SB 290: "An Act relating to school construction and major maintenance grant applications; and establishing a single set of priorities and a project funding schedule for school construction and major maintenance grants and bond debt reimbursement funding."
00 SENATE BILL NO. 290 01 "An Act relating to school construction and major maintenance grant applications; and 02 establishing a single set of priorities and a project funding schedule for school 03 construction and major maintenance grants and bond debt reimbursement funding." 04 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 05 * Section 1. AS 14.11.011(a) is amended to read: 06 (a) A municipality that is a school district or a regional educational attendance 07 area shall [MAY] submit a request to the department for a grant under this chapter for 08 capital expenditures for a school that are not otherwise fully funded and that 09 meet the review standards under AS 14.11.013(a). 10 * Sec. 2. AS 14.11.013(a) is amended to read: 11 (a) With regard to projects for which grants are requested under AS 14.11.011, 12 the department shall 13 (1) annually review the six-year plans submitted by each district under 14 AS 14.11.011(b) and recommend to the board a revised and updated six-year capital
01 improvement project funding [GRANT] schedule that specifies all sources of 02 funding, including state grants and bond debt reimbursement, and that serves the 03 best interests of the state and each district; in recommending projects for this schedule, 04 the department shall verify that each proposed project meets the criteria established 05 under AS 14.11.014(b) and qualifies as a project required to 06 (A) avert imminent danger or correct life-threatening 07 situations; 08 (B) house students who would otherwise be unhoused; for 09 purposes of this subparagraph, students are considered unhoused if the students 10 attend school in temporary facilities; 11 (C) protect the structure of existing school facilities; 12 (D) correct building code deficiencies that require major repair 13 or rehabilitation in order for the facility to continue to be used for the 14 educational program; 15 (E) achieve an operating cost savings; 16 (F) modify or rehabilitate facilities for the purpose of 17 improving the instructional program; 18 (G) meet an educational need not specified in (A) - (F) of this 19 paragraph, identified by the department; 20 (2) prepare an estimate of the amount of money needed to finance each 21 project; 22 (3) provide to the governor, by November 1, and to the legislature 23 within the first 10 days of each regular legislative session, a revised and updated six- 24 year capital improvement project funding [GRANT] schedule, together with a 25 proposed schedule of appropriations. 26 * Sec. 3. AS 14.11.014(b) is amended to read: 27 (b) The committee shall 28 (1) review the department's priorities among projects for which school 29 construction funding is [GRANTS ARE] requested; 30 (2) make recommendations to the board concerning school 31 construction grants and make recommendations to the commissioner concerning
01 projects for which bond reimbursement is requested; the recommendations may not 02 assign a higher priority based on the source or type of funding and must follow 03 the order of priority on the funding schedule until the projects with higher 04 priority have received full state funding; 05 (3) develop criteria for construction of schools in the state; criteria 06 developed under this paragraph must include requirements intended to achieve cost 07 effective school construction; 08 (4) analyze existing prototypical designs for school construction 09 projects; 10 (5) establish a form for grant applications; 11 (6) establish a method of ranking grant projects; 12 (7) recommend to the board necessary changes to the approval process 13 for school construction grants and for projects for which bond reimbursement is 14 requested. 15 * Sec. 4. AS 14.11.019 is amended to read: 16 Sec. 14.11.019. Grant appropriations. Within the appropriation bill 17 authorizing capital expenditures submitted to the legislature under AS 37.07.020(a)(3), 18 the governor shall include an appropriation for grants in the succeeding fiscal year as 19 determined by the six-year capital improvement project funding [GRANT] schedule 20 prepared under AS 14.11.013. 21 * Sec. 5. AS 14.11.100 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 22 (s) Notwithstanding any other provision of law and to the extent that money is 23 available in the appropriate fund, the commissioner may approve a project for bond 24 debt reimbursement under this section only in the order of the project's priority on the 25 capital improvement project funding schedule adopted by the board based on 26 recommendations made under AS 14.11.013 on the date the appropriation bill funding 27 the appropriate fund is passed by the legislature. 28 * Sec. 6. AS 14.11.102 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 29 (c) The department may not recommend a project for bond reimbursement 30 under this section if a project with a higher priority on the capital improvement project 31 funding schedule has not received needed state funding.