Section 17041.2 Of Article 3. Allowances From California Education Code >> Division 1. >> Title 1. >> Part 10. >> Chapter 12. >> Article 3.
17041.2
. (a) The State Allocation Board shall conduct random audits
of the information certified by self-certifying districts pursuant
to this chapter, except as to any determinations that are made under
subdivision (d) of Section 17041.1 or that are subject to audit by
the State Department of Education pursuant to Section 17024, using
generally accepted auditing principles, at any time to ensure
compliance with the law.
(b) If any information submitted by a self-certifying district in
its certification of funding eligibility for any project is found by
the board to contain any material inaccuracy, any building area
constructed as a result, in excess of the building area to which the
district was entitled for purposes of that project, shall be included
in the calculation of the area of adequate school construction for
the purposes of all subsequent project applications by the district
under this chapter. In addition, the board shall impose both of the
following penalties:
(1) Pursuant to a repayment schedule approved by the board, the
district shall repay to the board of no more than five years, for
deposit in the State School Building Lease-Purchase Fund, an amount
equal to the amount of project funding allocated under this chapter
to construct that excess building area, together with interest at the
rate paid on moneys in the Pooled Money Investment Account or at the
highest rate of interest for the most recent issue of state general
obligation bonds as established pursuant to Chapter 4 (commencing
with Section 16720) of Part 3 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the
Government Code, whichever is greater. The amount of any repayment
owing under this paragraph for any fiscal year, which is not repaid
otherwise by the district, shall be withheld by the board from any
project funding that otherwise would be allocated to that district
under this chapter in that fiscal year. As to any repayment
obligation remaining for that fiscal year, the board shall notify the
Superintendent of Public Instruction, who shall withhold the amount
of that remaining obligation from the apportionments to be made to
the district from the State School Fund in that fiscal year.
(2) The information that otherwise may be certified under this
chapter by a self-certifying district shall be made by the board
under any subsequent applications for project funding, rather than by
the applicant district, for a period of up to five years following
the date of the finding of a material inaccuracy, or until the
district's repayment of the entire amount owing under paragraph (1),
whichever occurs later.
(c) Any school district against which the board imposes the
penalties under paragraphs (1) and (2) of subdivision (b) may submit
for binding determination by an arbitrator the issue of whether the
penalties imposed are disproportionate to the inaccuracy certified by
the district. Except as otherwise provided by this chapter, the
procedure governing the arbitration shall be as set forth in Title 9
(commencing with Section 1280) of Part 3 of the Code of Civil
Procedure.
(d) It is the intent of the Legislature that audits as described
in this section not interfere with the application and construction
process under this chapter unless one or more violations are
discovered.