Legislative Analyst's Office, July 7, 1996

SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT
OF THE 1996 BUDGET ACT
1996-97 FISCAL YEAR

CONTAINING STATEMENTS OF INTENT
OR REQUESTS FOR STUDIES
ADOPTED BY THE LEGISLATURE


Education

Item 6110-001-0001--Department of Education
Item 6110-001-0890--Department of Education
Item 6110-009-0001--Department of Education
Item 6420-001-0001--California Postsecondary Education Commission
Item 6440-001-0001--University of California
Item 6610-490--California State University
Item 6610-001-0001--California State University
Item 6870-001-0001--California Community Colleges
Item 6870-101-0001--California Community Colleges


Education

Item 6110-001-0001--Department of Education

1. Three-Agency Review of Revenue Limit Process. It is the intent of the Legislature that the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI), the Director of Finance, and the Legislative Analyst or a designee of these persons, shall review the reve nue limit apportionment process and make recommendations to simplify the process to (1) make it more understandable and (2) reduce unnecessary workload at the state and local levels. In developing the recommendations, the three agencies shall submit recommendations to the appropriate chairs of the committees that control appropriations, the appropriate policy committee chairs, the Chair of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, and the Governor on or before May 1, 1997. The three agencies may submit a pre liminary report by December 1, 1996 if the agencies deem it useful to the overall objectives of the project.

Item 6110-001-0890--Department of Education

1. Goals 2000. It is the intent of the Legislature that the Director of Finance may not authorize the expenditure of any funds received by the state under the federal Goals 2000: Educate America Act (PL 103-2277) or otherwise release federal funds received by the state under that program except through a separate statute or as part of the 1997 Budget Act.

Item 6110-009-0001--Department of Education

1. Curriculum Services. The position shall require a reading specialist credential and expertise, through both course work and practice, in the following:

a. All aspects of research-based reading instruction, including the teaching of the following: phonemic awareness, systematic, explicit phonics, spelling, writing, and comprehension.

b. Ongoing diagnostic techniques that inform teaching and assessment.

c. Early intervention techniques.

d. Guided practice in a clinical setting.

Item 6420-001-0001--California Postsecondary Education Commission

1. Faculty Salary Methodology. It is the intent of the Legislature that the faculty salary methodology agreed upon between the Legislature, the Legislative Analyst's Office, the Department of Finance, the University of California, the California State University, and the California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC) shall not be revised prior to fiscal year 1999-00 by the CPEC.

Item 6440-001-0001--University of California

1. Industry-University Cooperative Research Program. It is the intent of the Legislature that the $5 million provided by the state for the Industry-University Cooperative Research program should be matched by at least $5 million of industry funds. It is further the intent of the Legislature that the university report to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee and the budget committees of the Assembly and Senate by November 1, 1997 and November 1, 1998 on actual expenditures in the 1996-97 and 1997-98 fiscal years, respectively, for Industry-University Cooperative Research. The reports, at a minimum, should include detailed expenditures by industry type and by funding source (industry, university funds, state General Fund).

2. California Reading and Literature Project. It is the intent of the Leg islature that the California Reading and Literature Project (CRLP) shall consist of two subprograms, one dedicated exclusively to the teaching of basic reading skills for grades K-12 and the other for comprehension programs in literature and expository text in grades 4-12. The CRLP funds shall be divided evenly between the two subprograms. It is further the intent of the Legislature that the K-12 Reading Skills subprogram is operated so as to be in full compliance with the Program Advisory on Reading of the State Board of Education (1996), current and confirmed research on the teaching of basic reading skills, and the expertise of California educators with a proven record of success in the teaching of basic reading skills.

It is the further intent of the Legislature that the University of California maintain quality control over the development of the CRLP by: (a) overseeing the development of the request for proposal to establish local sites of the project; (b) ensuring that the qualifications for state and local project directors include an understanding of current and confirmed research in teaching basic reading skills and a commitment to phonemic awareness, systematic, explicit phonics, and automatic decoding as essential components in the teaching of reading; and (c) overseeing development of the content of train ing materials and modules offered by the project.

It is the further intent of the Legislature that the University of California will submit a report to the legislative policy and fiscal committees by February 15, 1997 on the development of the CRLP. This report should include a description of mechanisms devel oped to monitor and evaluate the success of the program.

