California Assembly Bill AB1450 Amended / Bill

 BILL NUMBER: AB 1450AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 1, 2014 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Garcia  (   Principal coauthor:   Senator   Lara   )  JANUARY 8, 2014 An act to amend  Section 48900 of the Education Code, relating to pupils   Sections 33670, 34172, and 34183 of the Health and Safety Code, and to add Section 95.6 to the Revenue and Taxation Code, relating to local government, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately  . LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1450, as amended, Garcia.  Pupils: grounds for suspension and expulsion: bullying.   Local government: redevelopment: revenues from property tax override rates.   Existing law dissolved redevelopment agencies and community development agencies as of February 1, 2012, and provides for the designation of successor agencies to wind down the affairs of the dissolved redevelopment agencies. Existing law requires revenues equivalent to those that would have been allocated to each redevelopment agency, had the agency not been dissolved, to be allocated to the Redevelopment Property Tax Trust Fund of each successor agency for making payments on the principal of and interest on loans, and moneys advanced to or indebtedness incurred by the dissolved redevelopment agencies. Existing law requires, from February 1, 2012, to July 1, 2012, inclusive, and for each fiscal year thereafter, the county auditor-controller, after deducting administrative costs, to allocate property tax revenues in each Redevelopment Property Tax Trust Fund in a specified manner.   This bill, for the 2014-15 fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter, would prohibit any revenues derived from the imposition of a property tax rate, approved by the voters of a city, county, or city and county to make payments in support of pension programs and levied in addition to the general property tax rate, from being allocated to a Redevelopment Property Tax Trust Fund and would, instead, require these revenues to be allocated to, and when collected to be paid into, the fund of the city, county, or city and county whose voters approved the tax unless, following a written request with each Recognized Obligation Payment Schedule cycle from the successor agency to the city, county, or city and county whose voters approved the tax, the city, county, or city and county authorizes the use of the revenues by the successor agency to pay any enforceable obligation, as specified. The bill would require any revenues derived from the imposition of a property tax rate as so described that have been pledged as security for the payment of any indebtedness obligation to be allocated to the successor agency to pay that indebtedness obligation, as specified. The bill would require all allocations of revenues derived from the imposition of a property tax rate as so described made by any county auditor-controller prior to July 1, 2014, to be deemed correct, and would prohibit any city, county, city and county, county auditor-controller, successor agency, or affected taxing entity from being subject to any claim, as specified.   By adding to the duties of local government officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.   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.   This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.   Existing law prohibits the suspension, or recommendation for expulsion, of a pupil from school unless the superintendent of the school district or the principal of the school determines that the pupil has committed any of various specified acts, including, but not limited to, engaging in acts of bullying by means of an electronic act. Existing law further defines "electronic act" as both the creation and transmission originated on or off the schoolsite, by means of an electronic device, including, but not limited to, a telephone, wireless telephone, or other wireless communication device, computer, or pager, of a communication, as specified.   This bill would instead, for purposes of pupil suspension or recommendation for expulsion from a school define "electronic act" as either the creation or transmission of that communication, as specified.  Vote:  majority   2/3  . Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee:  no   yes  . State-mandated local program:  no   yes  . THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:  SECTION 1.   (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:   (1) The California Constitution limits property-based tax levies, with exceptions to these limits only when a local jurisdiction obtains the approval of its voting electorate to use additional property-based tax levies for specific purposes approved by the voting electorate, in accordance with applicable constitutional and statutory provisions.   (2) With the enactment of Chapter 5 of the 2011-12 First Extraordinary Session (Assembly Bill 26), the Legislature intended that, upon dissolution of redevelopment agencies in the State of California, property taxes that would have been allocated to redevelopment agencies are no longer deemed tax increment. Instead, those taxes are deemed property tax revenues and are to be allocated first to successor agencies to make payments on the indebtedness incurred by the dissolved redevelopment agencies, with remaining balances allocated in accordance with applicable constitutional and statutory provisions.   (3) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this act to do all of the following:   (A) If a redevelopment agency had previously pledged revenues derived from the imposition of a property tax rate, approved by the voters of a city, county, or city and county to make payments in support of pension programs and levied in addition to the property tax rate limited by subdivision (a) of Section 1 of Article XIII A of the California Constitution, to pay a portion of the debt service due on indebtedness incurred by the former redevelopment agency on an approved recognized obligation payment schedule, then the successor agency shall continue to pledge those revenues, in a commensurate rate going forward. For example, if revenues derived from a pension tax rate approved by the voters of a city, county, or city and county were pledged to pay up to 25 percent of the annual debt service for the indebtedness approved in a recognized obligation payment schedule, the successor agency shall continue to pay up to 25 percent of the annual debt service on the indebtedness until maturity. Any and all excess pledged revenues derived from the pension property tax rate that are not necessary to pay the debt service on the indebtedness shall be allocated and paid to the city, county, or city and county whose voters approved the pension property tax rate.   (B) Ensure that the use of revenues derived from the imposition of a property tax rate approved by the voters of a city, county, or city and county, to make payments in support of pension programs and levied in addition to the property tax rate limited by subdivision (a) of Section 1 of Article XIII A of the California Constitution, is consistent with the use approved by the voters of a city, county, or city and county, once revenues from such property tax rates are not needed to pay approved indebtedness of a former redevelopment agency.   (C) Implement the allocation and distribution of voter-approved, property-based tax revenues for pension programs under the redevelopment dissolution process in a manner that would have been consistent with the allocation and distribution of those revenues had redevelopment agencies not been dissolved, in accordance with applicable constitutional provisions.   (4) Further, it is the intent of the Legislature that this act not affect any property tax allocations that occurred prior to July 1, 2014.   SEC. 2.   Section 33670 of the   Health and Safety Code   is amended to read:  33670. Any redevelopment plan may contain a provision that taxes, if any, levied upon taxable property in a redevelopment project each year by or for the benefit of the State of California, any city, county, city and county, district, or other public corporation (hereinafter sometimes called "taxing agencies") after the effective date of the ordinance approving the redevelopment plan, shall be divided as follows: (a) That portion of the taxes which would be produced by the rate upon which the tax is levied each year by or for each of the taxing agencies upon the total sum of the assessed value of the taxable property in the redevelopment project as shown upon the assessment roll used in connection with the taxation of that property by the taxing agency, last equalized prior to the effective date of the ordinance, shall be allocated to and when collected shall be paid to the respective taxing agencies as taxes by or for the taxing agencies on all other property are paid (for the purpose of allocating taxes levied by or for any taxing agency or agencies which did not include the territory in a redevelopment project on the effective date of the ordinance but to which that territory has been annexed or otherwise included after that effective date, the assessment roll of the county last equalized on the effective date of the ordinance shall be used in determining the assessed valuation of the taxable property in the project on the effective  date); and   date).  (b) Except as provided in subdivision (e) or in Section 33492.15, that portion of the levied taxes each year in excess of that amount shall be allocated to and when collected shall be paid into a special fund of the redevelopment agency to pay the principal of and interest on loans, moneys advanced to, or indebtedness (whether funded, refunded, assumed, or otherwise) incurred by the redevelopment agency to finance or refinance, in whole or in part, the redevelopment project. Unless and until the total assessed valuation of the taxable property in a redevelopment project exceeds the total assessed value of the taxable property in that project as shown by the last equalized assessment roll referred to in subdivision (a), all of the taxes levied and collected upon the taxable property in the redevelopment project shall be paid to the respective taxing agencies. When the loans, advances, and indebtedness, if any, and interest thereon, have been paid, all moneys thereafter received from taxes upon the taxable property in the redevelopment project shall be paid to the respective taxing agencies as taxes on all other property are paid. (c) In any redevelopment project in which taxes have been divided pursuant to this section prior to 1968, located within any county with total assessed valuation subject to general property taxes for the 1967-68 fiscal year between two billion dollars ($2,000,000,000) and two billion one hundred million dollars ($2,100,000,000), if the total assessed valuation of taxable property within the redevelopment project for the 1967-68 fiscal year was reduced, the total sum of the assessed value of taxable property used as the basis for apportionment of taxes under subdivision (a) shall be reduced by 10 percent for the 1968-69 fiscal year and fiscal years thereafter. (d) For the purposes of this section, taxes shall not include taxes from the supplemental assessment roll levied pursuant to Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 75) of Part 0.5 of Division 1 of the Revenue and Taxation Code for the 1983-84 fiscal year. (e) That portion of the taxes in excess of the amount identified in subdivision (a) which are attributable to a tax rate levied by a taxing agency for the purpose of producing revenues in an amount sufficient to make annual repayments of the principal of, and the interest on, any bonded indebtedness for the acquisition or improvement of real property shall be allocated to, and when collected shall be paid into, the fund of that taxing agency. This subdivision shall only apply to taxes levied to repay bonded indebtedness approved by the voters of the taxing agency on or after January 1, 1989.  (f) (1) That portion of the taxes in excess of the amount identified in subdivision (a) which are attributable to revenues derived from the imposition of a property tax rate, approved by the voters of a city, county, or city and county to make payments in support of pension programs and levied in addition to the property tax rate limited by subdivision (a) of Section 1 of Article XIII A of the California Constitution, shall not be allocated to the Redevelopment Property Tax Trust Fund established pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 34170.5 but shall be allocated to, and when collected shall be paid into, the fund of the city, county, or city and county whose voters approved the tax unless, following a written request with each Recognized Obligation Payment Schedule cycle from the successor agency, as defined in subdivision (j) of Section 34171, to the city, county, or city and county whose voters approved the tax, the city, county, or city and county authorizes the use of the revenues from the fund of the city, county, or city and county by the successor agency to pay any enforceable obligation, as defined in subdivision (d) of Section 34171, on an approved Recognized Obligation Payment Schedule pursuant to subdivisions (l) and (m) of Section 34177 and subdivision (h) of Section 34179.  (2) Subject to the approval of the city, county, or city and county as provided for in paragraph (1), the amounts necessary to pay approved enforceable obligations shall be allocated to the successor agency pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 34183, from revenues derived from the imposition of a property tax rate, approved by the voters of a city, county, or city and county to make payments in support of pension programs and levied in addition to the property tax rate limited by subdivision (a) of Section 1 of Article XIII A of the California Constitution, but only after all other moneys deposited in the successor agency's Redevelopment Property Tax Trust Fund established pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 34170.5 have been exhausted.   (3) Any revenues derived from the imposition of a property tax rate, approved by the voters of a city, county, or city and county to make payments in support of pension programs, known as a pension tax rate, and levied in addition to the property tax rate limited by subdivision (a) of Section 1 of Article XIII A of the California Constitution, that have been pledged as security for the payment of any indebtedness obligation, as defined in subdivision (e) of Section 34171, shall be allocated to the successor agency, after all other moneys deposited in the successor agency's Redevelopment Property Tax Trust Fund established pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 34170.5 have been exhausted, in the amount necessary to pay that indebtedness obligation for an applicable Recognized Obligation Payment Schedule cycle, until such time as that indebtedness obligation has been completely paid off. Any and all excess pledged revenues derived from the pension property tax rate that are not necessary to pay the debt service on the indebtedness shall be allocated and paid to the city, county, or city and county whose voters approved the pension property tax rate.   SEC. 3.   Section 34172 of the   Health and Safety Code   is amended to read:  34172. (a) (1) All redevelopment agencies and redevelopment agency components of community development agencies created under Part 1 (commencing with Section 33000), Part 1.5 (commencing with Section 34000), Part 1.6 (commencing with Section 34050), and Part 1.7 (commencing with Section 34100) that were in existence on the effective date of this part are hereby dissolved and shall no longer exist as a public body, corporate or politic. Nothing in this part dissolves or otherwise affects the authority of a community redevelopment commission, other than in its authority to act as a redevelopment agency, in its capacity as a housing authority or for any other community development purpose of the jurisdiction in which it operates. For those other nonredevelopment purposes, the community development commission derives its authority solely from federal or local laws, or from state laws other than the Community Redevelopment Law (Part 1 (commencing with Section 33000)). (2) A community in which an agency has been dissolved under this section may not create a new agency pursuant to Part 1 (commencing with Section 33000), Part 1.5 (commencing with Section 34000), Part 1.6 (commencing with Section 34050), or Part 1.7 (commencing with Section 34100). However, a community in which the agency has been dissolved and the successor entity has paid off all of the former agency's enforceable obligations may create a new agency pursuant to Part 1 (commencing with Section 33000), Part 1.5 (commencing with Section 34000), Part 1.6 (commencing with Section 34050), or Part 1.7 (commencing with Section 34100), subject to the tax increment provisions contained in Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 34194.5) of Part 1.9 (commencing with Section 34192). (b) All authority to transact business or exercise powers previously granted under the Community Redevelopment Law (Part 1 (commencing with Section  33000)   33000))  is hereby withdrawn from the former redevelopment agencies. (c) Solely for purposes of Section 16 of Article XVI of the California Constitution, the Redevelopment Property Tax Trust Fund shall be deemed to be a special fund of the dissolved redevelopment agency to pay the principal of and interest on loans, moneys advanced to, or indebtedness, whether funded, refunded, assumed, or otherwise incurred by the redevelopment agency to finance or refinance, in whole or in part, the redevelopment projects of each redevelopment agency dissolved pursuant to this part. (d) Revenues   Except as provided in subdivision (c) of Section 34183, revenues  equivalent to those that would have been allocated pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 16 of Article XVI of the California Constitution shall be allocated to the Redevelopment Property Tax Trust Fund of each successor agency for making payments on the principal of and interest on loans, and moneys advanced to or indebtedness incurred by the dissolved redevelopment agencies. Amounts in excess of those necessary to pay obligations of the former redevelopment agency shall be deemed to be property tax revenues within the meaning of subdivision (a) of Section 1 of Article XIII A of the California Constitution.  SEC. 4.   Section 34183 of the   Health and Safety Code   is amended to read:  34183. (a) Notwithstanding any other law, from February 1, 2012, to July 1, 2012, and for each fiscal year thereafter, the county auditor-controller shall, after deducting administrative costs allowed under Section 34182 and Section 95.3 of the Revenue and Taxation Code  and revenues allocated pursuant to subdivision (c)  , allocate moneys in each Redevelopment Property Tax Trust Fund as follows: (1) Subject to any prior deductions required by subdivision (b), first, the county auditor-controller shall remit from the Redevelopment Property Tax Trust Fund to each local agency and school entity an amount of property tax revenues in an amount equal to that which would have been received under Section 33401, 33492.140, 33607, 33607.5, 33607.7, or 33676, as those sections read on January 1, 2011, or pursuant to any passthrough agreement between a redevelopment agency and a taxing entity that was entered into prior to January 1, 1994, that would be in force during that fiscal year, had the redevelopment agency existed at that time. The amount of the payments made pursuant to this paragraph shall be calculated solely on the basis of passthrough payment obligations, existing prior to the effective date of this part and continuing as obligations of successor entities, shall occur no later than May 16, 2012, and no later than June 1, 2012, and each January 2 and June 1 