ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Phoenix, Arizona
REVISED
school facilities board;
construction
Purpose
An emergency measure
allowing the School Facilities Board to contract and procure directly for
services and materials used to correct school facility deficiencies. Extends
the date of the School Facilities Board’s rulemaking and procurement code
exemptions.
Background
Laws 1998, 43rd
Legislature, Fifth Special Session, Chapter 1 (Students FIRST) established a
School Facilities Board that is responsible for developing capital standards,
for distributing state funding to ensure that adequate school facilities are
built and maintained, and for ensuring that the appropriate capital equipment
is available in schools to meet the state’s academic requirements. Additionally, Arizona law requires the
School Facilities Board to award monies directly to school districts for the
correction of school deficiencies by June 30, 2001. The School Facilities Board is charged with ensuring that school
districts take measures to correct school deficiencies by June 30, 2003.
Laws 2000, 44th
Legislature, Fifth Special Session, Chapter 1 allowed the School Facilities
Board authority to issue up to $800 million in revenue bonds to correct
existing deficiencies in schools.
In 1999, the School
Facilities Board approved 150 emergency deficiency correction projects. Of these 150 emergency projects approved in
1999, school districts completed 20 projects as of August of 2000. S.B. 1181 provides the School Facilities
Board authority to contract and procure for construction services and materials
directly with vendors hired for the correction of existing deficiencies.
There is no fiscal impact to
the state general fund associated with this bill.
Provisions
1. Allows the School Facilities Board to contract for construction services and materials in the correction of school facility deficiencies.
2. Allows the School Facilities Board to procure for construction services. Provides that procurement rules do not apply for the construction planning and services required by the agencies to perform the correction of school deficiencies, but does not exempt the School Facilities Board from procurement rules for actual construction projects.
3. Allows the School Facilities Board to enter into agreements with school districts to allow staff and contractors of the School Facilities Board access onto school property in order to perform construction services.
4. Allows the School Facilities Board to provide school deficiencies correction fund monies directly to contractors.
5. Allows deficiencies correction projects to be combined between one or more school districts for the purpose of procuring construction services and materials in the correction of school deficiencies, if the School Facilities Board determines that such action maximizes the state’s purchasing value.
6. Allows the School Facilities Board or school districts, or both, to enter into an agreement with a public procurement unit to procure materials and services in order to correct school facility deficiencies.
7. Adds two exceptions for when a school district governing board is not required to hold an election of the school district electors when selling a school site or leasing buildings and grounds, including the following:
(a)
If
the School Facilities Board provides for the entire funding of the buildings
and sites.
(b)
If
the transaction involves the sale of improved or unimproved property based on
an agreement with the School Facilities Board, whereby the school district
agrees to sell the property and transfer proceeds of the sale to the School
Facilities Board in exchange for monies from the Board to acquire a more
suitable school site.
Requires a school district
to elect to transfer to the School Facilities Board the portion of proceeds
from the sale of property acquired by a school district prior to July 9, 1998
that equals the cost of the acquisition of a more suitable school site.
8. Extends the School Facilities Board’s rulemaking and procurement code exemption from December 31, 2000 to December 31, 2001. Provides that these provisions are retroactive to December 31, 2000.
9. Repeals the delayed repeal of the revenue bonding for deficiencies corrections from and after June 30, 2005.
10. Makes technical and conforming changes.
11. Contains an emergency clause.
Amendments Adopted by Committee
Adds an exception for when a school district governing board is not required to hold an election of the school district electors when selling a school site or leasing buildings and grounds as follows:
· Requires a school district to elect to transfer to the School Facilities Board the portion of the proceeds from the sale of property acquired by a school district prior to July 9, 1998 that equals the cost of the acquisition of a more suitable school site.
Senate Action
ED 1/25/01 DPA 7-1-0-0
Prepared by Senate Staff
January 30, 2001