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August 12, 2010
To: All Superintendents |
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As all of you know, the recent financial mismanagement surrounding the City of Bell and their City Manager and City Council has resonated throughout the state. Legislators are responding to this with bills that are being amended right now. I want to provide you a heads up on this legislation. I am currently working with staff in the respective members' offices to figure out how to amend the bills in order to remove our opposition. I don't have much yet but will keep you apprised as discussions continue.
AB 1955 (De La Torre) was largely amended to only relate to cities. It makes a number of reforms in response to the issues surrounding the City of Bell. However, the bill amends the Brown Act and, therefore, impacts you. Of particular concern to ACSA is Section 2 of the bill that adds another section to the Brown Act that requires any contract of employment with an employee who is or will be employed by and report to a legislative body (superintendent) of the local agency (school board) shall have the contract ratified in an open session of the board (in public). At least seven days prior to ratifying the contract, the employee's name, position, total amount of salary, benefits, retirement and any other form of compensation would be required to be posted to the district's website and in a location freely accessible to the public.
SB 501 (Correa) requires the Secretary of State to create an additional form to be attached to Form 700 that would require the compensation of the employee to be provided and it would further require this information to be posted on the district's website. Because this bill deals with Form 700, it impacts many more school district employees but also impacts the Legislature and all of us who fill out this form. The League of CA Cities is leaning towards this approach as reform. The Governor has indicated his desire for more transparency as well.
In addition to these two bills, there is language being considered (although not put into a bill yet) that would do the following:
- Prevent Evergreen contracts: there could be no contract rollovers and no salary increases that are more than the Consumer Price Index.
- Cap the final PERS amount at the federal IRS limit if hired after 1996. This is currently $245,000.
- If convicted of a felony, a person would be prohibited from collecting their public pension.
Since this is all new and happening quickly, I will keep you apprised of what I learn and what actually ends up in legislation from the final three points above - if anything. Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions. I can be reached at (800) 608-2272, or via email at lpreston@acsa.org. |
