Opinion ID: 2548249
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Are the hearing costs state mandated?

Text: As noted above, a compulsory suspension and a mandatory recommendation of expulsion under Education Code section 48915 in turn trigger a mandatory expulsion hearing. All parties agree that any such resulting expulsion hearing must comply with basic federal due process requirements, such as notice of charges, a right to representation by counsel, an explanation of the evidence supporting the charges, and an opportunity to call and cross-examine witnesses and to present evidence. (See ante, fn. 5.) But as also noted above, article XIII B, section 6, and the implementing statutes (Gov. Code, § 17500 et seq.), by their terms, provide for reimbursement only of state -mandated costs, not federally mandated costs. The Commission and the Department assert that this circumstance raises the question: Do all or some of a district's costs in complying with the mandatory expulsion provision of Education Code section 48915 constitute a nonreimbursable federal mandate? In the absence of the operation of Education Code section 48915's mandatory provision (specifically, compulsory immediate suspension and a mandatory expulsion recommendation), a school district would not automatically incur the due process hearing costs that are mandated by federal law pursuant to Goss, supra, 419 U.S. 565, 95 S.Ct. 729, 42 L.Ed.2d 725, and related cases, and codified in Education Code section 48918. Instead, a district would incur such hearing costs only if a school principal first were to exercise discretion to recommend expulsion. Accordingly, in its mandatory aspect, Education Code section 48915 appears to constitute a state mandate, in that it establishes conditions under which the state, rather than local officials, has made the decision requiring a school district to incur the costs of an expulsion hearing. The Department and the Commission agree to a point, but argue that a district's costs incurred in complying with this state mandate are reimbursable only if, and to the extent that, hearing procedures set forth in Education Code section 48918 exceed the requirements of federal due process. In support, they rely upon Government Code section 17556, which  in setting forth circumstances in which the Commission shall not find costs to be mandated by the state  provides that [t]he commission shall not find costs mandated by the state, as defined in Section 17514, in any claim submitted by a local agency or school district, if, after a hearing, the commission finds that: ... (c) The statute or executive order implemented a federal law or regulation and resulted in costs mandated by the federal government, unless the statute or executive order mandates costs which exceed the mandate in that federal law or regulation. [13] We agree with the District and the Court of Appeal below that, as applied to the present case, it cannot be said that Education Code section 48915's mandatory expulsion provision  implemented a federal law or regulation.  (Italics added.) Education Code section 48915, at the time relevant here, did not implement any federal law; as explained below, federal law did not then mandate an expulsion recommendation  or expulsion  for firearm possession. [14] Moreover, although the Department argues that in this context Government Code section 17556, subdivision (c)'s phrase the statute should be viewed as referring not to Education Code section 48915's mandatory expulsion recommendation requirement, but instead to the mandatory due process hearing under Education Code section 48918 that is triggered by such an expulsion recommendation, it still cannot be said that section 48918 itself required the District to incur any costs. As noted above, Education Code section 48918 sets out requirements for expulsion hearings that must be held when a district seeks to expel a student  but neither section 48918 nor federal law requires that any such expulsion recommendation be made in the first place, and hence section 48918 does not implement any federal mandate that school districts hold such hearings and incur such costs whenever a student is found in possession of a firearm. Accordingly, we conclude that the so-called exception to reimbursement described in Government Code section 17556, subdivision (c), is inapplicable in this context. Because it is state law (Education Code section 48915's mandatory expulsion provision), and not federal due process law, that requires the District to take steps that in turn require it to incur hearing costs, it follows, contrary to the view of the Commission and the Department, that we cannot characterize any of the hearing costs incurred by the District, triggered by the mandatory provision of Education Code section 48915, as constituting a federal mandate (and hence being nonreimbursable). We conclude that under the statutes existing at the time of the test claim in this case (state legislation in effect through mid-1994), all such hearing costs  those designed to satisfy the minimum requirements of federal due process, and those that may exceed those requirements  are, with respect to the mandatory expulsion provision