Rep. Norm Thurston — Voting Record

Bill

Number

H.B. 208 (2015GS)

Sponsor

Rep. Eliason, S.

Final action

Governor Signed 3/31/2015

Outcome

Became law — signed by Gov. Gary R. Herbert

Summary

What it does

• This bill:
• defines terms;
• prohibits a school district or a charter school from offering postemployment health insurance benefits to new employees under certain circumstances;
• provides an exemption for a school district or a charter school that recognizes current payments and all liabilities associated with the postemployment health insurance benefits in budgetary accounts and fully funds the annual required contributions;
• makes provisions for a school district or a charter school that fails to fund annual required postretirement health insurance contributions; and
• makes technical changes.

Every vote on this bill

Bill text

SCHOOL DISTRICT POSTEMPLOYMENT HEALTH
INSURANCE BENEFITS
GENERAL SESSION
STATE OF UTAH
Chief Sponsor: Steve Eliason
Senate Sponsor: 
 Curtis S. Bramble
LONG TITLE
General Description:
This bill modifies the State System of Public Education code by amending provisions
relating to school district and charter school postemployment health insurance benefits.
Highlighted Provisions:
This bill:
▸ defines terms;
▸ prohibits a school district or a charter school from offering postemployment health
insurance benefits to new employees under certain circumstances;
▸ provides an exemption for a school district or a charter school that recognizes
current payments and all liabilities associated with the postemployment health
insurance benefits in budgetary accounts and fully funds the annual required
contributions;
▸ makes provisions for a school district or a charter school that fails to fund annual
required postretirement health insurance contributions; and
▸ makes technical changes.
Money Appropriated in this Bill:
None
Other Special Clauses:
This bill provides a special effective date.
Utah Code Sections Affected:
AMENDS:
53A-3-402
, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2014, Chapter 202
ENACTS:
53A-19-401
, Utah Code Annotated 1953
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
Section 1. Section 
53A-3-402
 is amended to read:
53A-3-402.
Powers and duties generally.
(1) Each local school board shall:
(a) implement the core curriculum utilizing instructional materials that best correlate to
the core curriculum and graduation requirements;
(b) administer tests, required by the State Board of Education, which measure the
progress of each student, and coordinate with the state superintendent and State Board of
Education to assess results and create plans to improve the student's progress which shall be
submitted to the State Office of Education for approval;
(c) use progress-based assessments as part of a plan to identify schools, teachers, and
students that need remediation and determine the type and amount of federal, state, and local
resources to implement remediation;
(d) develop early warning systems for students or classes failing to make progress;
(e) work with the State Office of Education to establish a library of documented best
practices, consistent with state and federal regulations, for use by the local districts; and
(f) implement training programs for school administrators, including basic
management training, best practices in instructional methods, budget training, staff
management, managing for learning results and continuous improvement, and how to help
every child achieve optimal learning in core academics.
(2) Local school boards shall spend minimum school program funds for programs and
activities for which the State Board of Education has established minimum standards or rules
under Section 
53A-1-402
.
(3) (a) A board may purchase, sell, and make improvements on school sites, buildings,
and equipment and construct, erect, and furnish school buildings.
(b) School sites or buildings may only be conveyed or sold on board resolution
affirmed by at least two-thirds of the members.
(4) (a) A board may participate in the joint construction or operation of a school
attended by children residing within the district and children residing in other districts either
within or outside the state.
(b) Any agreement for the joint operation or construction of a school shall:
(i) be signed by the president of the board of each participating district;
(ii) include a mutually agreed upon pro rata cost; and
(iii) be filed with the State Board of Education.
(5) A board may establish, locate, and maintain elementary, secondary, and applied
technology schools.
(6) Except as provided in Section 
53A-1-1001
, a board may enroll children in school
who are at least five years of age before September 2 of the year in which admission is sought.
(7) A board may establish and support school libraries.
(8) A board may collect damages for the loss, injury, or destruction of school property.
(9) A board may authorize guidance and counseling services for children and their
parents or guardians prior to, during, or following enrollment of the children in schools.
(10) (a) A board shall administer and implement federal educational programs in
