Bill Text: CA AB1000 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: California State University: student success fees.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5)
Status: (Passed) 2015-10-08 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 636, Statutes of 2015. [AB1000 Detail]
Download: California-2015-AB1000-Chaptered.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 1000 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 636
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE OCTOBER 8, 2015
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR OCTOBER 8, 2015
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 31, 2015
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 1, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 24, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 28, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 6, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 28, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Weber
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Cooley, Cristina Garcia, Holden, and
Low)
FEBRUARY 26, 2015
An act to repeal and add Section 89712 of the Education Code,
relating to the California State University.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1000, Weber. California State University: student success fees.
Existing law establishes the California State University, under
the administration of the Trustees of the California State
University, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education
in this state. Existing law authorizes the trustees by rule to
require all persons to pay fees, rents, deposits, and charges for
services, facilities, or materials provided by the trustees to those
persons. Existing law prohibits specified California State University
campus-based mandatory fees from being reallocated without an
affirmative vote of the majority of the members of either the student
body or a specified campus fee advisory committee voting on the fee
reallocation, unless the vote that established the fee authorizes an
alternative or automatic reallocation mechanism for that fee.
Existing law prohibits a campus or the Chancellor of the
California State University from approving a student success fee, as
defined, before January 1, 2016. Existing law requires the chancellor
to conduct a review of the trustees' fee policy related to student
success fees, submit recommended changes to the fee policy to the
trustees, consider specified information in conducting that review
and in preparing his or her recommended changes to the policy, and to
submit a report regarding those proposed changes to the Department
of Finance and the appropriate fiscal and policy committees of the
Legislature, on or before February 1, 2015.
This bill would revise and recast the requirements related to
student success fees. The bill would prohibit a campus of the
California State University, or the Chancellor of the California
State University, from imposing a student success fee, as defined,
unless certain requirements are met. The bill would establish
procedures for campus elections for the adoption or rescission of
student success fees. The bill would require the chancellor to report
a summary of the fees adopted or rescinded in the prior academic
year, and the uses of proposed and currently implemented fees,
annually to the Department of Finance and the Legislature.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 89712 of the Education Code is repealed.
SEC. 2. Section 89712 is added to the Education Code, to read:
89712. (a) (1) A campus of the California State University, or
the Chancellor of the California State University, or both, shall not
approve a new student success fee or an increase to an existing
student success fee, as defined in subdivision (g), before all of the
following requirements are satisfied:
(A) The campus undertakes a rigorous consultation process that
informs and educates students on the uses, impact, and cost of any
proposed student success fee or student success fee increase.
(B) The campus informs its students of all of the following
circumstances, which shall apply to these fees:
(i) That, except as provided in clauses (ii) and (iii), a student
success fee may be rescinded by a majority vote of the students, as
specified in subdivision (c).
(ii) That a student success fee may not be rescinded earlier than
six years following the vote to implement the fee.
(iii) If any portion of the student success fee is committed to
support a long-term obligation, that portion of the fee may not be
rescinded until the obligation has been satisfied.
(C) The campus shall hold a binding student election on the
implementation of any proposed student success fees, or any increase
to an existing student success fee, and a majority of the student
body voting on the fee must vote affirmatively.
(2) Implementation of a fee supported by a majority of the campus
student body voting on the fee is contingent upon the final approval
of the Chancellor of the California State University.
(3) A student success fee proposal may not be brought before the
student body more frequently than once per academic year.
(b) A student success fee in place on January 1, 2016, may be
rescinded by a binding student vote under the procedures authorized
in subdivision (c) only after at least six years have elapsed
following the implementation of the fee.
(c) (1) Student success fees may be rescinded with a binding
student vote wherein a simple majority of those students voting vote
to rescind the fee. The student vote shall comply with all of the
following:
(A) A campus decision to vote is formally approved by the
recognized student government.
(B) Rescission vote proposals shall not be brought before the
student body more frequently than once per academic year.
(C) In the process of reconsidering a student success fee, and
before the student vote occurs, the students shall be informed, if a
portion of the fee is supporting a long-term obligation, the dollar
amount of that portion, and the date on which the long-term
obligation would be satisfied.
(2) No new contractual or other obligation that would be supported
by the rescinded student success fee may be entered into following a
vote to rescind the fee.
(d) The Chancellor of the California State University shall ensure
that all of the following occur on each campus:
(1) There is majority student representation in campus student
success fee allocation oversight groups.
(2) There is an annual report from each campus to the chancellor
on student success fees.
(3) There is uniform, transparent, online accountability in the
decisionmaking process for, and a detailed accounting of, the
allocation of student success fees.
(e) The Chancellor of the California State University shall
establish appropriate reporting procedures to ensure that a campus is
in compliance with the requirements of this section.
(f) The chancellor shall report, by December 1 of each year, to
the Department of Finance, and the Legislature pursuant to Section
9795 of the Government Code, a summary of the fees adopted or
rescinded in the prior academic year, and the uses of proposed and
currently implemented fees.
(g) For purposes of this section, a "student success fee" is a
type of category II campus-based mandatory fee that is required to be
paid by a student before that student may enroll or attend a campus
of the California State University, as determined by that campus or
the Chancellor of the California State University.
