax credit bond volume cap for qualified school construction bonds to or for the benefit of charter schools, or to be further assigned and distributed to one or more issuers in the state for the benefit of charter schools, as determined by the authority.  This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.  Vote:  majority   2/3  . Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) In 2009, the United States Congress passed and the President signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act  of 2009  (Public Law 111-5) in order to provide funding and other economic stimulus to foster economic recovery among the states. (b) The federal tax credit bond volume cap for qualified school construction bonds is included in the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act  of 2009  and can be used to lower the cost of financing the construction, rehabilitation, or repair of a public school facility or for the acquisition of land where a school will be built. (c) On March 17, 2010, the United States Department of the Treasury released the second  and final  allocation authority of eleven billion dollars ($11,000,000,000) in federal tax credit bond volume cap for  the issuance of  qualified school construction  bond   bonds  , of which six billion six hundred million dollars ($6,600,000,000) will be allocated directly to the states and four billion four hundred million dollars ($4,400,000,000) will be allocated to 103 large, local educational agencies based upon the enrollment of pupils who qualify for the federal free or reduced price meal program. (d) In order to allocate the seven hundred twenty million fifty-eight thousand dollars ($720,058,000) in federal tax credit bond volume cap for qualified school construction bonds provided to California in 2010, this act is necessary to provide the authority to the department and the California School Finance Authority to make distributions to local educational agencies and eligible charter schools. SEC. 2. Section 12001.6 is added to the Education Code, to read: 12001.6. (a) The Legislature hereby finds and declares that the federal tax credit bond volume cap for qualified school construction bonds designated  for the state   to California  by the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5), together with Internal Revenue Service Notice 2010-17 issued pursuant thereto, does not constitute federal moneys, federal funds, or funds of any kind for any purpose under this code. (b) The department is authorized to assign and distribute the state's 2010 federal tax credit bond volume cap for qualified school construction bonds to or for the benefit of school districts and county offices of education in the state.  (c) There is hereby assigned to the department six hundred fifty-one million six hundred fifty-two thousand dollars ($651,652,000) of the state's 2010 federal tax credit bond volume cap for qualified school construction bonds.   (1) A school district or county office of education may apply for the federal tax credit bond volume cap for qualified school construction bonds if it meets all of the following eligibility criteria:   (A) The project for which the federal qualified school construction bond authorization may be applied received approval from the Division of the State Architect before the application was submitted.   (B) The project is funded by local voter approved bonds issued by the school district. A county office of education and a school district with an enrollment of 2,500 or less may use other forms of financing with the submission of a resolution adopted by the county board of education or governing board of the school district authorizing the issuance of the financing.   (C) The governing board of the school district or county board of education has adopted a resolution committing the district or county office to meet or exceed the criteria of the Collaborative for High Performance Schools or the criteria on sustainable school design, construction, and operation of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and commits the district or county office to ensure that every new school, new building, and major modernization project meets those criteria.   (2) A school district or county office of education that received a 2009 federal tax credit bond volume cap for qualified school construction bonds is not eligible to apply.   (3) A school district or county office of education that received a 2009 or 2010 federal tax credit bond volume cap for qualified school construction bond allocation from the United States Department of the Treasury is not eligible to apply.  (4) Five business days after the enactment of this legislation, the department shall post the application form on its Internet Web site.   (A) An application must be submitted via certified mail.   (B) An application may not be postmarked until 20 business days after the enactment of this legislation.   (C) An application shall include the total number of enrolled pupils who qualify for the federal free and reduced priced meal program and the total overall pupil enrollment for the 2008-09 school year.   (5) An application not meeting the conditions set forth in paragraphs (1) and (4) shall be returned to the applicant.   (6) Applications meeting the conditions set forth in paragraphs (1) and (4) shall be accepted on a first-come-first-served basis by date of postmark. If this program is oversubscribed, order of allocation shall be established using the following criteria:   (A) First, earliest date of postmark.   (B) Second, the greater percentage of pupils who qualify for the federal free and reduced priced meals program and are enrolled in the applying school district or county office of education in the 2008-09 school year. The department shall certify the number of pupils who qualify and the overall enrollment and calculate the percentage to the nearest one-hundredth of 1 percent.   (7) The department shall authorize the 2010 federal tax credit bond volume cap for qualified school construction bonds no sooner than December 1, 2010.   (8) The department shall maintain a waiting list of eligible school districts and county offices of education that did not receive an allocation in the order established pursuant to paragraph (6).   (9) An applicant may not apply for more than twenty-five million dollars ($25,000,000) of 2010 federal tax credit bond volume cap for qualified school construction bonds.   (10) A school district or county office of education applying for 2010 federal tax credit bond volume cap for qualified school construction bonds authorization shall certify in its application that it will fulfill all of the federal qualified school construction bond program requirements.   (11) Fifteen days after bond issuance, the school district or county office of education shall submit to the department a copy of the appropriate federal Internal Revenue Service Form, Information Return for Tax-Exempt Bonds, as confirmation of issuance.   (12) Thirty days after the completion of the expenditure the recipient shall submit a completion report to the department. The completion report must be certified by the bond counsel of the school district or county office of education.   (13) If any or all of the federal qualified school construction bond authorizations to a school district or county office of education are not issued within six months from the date of authorization, any or all unused federal qualified school construction bond authorizations shall revert to the department. No extensions shall be provided.   (A) The department shall reallocate any remaining federal qualified school construction bond allocation to school districts or county offices of education that were eligible and applied for the authorization but did not receive an allocation.   (B) Reverted 2010 federal tax credit bond volume cap for qualified school construction bonds shall be allocated to school districts or county offices of education pursuant to the order of priority established by paragraph (6).   (C) The department shall allocate reverted federal qualified school construction bond authorizations as they are available and until all are issued.   (c)   (d)    The California School Finance Authority, established pursuant to Section 17172, is authorized to assign and distribute the state's 2010 federal tax credit bond volume cap for qualified school construction bonds to or for the benefit of charter schools, or to be further assigned and distributed to one or more issuers in the state for the benefit of charter schools, as determined by the authority.  (1) There is hereby assigned to the California School Finance Authority, established pursuant to Section 17172, sixty-eight million four hundred six thousand dollars ($68,406,000) of the state's 2010 federal tax credit bond volume cap for qualified school construction bonds, to be issued for the benefit of charter schools, or to be further assigned and distributed to one or more issuers in the state for the benefit of charter schools, as the authority shall determine.   (2) The parameters specified in "Borrowing Authority Parameters and Application," dated February 10, 2010, as developed by the California School Finance Authority and referenced in Resolution 10-04 of the authority, shall apply to all applications submitted to the California School Finance Authority for the state's 2010 federal tax credit bond volume cap for qualified school construction bonds. If an applicant uses any 2010 federal tax credit bond volume cap in conjunction with a bond that will serve as a local match for purposes of the Charter School Facilities Program established by Section 17078.52, the applicant, in addition to the requirements of this section, shall comply with all of the requirements of the Charter School Facilities Program.   SEC. 3.   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 access federal stimulus tax credits at the earliest possible opportunity, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.