3. Supercomputer. It is the intent of the Legislature to support a Super computer site at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). The state will augment by an additional $3 million per year beginning in 1997-98. This $3 million augmentation will continue to be funded through June 30, 2002. This commitment is only in effect if the UCSD Supercomputer Center is chosen by the National Science Foundation to receive funds under its new Partnership for Advanced Computation Infrastructure program.

4. Teaching Hospitals. It is the intent of the Legislature that the University of California (UC) form a work group to address the financial problems facing the university's teaching hospitals. The work group will identify factors contributing to the teaching hospitals' financial problems and will develop options for presentation to the Governor and the Legislature to mitigate the problems. The work group will, at a minimum, look at the impacts of changes in managed care, federal and state funding for Medicare and MediCal, costs associated with providing a medical education in a clinical setting, and serving a disproportionate share of the indigent population.

It is further the intent of the Legislature that the work group identify alternatives that specifically address the higher costs of providing medical care and teaching associated with academic medical centers. The work group will look at options that range from providing the UC with increased support to options in which all payers contribute toward the costs of providing a medical education in a clinical setting (for all teaching hospitals in California).

The work group will be composed of representatives from the UC, the Department of Finance (DOF), the Department of Health Services, the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO), fiscal committees of the Assembly and Senate, and the California Postsecondary Education Commission. The work group should complete its work and submit its find ings to the Governor and fiscal committees of the Legislature by February 1, 1997.

5. AIDS Research. The Legislature finds that the federal government provides substantial support for research into the nature of HIV and the possible ways of combating the retrovirus. The Legislature also finds that the state General Fund research dollars should complement federally funded projects by supporting research that proposes diverse scientific approaches to understand, alleviate, and cure AIDS.

It is the intent of the Legislature that, for 1997-98, the UC AIDS Research Program will solicit applications for funding of AIDS-related research in the following four cate gories: basic science, clinical science, social/behavioral science, and epidemiology. Fur thermore, it is the Legislature's intent that the call for applications for General Fund-supported research shall invite proposals to evaluate the degree to which various groups in the population are or are not at risk for AIDS, and also proposals to consider the possible role of a variety of nonviral factors that may be involved in the etiology and pathogenesis of AIDS-indicator diseases, including recreational drug use, malnutrition, foreign proteins transmitted by blood transfusions, and/or multiple infections.

It is also the Legislature's intent that the UC include in its 1997-98 report on the University AIDS Research Program a description of the steps taken by the university to attempt to meet the goal of adequately funding diverse scientific approaches to the understanding and treatment of AIDS.

6. Facility Maintenance and Repairs/Deferred Maintenance. The 1996 Budget Act includes an augmentation of
$7.5 million in General Funds for building maintenance. The UC has agreed to at least match any augmentation included in the Budget Act for building maintenance for a total increase of at least $15 million in 1996-97. It is the intent of the Legislature that the state augment the university's building maintenance budget by an additional $7.5 million, above the higher education compact, in 1997-98 and again in 1998-99 and 1999-00, to be equally matched by the UC, so that by 1999-00, the university will have increased its permanent budget for building maintenance by at least $60 million. It is the intent of the Legislature that the UC submit a report to the legislative fiscal committees by December 1 of each year for the next five years on actual expenditures for building maintenance. This report should include an analysis documenting that actual expenditures for building maintenance have increased over 1995-96 actual expenditures by at least the amount of these augmentations.

It is also the intent of the Legislature that the UC, working with staff from the DOF and the LAO, develop a plan to fully address its backlog of deferred maintenance through a combination of funding sources, including through capital outlay renovation projects. This plan should be submitted to the fiscal committees of the Legislature by February 1, 1997.

It is the intent of the Legislature that the university not defer maintenance, once the university's budget is fully funded. Given the increased level of funding for maintenance/repairs provided in the Budget Act, and the Legislature's intent to fully fund maintenance/repairs by 1999-00, the Legislature expects the UC to fully justify the need for additions to the current deferred maintenance backlog during the interim. Thereafter, the Legislature regards any deferred maintenance project that is not part of that justified backlog as the fiscal responsibility of the university, not of the state.

The above statement of intent does not preclude the university and the Legislature from modifying this agreement if unforeseen circumstances so warrant.

