The California Legislature returned from its summer break and resumed its session on Aug. 12, and ACSA advocates are working diligently on a number of legislative issues. There are several key bills that will come up for votes over the next few weeks before the Sept. 13 deadline.  During the last month of session things change quickly, and updates to the bills and ACSA’s positions as stated here are to be expected.  ACSA supports AB 48 (O’Donnell) — This bill places a $13 billion K-University general obligation bond on the March 2020 ballot utilizing the existing state school facilities program. AB 48 would also provide for an additional bond to be placed on the November 2022 ballot that would be allocated by an updated state school facilities program.   AB 428 (Medina) — This bill requires special education funding rates to be equalized to the 95th percentile after the Local Control Funding Formula is fully funded. The 2019-20 state budget included $152.6 million to ensure that all SELPAs receive at least the statewide target rate under the existing AB 602 formula, and an additional $493.2 million for early intervention preschool grant funding. Given the funding negotiated in the budget, it is unlikely that AB 428 will move in its current form. AB 751 (O’Donnell) — This bill would require the state Superintendent of Public Instruction to approve one or more nationally recognized high school assessments that could be administered in lieu of the 11th grade Smarter Balanced Summative Assessment. AB 1507 (Smith) — This bill would remove the authority of a charter school to locate outside of the geographic boundaries of the chartering school district, either temporarily or by stating that a lack of facilities is available. SB 419 (Skinner) — This bill expands the permanent elimination of suspensions for “willful defiance” from K-3 to K-5 and eliminates 6-8th grade willful defiance suspensions until July 1, 2024. SCA 5 (Hill) — This bill seeks to reduce the vote threshold to 55 percent for a local school parcel tax, moving from a supermajority vote to a majority vote. ACSA opposes unless amended AB 218 (Gonzalez) — This bill expands the definition of childhood sexual abuse and establishes a three-year window for claims to be filed retroactively, allows for treble damages for those claims, and establishes a strict liability on the employer by changing language regarding if a school district was aware of the incident and didn’t take action to the district was aware of the incident or didn’t take action. ACSA opposes SB 328 (Portantino) — SB 328 prohibits middle schools, including charter schools, from beginning their school day before 8 a.m., and high schools, including charter schools, from beginning their school day before 8:30 a.m. Bills to watch AB 1505 (O’Donnell, Bonta, McCarty & Smith) — This bill makes various changes relating to charter school authorizations, appeals and renewals, and places a two-year moratorium on non-classroom based charter schools. This bill remains a work in progress. Gov. Newsom’s office is negotiating this bill and working with all interested parties, including ACSA.