accordance with Title 53A, Chapter 1, Part 9, Implementing Federal Programs Act.
(b) Federal funds are not considered funds within the school district budget under Title
53A, Chapter 19, [
School District
] 
Public School
 Budgets.
(11) (a) A board may organize school safety patrols and adopt rules under which the
patrols promote student safety.
(b) A student appointed to a safety patrol shall be at least 10 years old and have written
parental consent for the appointment.
(c) Safety patrol members may not direct vehicular traffic or be stationed in a portion
of a highway intended for vehicular traffic use.
(d) Liability may not attach to a school district, its employees, officers, or agents or to a
safety patrol member, a parent of a safety patrol member, or an authorized volunteer assisting
the program by virtue of the organization, maintenance, or operation of a school safety patrol.
(12) (a) A board may on its own behalf, or on behalf of an educational institution for
which the board is the direct governing body, accept private grants, loans, gifts, endowments,
devises, or bequests that are made for educational purposes.
(b) These contributions are not subject to appropriation by the Legislature.
(13) (a) A board may appoint and fix the compensation of a compliance officer to issue
citations for violations of Subsection 
76-10-105
(2).
(b) A person may not be appointed to serve as a compliance officer without the
person's consent.
(c) A teacher or student may not be appointed as a compliance officer.
(14) A board shall adopt bylaws and rules for its own procedures.
(15) (a) A board shall make and enforce rules necessary for the control and
management of the district schools.
(b) All board rules and policies shall be in writing, filed, and referenced for public
access.
(16) A board may hold school on legal holidays other than Sundays.
(17) (a) Each board shall establish for each school year a school traffic safety
committee to implement this Subsection (17).
(b) The committee shall be composed of one representative of:
(i) the schools within the district;
(ii) the Parent Teachers' Association of the schools within the district;
(iii) the municipality or county;
(iv) state or local law enforcement; and
(v) state or local traffic safety engineering.
(c) The committee shall:
(i) receive suggestions from school community councils, parents, teachers, and others
and recommend school traffic safety improvements, boundary changes to enhance safety, and
school traffic safety program measures;
(ii) review and submit annually to the Department of Transportation and affected
municipalities and counties a child access routing plan for each elementary, middle, and junior
high school within the district;
(iii) consult the Utah Safety Council and the Division of Family Health Services and
provide training to all school children in kindergarten through grade six, within the district, on
school crossing safety and use; and
(iv) help ensure the district's compliance with rules made by the Department of
Transportation under Section 
41-6a-303
.
(d) The committee may establish subcommittees as needed to assist in accomplishing
its duties under Subsection (17)(c).
(18) (a) Each school board shall adopt and implement a comprehensive emergency
response plan to prevent and combat violence in its public schools, on school grounds, on its
school vehicles, and in connection with school-related activities or events.
[
(b) The board shall implement its plan by July 1, 2000.
]
[
(c)
] 
(b)
 The plan shall:
(i) include prevention, intervention, and response components;
(ii) be consistent with the student conduct and discipline policies required for school
districts under Title 53A, Chapter 11, Part 9, School Discipline and Conduct Plans;
(iii) require inservice training for all district and school building staff on what their
roles are in the emergency response plan;
(iv) provide for coordination with local law enforcement and other public safety
representatives in preventing, intervening, and responding to violence in the areas and activities
referred to in Subsection (18)(a); and
(v) include procedures to notify a student, to the extent practicable, who is off campus
at the time of a school violence emergency because the student is:
(A) participating in a school-related activity; or
(B) excused from school for a period of time during the regular school day to
participate in religious instruction at the request of the student's parent or guardian.
[
(d)
] 
(c)
 The State Board of Education, through the state superintendent of public
instruction, shall develop comprehensive emergency response plan models that local school
boards may use, where appropriate, to comply with Subsection (18)(a).
[
(e)
] 
(d)
 Each local school board shall, by July 1 of each year, certify to the State Board
of Education that its plan has been practiced at the school level and presented to and reviewed
by its teachers, administrators, students, and their parents and local law enforcement and public
safety representatives.
(19) (a) Each local school board may adopt an emergency response plan for the
treatment of sports-related injuries that occur during school sports practices and events.