thereafter. Notwithstanding subdivision (e) of Section 33670, that portion of the taxes in excess of the amount identified in subdivision (a) of Section 33670, which are attributable to a tax rate levied by a taxing entity for the purpose of producing revenues in an amount sufficient to make annual repayments of the principal of, and the interest on, any bonded indebtedness for the acquisition or improvement of real property shall be allocated to, and when collected shall be paid into, the fund of that taxing entity. The amount of passthrough payments computed pursuant to this section, including any passthrough agreements, shall be computed as though the requirement to set aside funds for the Low and Moderate Income Housing Fund was still in effect. (2) Second, on June 1, 2012, and each January 2 and June 1 thereafter, to each successor agency for payments listed in its Recognized Obligation Payment Schedule for the six-month fiscal period beginning January 1, 2012, and July 1, 2012, and each January 2 and June 1 thereafter, in the following order of priority: (A) Debt service payments scheduled to be made for tax allocation bonds. (B) Payments scheduled to be made on revenue bonds, but only to the extent the revenues pledged for them are insufficient to make the payments and only if the agency's tax increment revenues were also pledged for the repayment of the bonds. (C) Payments scheduled for other debts and obligations listed in the Recognized Obligation Payment Schedule that are required to be paid from former tax increment revenue. (3) Third, on June 1, 2012, and each January 2 and June 1 thereafter, to each successor agency for the administrative cost allowance, as defined in Section 34171, for administrative costs set forth in an approved administrative budget for those payments required to be paid from former tax increment revenues. (4) Fourth, on June 1, 2012, and each January 2 and June 1 thereafter, any moneys remaining in the Redevelopment Property Tax Trust Fund after the payments and transfers authorized by paragraphs (1) to (3), inclusive, shall be distributed to local agencies and school entities in accordance with Section 34188. (b) If the successor agency reports, no later than April 1, 2012, and May 1, 2012, and each December 1 and May 1 thereafter, to the county auditor-controller that the total amount available to the successor agency from the Redevelopment Property Tax Trust Fund allocation to that successor agency's Redevelopment Obligation Retirement Fund, from other funds transferred from each redevelopment agency, and from funds that have or will become available through asset sales and all redevelopment operations, are insufficient to fund the payments required by paragraphs (1) to (3), inclusive, of subdivision (a) in the next six-month fiscal period, the county auditor-controller shall notify the Controller and the Department of Finance no later than 10 days from the date of that notification. The county auditor-controller shall verify whether the successor agency will have sufficient funds from which to service debts according to the Recognized Obligation Payment Schedule and shall report the findings to the Controller. If the Controller concurs that there are insufficient funds to pay required debt service, the amount of the deficiency shall be deducted first from the amount remaining to be distributed to taxing entities pursuant to paragraph (4)  of subdivision (a)  , and if that amount is exhausted, from amounts available for distribution for administrative costs in paragraph (3)  of subdivision (a)  . If an agency, pursuant to the provisions of Section 33492.15, 33492.72, 33607.5, 33671.5, 33681.15, or 33688 or as expressly provided in a passthrough agreement entered into pursuant to Section 33401, made passthrough payment obligations subordinate to debt service payments required for enforceable obligations, funds for servicing bond debt may be deducted from the amounts for passthrough payments under paragraph (1)  of subdivision (a)  , as provided in those sections, but only to the extent that the amounts remaining to be distributed to taxing entities pursuant to paragraph (4)  of subdivision (a)  and the amounts available for distribution for administrative costs in paragraph (3)  of subdivision (a)  have all been exhausted.  (c) (1) (A) Notwithstanding any other law, for the 2014-15 fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter, any revenues derived from the imposition of a property tax rate, approved by the voters of a city, county, or city and county to make payments in support of pension programs and levied in addition to the property tax rate limited by subdivision (a) of Section 1 of Article XIII A of the California Constitution, shall not be allocated to each Redevelopment Property Tax Trust Fund and shall instead be allocated to, and when collected shall be paid into, the fund of the city, county, or city and county whose voters approved the tax unless, following a written request with each Recognized Obligation Payment Schedule cycle from the successor agency to the city, county, or city and county whose voters approved the tax, the city, county, or city and county authorizes the use of the revenues from the fund of the city, county, or city and county by the successor agency to pay any enforceable obligation, as defined in subdivision (d) of Section 34171, on an approved Recognized Obligation Payment Schedule pursuant to subdivisions (l) and (m) of Section 34177 and subdivision (h) of Section 34179.   (B) Subject to the approval of the city, county, or city and county as provided for in paragraph (1), the amounts necessary to pay approved enforceable obligations shall be allocated to the successor agency pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (a), from revenues derived from the imposition of a property tax rate, approved by the voters of the city, county, or city and county to make payments in support of pension programs and levied in addition to the property tax rate limited by subdivision (a) of Section 1 of Article XIII A of the California Constitution, but only after all other moneys deposited in the successor agency's Redevelopment Property Tax Trust Fund have been exhausted.   (C) Any revenues derived from the imposition of a property tax rate, approved by the voters of a city, county, or city and county to make payments in support of pension programs and levied in addition to the property tax rate limited by subdivision (a) of Section 1 of Article XIII A of the California Constitution, that have been pledged as security for the payment of any indebtedness obligation shall be allocated to the successor agency, after all other moneys deposited in the successor agency's Redevelopment Property Tax Trust Fund have been exhausted, in the amount necessary to pay that indebtedness obligation for an applicable Recognized Obligation Payment Schedule cycle, until such time as that indebtedness obligation has been completely paid off. Any and all excess pledged revenues derived from the pension property tax rate that are not necessary to pay the debt service on the indebtedness shall be allocated and paid to the city, county, or city and county whose voters approved the pension property tax rate.   (2) Notwithstanding any other law, all allocations of revenues derived from the imposition of a property tax rate, approved by the voters of a city, county, or city and county to make payments in support of pension programs and levied in addition to the property tax rate limited by subdivision (a) of Section 1 of Article XIII A of the California Constitution, made by any county auditor-controller prior to July 1, 2014, shall be deemed correct and shall not be affected by this act. A city, county, city and county, county auditor-controller, successor agency, or affected taxing entity shall not be subject to any claim for money, damages, or reallocated revenues based on any allocation of such revenues prior to July 1, 2014.   (c)   (d)  The county treasurer may loan any funds from the county treasury to the Redevelopment Property Tax Trust Fund of the successor agency for the purpose of paying an item approved on the Recognized Obligation Payment Schedule at the request of the Department of Finance that are necessary to ensure prompt payments of redevelopment agency debts. An enforceable obligation is created for repayment of those loans.  (d)   (e)  The Controller may recover the costs of audit and oversight required under this part from the Redevelopment Property Tax Trust Fund by presenting an invoice therefor to the county auditor-controller who shall set aside sufficient funds for and disburse the claimed amounts prior to making the next distributions to the taxing entities pursuant to Section 34188. Subject to the approval of the Director of Finance, the budget of the Controller may be augmented to reflect the reimbursement, pursuant to Section 28.00 of the Budget Act.  (e)   (f)  Within 10 days of each distribution of property tax, the county auditor-controller shall provide a report to the department regarding the distribution for each successor agency that includes information on the total available for allocation, the passthrough amounts and how they were calculated, the amounts distributed to successor agencies, and the amounts distributed to taxing entities in a manner and form specified by the department. This reporting requirement shall also apply to distributions required under subdivision (b) of Section 34183.5.  SEC. 5.   Section 95.6 is added to the   Revenue and Taxation Code   , to read:   95.6. Notwithstanding any other law, allocations of revenues derived from the imposition of a property tax rate, approved by the voters of a city, county, or city and county to make payments in support of pension programs and levied in addition to the property tax rate limited by subdivision (a) of Section 1 of Article XIII A of the California Constitution, shall be made pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 34183 of the Health and Safety Code.   SEC. 6.   No inference shall be drawn from the enactment of this act with respect to the use, distribution, or allocation of revenues derived from the imposition of a property tax rate, approved by the voters of a city, county, or city and county to make payments in support of pension programs and levied in addition to the property tax rate limited by subdivision (a) of Section 1 of Article XIII A of the California Constitution, made by any county auditor-controller prior to July 1, 2014.   SEC. 7.   If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.   SEC. 8.   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 avoid underfunded pension programs as a result of revenues derived from the imposition of a property tax rate, approved by the voters of a city, county, or city and county to make payments in support of pension programs and levied in addition to the property tax rate limited by subdivision (a) of Section 1 of Article XIII A of the California Constitution, being allocated first to successor agencies to make payments on the indebtedness incurred by the dissolved redevelopment agencies, with remaining balances being allocated in accordance with applicable constitutional and statutory provisions, instead of being paid entirely into the fund of the city, county, or city and county whose voters approved the tax, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.   SECTION 1.   Section 48900 of the Education Code is amended to read: 48900. A pupil shall not be suspended from school or recommended for expulsion, unless the superintendent of the school district or the principal of the school in which the pupil is enrolled determines that the pupil has committed an act as defined pursuant to any of subdivisions (a) to (r), inclusive: (a) (1) Caused, attempted to cause, or threatened to cause physical injury to another person. (2) Willfully used force or violence upon the person of another, except in self-defense. (b) Possessed, sold, or otherwise furnished a firearm, knife, explosive, or other dangerous object, unless, in the case of possession of an object of this type, the pupil had obtained written permission to possess the item from a certificated school employee, which is concurred in by the principal or the designee of the principal. (c) Unlawfully possessed, used, sold, or otherwise furnished, or been under the influence of, a controlled substance listed in Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11053) of Division 10 of the Health and Safety Code, an alcoholic beverage, or an intoxicant of any kind. (d) Unlawfully offered, arranged, or negotiated to sell a controlled substance listed in Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11053) of Division 10 of the Health and Safety Code, an alcoholic beverage, or an intoxicant of any kind, and either sold, delivered, or otherwise furnished to a person another liquid, substance, or material and represented the liquid, substance, or material as a controlled substance, alcoholic beverage, or intoxicant. (e) Committed or attempted to commit robbery or extortion. (f) Caused or attempted to cause damage to school property or private property. (g) Stole or attempted to steal school property or private property. (h) Possessed or used tobacco, or products containing tobacco or nicotine products, including, but not limited to, cigarettes, cigars, miniature cigars, clove cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, snuff, chew packets, and betel. However, this section does not prohibit use or possession by a pupil of his or her own prescription products. (i) Committed an obscene act or engaged in habitual profanity or vulgarity. (j) Unlawfully possessed or unlawfully offered, arranged, or negotiated to sell drug paraphernalia, as defined in Section 11014.5 of the Health and Safety Code. (k) Disrupted school activities or otherwise willfully defied the valid authority of supervisors, teachers, administrators, school officials, or other school personnel engaged in the performance of their duties. (  l  ) Knowingly received stolen school property or private property. (m) Possessed an imitation firearm. As used in this section, "imitation firearm" means a replica of a firearm that is so substantially similar in physical properties to an existing firearm as to lead a reasonable person to conclude that the replica is a firearm. (n) Committed or attempted to commit a sexual assault as defined in Section 261, 266c, 286, 288, 288a, or 289 of the Penal Code or committed a sexual battery as defined in Section 243.4 of the Penal Code. (o) Harassed, threatened, or intimidated a pupil who is a complaining witness or a witness in a school disciplinary proceeding for purposes of either preventing that pupil from being a witness or retaliating against that pupil for being a witness, or both. (p) Unlawfully offered, arranged to sell, negotiated to sell, or sold the prescription drug Soma. (q) Engaged in, or attempted to engage in, hazing. For purposes of this subdivision, "hazing" means a method of initiation or preinitiation