Current Legislative Updates

CASP Legislative Report 12-22-04

The new 2005-06 Legislative Session began on January 3, 2005.  The Governor delivered his State of the State Address the week of January 10^th and released his 2005-06 State Budget that same week.  The first major legislative deadlines for new bills will come at the end of January for draft legislation and again in February to introduce legislation for the year.     

The CASP Legislative Platform is developed and adopted by the Board of Directors at the beginning of each two-year Legislative Session.  The platform is available to member and others via the CASP website.  In preparation for the new two-year session, the CASP Board of Directors adopted an updated legislative platform in early November 2004.  The platform forms the “backbone” of CASP’s legislative efforts.  The platform does not list every issue the Association is concerned about or involved in, but rather it describes those issues that the Board of Directors, Legislative Committee, and the membership deem to be CASP’s priority issues for the 2005-2006 Legislative Session.  Priorities for the coming months include:  

·        Introducing legislation in cooperation with the Pupil Services Coalition, to encourage school districts to establish pupil support service teams.  Ideally, each school district would have at least one team that would be available to students on a daily basis.

·        Continue advocating for funding for the Early Mental Health Initiative (EMHI) program through the California State Budget. 

·        Continue our efforts to allow school districts to be reimbursed for school psychologists counseling and other credentialed services.   We will support legislative/regulatory measures that expand the local education agency Medi-Cal billing options to make it more effective for program providers.    

·        Supporting regulatory action and/or legislation that would clarify the use of a Functional Analysis Assessment (FAA) and a Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA).

·        Working with the Pupil Services Coalition (PSC), we will identify key players in the CSU and UC system to explore funding to pilot an expanded training model for the school psychology and other service credentials.  This may be done in legislation or through the budget process.  

·        Supporting efforts to educate administrators and teachers as to the training of school psychologists to assist with school-based mental health issues.  We will oppose any efforts to require teachers and other non-student support personnel to take on these added responsibilities.  We will also look at opportunities to better define the job of school psychologist in state statute.

·        Working with the Pupil Services Coalition, the Governor’s Office, Office of Child Development and Education, and the State Board of Education to amend the current high school exit exam and STAR statutes to make accommodations for special education students.  CASP will work directly on legislation to make accommodations and improvements to both tests. 

·        Working with the California Commission on Teacher Credentialling, and if necessary the State Legislature and Governor’s Office to remove unnecessary impediments to employing qualified school psychologist interns. 

It is important to note, that on November 17, 2004, the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) released their fiscal projections.  They conclude that the state is facing a year-end shortfall of $6.7 billion in 2005-06.  Absent corrective action, they project a $10 billion shortfall in 2006-07.  We expect another few years of budget deficits in California; however, we are optimistic that the goals laid out in our 2005-06 Legislative Platform can be realized in some form.  For questions or comments please contact: Jim Russell, CASP Legislative Chair <jrussell@sancarlos.k12.ca.us> or Chris Kahn, CASP Advocate <cwkahn@shjlobby.com>.