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Current Legislative Updates
2005-2006 Legislative Updates
Please contact Chris Kahn if you would like additional information on any of these bills, or on bills not included in this report, (cwkahn@shjlobby.com). You can also reach Chris by phone at 916-446-3007.
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CASP Legislative Reports
The Legislature
adjourned for the year on September 8, 2005 but not before sending the Governor
close to 800 bills during the last month of the session. The Governor closed
the 2005 session by taking final action on those bills on October 8, 2005.
The Legislature
sent the Governor a total of 961 bills. He signed 729 bills and vetoed 232.
The second year of the two year session starts on January 4, 2005. All bills
introduced in 2005 must pass the house they were introduced by the end of
January. We expect over 3,000 new bills to be introduced into the 2006 session
by the end of February.
2005 was a very
chaotic year for CASP and education in general in the Legislative arena. The
budget was marred in the controversy of less funding then had been projected
the previous year. The final version of the budget
did however, reject the Governor’s proposal to eliminate the STRS defined
benefit funding shift of $469 million. The budget also provided $120 million
for the AB 3632 Mandate reimbursement and rejected the Governor’s proposal to
transfer school mental health responsibility to the schools. And the budget
provided $10 million for the Early Mental Health Initiative, (EMHI).
Legislation
There were a number of bills where
CASP was very active this year.
AB 171 (Yee) would create
the Comprehensive Pupil Learning Support System. Assemblyman Yee has reached
out to CASP and the Pupil Services Coalition to help craft the language. He
accepted language on our behalf to encourage the creation of Pupil Support
Service Teams in school districts. The bill passed the Assembly Education
Committee but was held for the year in the Appropriations Committee. We have
not given up and have met with Assemblyman Yee on how we move forward on his
bill in the future. AB 171 is a two year bill and we will pursue it with
Assemblyman Yee next year.
Status: Two-year bill
SB 586 (Romero) would delay
the high school exit exam for the next two years for pupils with
disabilities.
Status:
Vetoed by the Governor
AB 1531 (Bass) would permit
a pupil to satisfy the English language arts or mathematics portion of the high
school exit examination by passing an alternative performance assessment.
Status:
Vetoed by the Governor
AB 1179 (Yee) would require
violent video games to be labeled and would prohibit the sale or rental of
those violent video games to minors.
Status:
Signed by the Governor
AB 1662 (Lieber) would
conform parts of California law to the newly enacted federal IDEA. The bill
will conform with these new federal requirements relating to, among others,
pupil identification, assessment, and eligibility, individualized education
program development, including notice, representation, and hearing procedures
and requirements, and pupil data confidentiality.
Status:
Signed by the Governor
AB 430 (Nava):
This bill reauthorizes the Principal Training Program, changes the name to
the Administrator Training Program, and makes a number of important changes to
improve the program. CASP is most supportive of changes that give emphasis to
students with disabilities and how administrators can work with pupil support
personnel in aiding those students.
Status:
Signed by the Governor
SB 724 (Scott):
This bill authorizes the California State University to offer
professional/clinical doctoral programs.
Status:
Signed by the Governor
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