into a pupil organization or body, whether or not the organization or body is officially recognized by an educational institution, which is likely to cause serious bodily injury or personal degradation or disgrace resulting in physical or mental harm to a former, current, or prospective pupil. For purposes of this subdivision, "hazing" does not include athletic events or school-sanctioned events. (r) Engaged in an act of bullying. For purposes of this subdivision, the following terms have the following meanings: (1) "Bullying" means any severe or pervasive physical or verbal act or conduct, including communications made in writing or by means of an electronic act, and including one or more acts committed by a pupil or group of pupils as defined in Section 48900.2, 48900.3, or 48900.4, directed toward one or more pupils that has or can be reasonably predicted to have the effect of one or more of the following: (A) Placing a reasonable pupil or pupils in fear of harm to that pupil's or those pupils' person or property. (B) Causing a reasonable pupil to experience a substantially detrimental effect on his or her physical or mental health. (C) Causing a reasonable pupil to experience substantial interference with his or her academic performance. (D) Causing a reasonable pupil to experience substantial interference with his or her ability to participate in or benefit from the services, activities, or privileges provided by a school. (2) (A) "Electronic act" means the creation or transmission originated on or off the schoolsite, by means of an electronic device, including, but not limited to, a telephone, wireless telephone, or other wireless communication device, computer, or pager, of a communication, including, but not limited to, any of the following: (i) A message, text, sound, or image. (ii) A post on a social network Internet Web site, including, but not limited to: (I) Posting to or creating a burn page. "Burn page" means an Internet Web site created for the purpose of having one or more of the effects listed in paragraph (1). (II) Creating a credible impersonation of another actual pupil for the purpose of having one or more of the effects listed in paragraph (1). "Credible impersonation" means to knowingly and without consent impersonate a pupil for the purpose of bullying the pupil and such that another pupil would reasonably believe, or has reasonably believed, that the pupil was or is the pupil who was impersonated. (III) Creating a false profile for the purpose of having one or more of the effects listed in paragraph (1). "False profile" means a profile of a fictitious pupil or a profile using the likeness or attributes of an actual pupil other than the pupil who created the false profile. (B) Notwithstanding paragraph (1) and subparagraph (A), an electronic act shall not constitute pervasive conduct solely on the basis that it has been transmitted on the Internet or is currently posted on the Internet. (3) "Reasonable pupil" means a pupil, including, but not limited to, an exceptional needs pupil, who exercises average care, skill, and judgment in conduct for a person of his or her age, or for a person of his or her age with his or her exceptional needs. (s) A pupil shall not be suspended or expelled for any of the acts enumerated in this section unless the act is related to a school activity or school attendance occurring within a school under the jurisdiction of the superintendent of the school district or principal or occurring within any other school district. A pupil may be suspended or expelled for acts that are enumerated in this section and related to a school activity or school attendance that occur at any time, including, but not limited to, any of the following: (1) While on school grounds. (2) While going to or coming from school. (3) During the lunch period whether on or off the campus. (4) During, or while going to or coming from, a school-sponsored activity. (t) A pupil who aids or abets, as defined in Section 31 of the Penal Code, the infliction or attempted infliction of physical injury to another person may be subject to suspension, but not expulsion, pursuant to this section, except that a pupil who has been adjudged by a juvenile court to have committed, as an aider and abettor, a crime of physical violence in which the victim suffered great bodily injury or serious bodily injury shall be subject to discipline pursuant to subdivision (a). (u) As used in this section, "school property" includes, but is not limited to, electronic files and databases. (v) For a pupil subject to discipline under this section, a superintendent of the school district or principal may use his or her discretion to provide alternatives to suspension or expulsion that are age appropriate and designed to address and correct the pupil's specific misbehavior as specified in Section 48900.5. (w) It is the intent of the Legislature that alternatives to suspension or expulsion be imposed against a pupil who is truant, tardy, or otherwise absent from school activities.