(b) The plan may be implemented by each secondary school in the district that has a
sports program for students.
(c) The plan may:
(i) include emergency personnel, emergency communication, and emergency
equipment components;
(ii) require inservice training on the emergency response plan for school personnel who
are involved in sports programs in the district's secondary schools; and
(iii) provide for coordination with individuals and agency representatives who:
(A) are not employees of the school district; and
(B) would be involved in providing emergency services to students injured while
participating in sports events.
(d) The board, in collaboration with the schools referred to in Subsection (19)(b), may
review the plan each year and make revisions when required to improve or enhance the plan.
(e) The State Board of Education, through the state superintendent of public
instruction, shall provide local school boards with an emergency plan response model that local
boards may use to comply with the requirements of this Subsection (19).
(20) A board shall do all other things necessary for the maintenance, prosperity, and
success of the schools and the promotion of education.
(21) (a) Before closing a school or changing the boundaries of a school, a board shall:
(i) hold a public hearing, as defined in Section 
10-9a-103
; and
(ii) provide public notice of the public hearing, as specified in Subsection (21)(b).
(b) The notice of a public hearing required under Subsection (21)(a) shall:
(i) indicate the:
(A) school or schools under consideration for closure or boundary change; and
(B) date, time, and location of the public hearing; and
(ii) at least 10 days prior to the public hearing, be:
(A) published:
(I) in a newspaper of general circulation in the area; and
(II) on the Utah Public Notice Website created in Section 
63F-1-701
; and
(B) posted in at least three public locations within the municipality or on the district's
official website.
(22) A board may implement a facility energy efficiency program established under
Title 11, Chapter 44, Facility Energy Efficiency Act.
Section 2. Section 
53A-19-401
 is enacted to read:
CHAPTER 19. PUBLIC SCHOOL BUDGETS
Part 4. Postemployment Benefits Restrictions
 53A-19-401.
Postemployment health insurance benefits restrictions -- Definitions
-- Restrictions -- Exceptions.
(1) As used in this section:
(a) "Budgetary accounts" means the same as that term is defined in Section 
51-5-3
.
(b) "GASB" means the same as that term is defined in Section 
51-5-3
.
(c) "Liabilities" means the same as that term is defined in Section 
51-5-3
.
(d) "Postemployment" means the same as that term is defined in Section 
51-5-3
.
(e) "Postemployment health insurance benefits" means health insurance benefits:
(i) offered or promised to an employee for the employee's postemployment; or
(ii) continued into postemployment.
(2) Except as provided under Subsection (3), a school district or charter school may not
offer or provide a postemployment health insurance benefit to an employee who begins
employment with the school district or charter school on or after July 1, 2015.
(3) A school district or charter school may offer or provide postemployment health care
insurance to employees if the school district or charter school:
(a) calculates the liabilities associated with postemployment health insurance benefits
by applying GASB standards;
(b) recognizes current payments and all liabilities associated with the postemployment
health insurance benefits in budgetary accounts;
(c) fully funds the annual required contributions associated with the postemployment
health insurance benefits liabilities;
(d) establishes and implements a plan approved by the school district's local school
board or charter school's governing board to catch up on any unfunded liabilities within no
more than 20 years; and
(e) provides for ongoing payments against the postemployment health insurance
liabilities as employees qualify for receiving the postemployment health insurance benefits.
(4) (a) Except as provided in Subsection (4)(b), if in a fiscal year, a school district or
charter school fails to fully fund the annual required contributions described in Subsection
(3)(c), the school district or charter school may not offer or provide a postemployment health
insurance benefit for new employees beginning on the first day of that fiscal year.
(b) The provisions of Subsection (4)(a) do not apply if:
(i) for a school district only, the school district is imposing the maximum allowed local
school board levy under Section 
53A-17a-164
;
(ii) the school district or charter school fully funds the annual required contributions,
including any missed contributions, by the end of the fiscal year following the fiscal year of
inadequate funding; or
(iii) no increase was approved by the Legislature in the weighted pupil unit as defined
in Section 
53A-17a-103
 for the fiscal year the annual required contributions were not fully
funded.
Section 3. 
Effective date.
This bill takes effect on July 1, 2015.
Legislative Review Note
 as of 9-15-14 2:52 PM
Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel