Senate Bill 328 (Portantino, D-La Cañada Flintridge) was placed on the Assembly Appropriations Committee suspense file during the committee’s hearing this morning.
The Assembly and Senate Appropriations Committees will both hear their respective suspense files the last week of August, determining whether SB 328 (along with the numerous other fiscal bills on the suspense file) will advance to the floor in September.
The Assembly Appropriations Committee analysis of the bill opines that the measure could result in “tens of millions of dollars statewide” in Proposition 98 General Fund costs related to transportation and in the low millions for before and after-school staffing needs, while the analysis from the Department of Finance, which opposes the bill, states that “this bill could create one-time and ongoing local cost pressures in the low tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dollars, resulting from a variety of services modifications needed to accommodate later school start times.”
SB 328 would prohibit all non-rural middle and high schools in California from beginning the regular school day before 8 a.m. (middle schools) or 8:30 a.m. (high schools). CSBA remains opposed to the bill.
Following Senate and Assembly suspense hearings at the end of August, bills will be heard on the floors of both houses through the end of the legislative year on Sept. 13. Bills not passed by the Legislature in 2019 have the option to be re-heard in 2020, the second year of the current two-year legislative session.
Following the Sept. 13 conclusion of the legislative year, Gov. Newsom will have until Oct. 13 to sign or veto bills passed by the Legislature.