Item 6610-490--California State University

1. Reappropriation. It is the intent of the Legislature that any funds reappropriated by this item shall not be generated by
(a) a reduction in the budgeted 1996-97 enrollment level of 255,500, (b) a reduction in the quality of instruction, as measured by the student-faculty ratio and (if available) time-to-degree, or (c) an increase in systemwide fee levels. It is also the intent of the Legislature that the funds be used for deferred maintenance, instructional equipment replacement, or other one-time activities. The use of the funds shall continue to be subject to existing internal California State Univerity (CSU) budget consultation processes. The CSU shall report to the Department of Finance and the Joint Legislative Budget Committee by September 30, 1996 the amount being reappropriated and the purposes for which the funds will be used. It is the intent of the Legislature that the Legislative Analyst report in its Analysis of the 1997-98 Budget Bill if it determines the CSU has not observed legislative intent as stated above.

Item 6610-001-0001--California State University

1. Faculty Workload. It is the intent of the Legislature that the average faculty teaching workload not decrease at the California State Univerity (CSU). It is also the intent of the Legislature that the CSU provide a preliminary report to the legislative fiscal and policy committees, the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, the California Postsecondary Education Commission, and the Department of Finance by December 1, 1996 summarizing faculty workload indicators systemwide and on each campus (or a representative sample of campuses) in 1995-96 compared to 1994-95. The indicators shall include, but not be limited to, the level of direct faculty instructional workload, independent study, and assigned release time as measured by weighted teaching units, the number of student credit units per faculty member, and a documented assessment demonstrating the achieved outcomes for nonteaching instructional-related activities. It is further the intent of the Legislature that the CSU provide a final report on these is sues, incorporating data from 1996-97, to the agencies cited above by December 1, 1997. Nothing in this section shall be construed as prohibiting CSU from trying to reduce the student-faculty ratio.

2. California State University--Facility Maintenance and Repairs/Deferred Maintenance.This item includes an augmentation of $7.5 million to partially address the university's needs for facility maintenance and repairs. This item also in cludes for the same purposes a CSU augmentation of $9.6 million that was identified initially for deferred maintenance in the Governor's Budget. It is the Legislature's intent that these augmentations be incorporated into the university's ongoing base budget for facility maintenance and repairs. It is the further intent of the Legislature that the state augment the university's facility maintenance/repairs budget by additional $7.5 million increments in 1997-98 and 1998-99, matched by funds available to the university under its compact with the Governor, so that the base budget--and actual expenditures--for maintenance/repairs are at least $45 million higher in 1998-99 than the amount spent for these purposes in 1995-96.

The university will fully address its backlog of deferred maintenance through a combination of its augmented base funding and, where justified on the basis of capital program criteria and priorities, as part of capital outlay renovation projects.

It is the intent of the Legislature that the university not defer maintenance in the future. Given the increased level of funding for maintenance/repairs provided in the Budget Act, and the Legislature's intent to fully fund maintenance/repairs in future years, the Legislature regards any deferred maintenance project that is not part of the current backlog as the fiscal responsibility of the university, not of the state.

Item 6870-001-0001--California Community Colleges

1. Instructional Services Contracts. After reviewing the findings of the Bureau of State Audits regarding the contract between San Joaquin Delta College and the McGee Correctional Training Center and other contracts, the Chancellor's Office shall report to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee and the fiscal committees by September 15, 1996, on the following:

2. Technology Planning Guide. It is the Legislature's under standing that the Chancellor's Office is developing standard technology planning guidelines that can be adapted for use by any community college for education technology planning purposes. It is the Legislature's intent that these guidelines should:

Funds for this project should be awarded by the Chancellor's Office through competitively bid contracts. Subcontracts should be awarded on a competitive bid basis and only after review and approval by the Chancellor's Office.

The Chancellor's Office shall report to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee and the fiscal committees on its progress in developing the guidelines by December 1, 1996.

Item 6870-101-0001--California Community Colleges

1. Apportionment and Growth Funding. The level of apportionment and growth funding reflected in Schedules (a) and (q) of this item is provided for a state-funded full-time-equivalent students (FTES) enrollment level of 874,448 in 1996-97. The California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office shall report to the Legislature by March 1, 1998 on the actual level of state-funded FTES in 1996-97 and the reasons for, and impact of, any adjustments to this FTES level.


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