of section 48915, state mandated costs, fully reimbursable by the state. [15] Against this conclusion, the Department, in its supplemental briefing, offers a wholly new theory, not advanced in any of the proceedings below, in support of its belated claim that all hearing costs triggered by Education Code section 48915's mandatory expulsion provision are in fact non-reimbursable federal mandates, and not, as we have concluded above, reimbursable state mandates. As we shall explain, we reject the Department's contention, as applied to the test case here at issue (involving state statutes in effect through mid-1994). The Department cites 20 United States Code section 7151, part of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which provides, as relevant here: Each State receiving Federal funds under any subchapter of this chapter shall have in effect a State law requiring local educational agencies to expel from school for a period of not less than 1 year a student who is determined to have brought a firearm to a school, or to have possessed a firearm at a school, under the jurisdiction of local educational agencies in that State, except that such State law shall allow the chief administering officer of a local educational agency to modify such expulsion requirement for a student on a case-by-case basis if such modification is in writing. [16] The Department further asserts that more than $2.8 billion in federal funds under the No Child Left Behind Act are included for local use in the 2003-04 state budget. (Cal. State Budget, 2003-04, Budget Highlights, p. 4.) The Department argues that in light of the requirements set forth in 20 United States Code section 7151, and the amount of federal program funds at issue under the No Child Left Behind Act, the financial consequences to the state and to the school districts of failing to comply with 20 United States Code section 7151 are such that as a practical matter, Education Code section 48915's mandatory expulsion provision in reality constitutes an implementation of federal law, and hence resulting costs are nonreimbursable except to the extent they exceed the requirements of federal law. (See Govt.Code, § 17556, subd. (c); see also Kern High School Dist., supra, 30 Cal.4th 727, 749-751, 134 Cal.Rptr.2d 237, 68 P.3d 1203; City of Sacramento, supra, 50 Cal.3d 51, 70-76, 266 Cal.Rptr. 139, 785 P.2d 522.) Moreover, the Department asserts, to the extent school districts are compelled by federal law, through Education Code section 48915's mandatory expulsion provision, to hold hearings pursuant to section 48918 in cases of firearm possession on school grounds, under 20 United States Code section 7164 (defining prohibited uses of program funds), all costs of such hearings properly may be paid out of federal program funds, and hence we should view the ... provision of program funding as satisfying, in advance, any reimbursement requirement. ( Kern High School Dist., supra, 30 Cal.4th 727, 747, 134 Cal.Rptr.2d 237, 68 P.3d 1203.) Although the Department asserts that this federal law and program existed at the time relevant in this matter (that is, through mid-1994), our review of the statutes and relevant history suggests otherwise. Title 20 of the United States Code, section 7151, and the remainder of the No Child Left Behind Act, became effective on January 8, 2002. The predecessor legislation cited by the Department  the Gun-Free Schools Act of 1994 (former 20 U.S.C. § 8921(a)), although containing a substantially identical mandatory expulsion provision ( id., § 8921(b)(1)) [17]  was not effective until July 1, 1995 (108 Stat. 3518, § 3). In turn, the predecessor legislation to that Act cited by the Department, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (former 20 U.S.C. § 6301 et seq.)  as it existed at the time relevant here (July 1, 1993, through June 30, 1994)  contained no such mandatory expulsion provision. Accordingly, it appears that despite the Department's late discovery of 20 United States Code section 7151, at the time relevant here (regarding legislation in effect through mid-1994), neither 20 United States Code section 7151, nor either of its predecessors, compelled states to enact a law such as Education Code section 48915's mandatory expulsion provision. Therefore, we reject the Department's assertion that, during the time period at issue in this case, Education Code section 48915's mandatory expulsion provision constituted an implementation of a federal, rather than a state, mandate. Although we conclude that all hearing costs triggered by Education Code section 48915's mandatory expulsion provision constitute reimbursable state-mandated expenses under the statutes as they existed during the period covered by the District's present test claim, we do not foreclose the possibility that 20 United States Code section 7151 or its predecessor, 20 United States Code section 8921, may lead to a different conclusion when applied to versions of Education Code section 48915 effective in years 1995 and thereafter. Indeed, we note that at least one subsequent test claim that has been filed with the Commission may raise the federal statutory issue advanced by the Department. [18]