As happens every several years the legislature looks toward providing bond opportunities for future voter consideration as a means to help mitigate the cost of new capital outlay needs for education, including our colleges and universities.

The CSU state funded capital program is totally reliant on future general obligation or lease revenue bond allocations as local bond sales are not permitted for CSU facilities. Over the next five years, CSU’s cost of capital improvements are estimated to be approximately $6.57 billion based on current fundable project proposals. This equates to an average need for $1.64 billion of state general obligation bond funding a year. Currently, there are two bond measures that have been introduced in this legislative session, one that is moving and the other that has been put over until next year.

SB 271 (Ducheny) creates the Higher Education Facilities Bond Act of 2010 for the purpose of issuing $8.6 billion in general obligation bonds for the support of constructing and modernizing education facilities at the California State University and others, including the California Community Colleges, the University of California, and the Hastings College of Law. The act would only become operative if approved by the voters at November 2, 2010 statewide general election.

The bill currently provides the CSU with $2.2 billion for four years or $550 million per year. SB 271 is currently in the suspense file in the Senate Appropriations Committee, and hopefully will be moved later this week to the Senate Floor.

The bill authorizes the use of up to 10 percent of the money allocated for construction of higher education facilities for mitigation of off-site infrastructure impacts if the state or local public agency with jurisdiction over the impacted infrastructure provides an equal amount of matching funds. Additionally, $100 million would be for joint use facility projects, defined as a facility that is used for school or higher education purposes by two or more of the following: a school district, a community college district, the CSU or UC.

AB 220 (Brownley) creates a Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities Bond Act to become operative only if approved by the voters at the next statewide general election. The bill provides for the issuance of an unspecified amount of state general obligation bonds to the California State University and others, including aid to school districts, county superintendents of schools, county boards of education, the California Community Colleges, the University of California, and the Hastings College of the Law to construct and modernize education facilities.

AB 220 has not been heard this year, In fact, it has been put over and made a two-year bill to be heard sometime early in January 2010.

There are ongoing discussions to negotiate a compromise education bond that includes funding of all education facilities from kindergarten to university. We are hopefully to have bond measure on either the June Primary Election or the November General Election of next year.