Bill Text: CA AB13 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Amended


Bill Title: Public postsecondary education: community colleges: exemptions from nonresident tuition.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 3-0)

Status: (Failed) 2016-11-30 - From Senate committee without further action. [AB13 Detail]

Download: California-2015-AB13-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 13	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 28, 2015
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 4, 2015

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Chávez
    (   Coauthor:   Assembly Member  
Kim   ) 
    (   Coauthor:   Senator   Nguyen
  ) 

                        DECEMBER 1, 2014

   An act to amend Section 76140 of the Education Code, relating to
public postsecondary education, and declaring the urgency thereof, to
take effect immediately.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 13, as amended, Chávez. Public postsecondary education:
community colleges: exemptions from nonresident tuition.
   (1) Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges,
under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California
Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public higher education
in the state. Existing law generally requires community college
districts to charge a tuition fee to nonresident students, but
exempts specified community college students from paying that
nonresident tuition fee.
   This bill would additionally exempt nonresident students living in
California and enrolled at a community  college 
 college, as specified,  who are covered individuals, as
defined in a specified federal statute, using, or are intending to
use, Federal GI Bill education benefits, as specified, to cover the
costs associated with enrollment as a community college student.
   This bill would authorize community college districts to report
students exempted from nonresident tuition under this bill as
resident full-time equivalent students for purposes of calculating
apportionments to those districts.
   To the extent that this bill would place additional requirements
on community college districts regarding the provision of
postsecondary education benefits to certain students, the bill would
impose a state-mandated local program.
   (2) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse
local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
   This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these
statutory provisions.
   (3) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately
as an urgency statute.
   Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 76140 of the Education Code is amended to read:

   76140.  (a) A community college district may admit, and shall
charge a tuition fee to, nonresident students, except that a
community college district may exempt from all or parts of the fee
any person described in paragraph (1), (2), (3), or (4), and shall
exempt from all of the fee any person described in paragraph (5) or
(6):
   (1) All nonresidents who enroll for six or fewer units. Exemptions
made pursuant to this paragraph shall not be made on an individual
basis.
   (2) Any nonresident who is both a citizen and resident of a
foreign country, if the nonresident has demonstrated a financial need
for the exemption. Not more than 10 percent of the nonresident
foreign students attending any community college district may be so
exempted. Exemptions made pursuant to this paragraph may be made on
an individual basis.
   (3) (A) A student who, as of August 29, 2005, was enrolled, or
admitted with an intention to enroll, in the fall term of the 2005-06
academic year in a regionally accredited institution of higher
education in Alabama, Louisiana, or Mississippi, and who could not
continue his or her attendance at that institution as a direct
consequence of damage sustained by that institution as a result of
Hurricane Katrina.
   (B) The chancellor shall develop guidelines for the implementation
of this paragraph. These guidelines shall include standards for
appropriate documentation of student eligibility to the extent
feasible.
   (C) This paragraph shall apply only to the 2005-06 academic year.
   (4) A special part-time student admitted pursuant to Section
76001.
   (5) A nonresident student who is a United States citizen who
resides in a foreign country, if that nonresident meets all of the
following requirements:
   (A) Demonstrates a financial need for the exemption.
   (B) Has a parent or guardian who has been deported or was
permitted to depart voluntarily under the federal Immigration and
Nationality Act in accordance with Section 1229c of Title 8 of the
United States Code. The student shall provide documents from the
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services evidencing the
deportation or voluntary departure of his or her parent or guardian.
   (C) Moved abroad as a result of the deportation or voluntary
departure specified in subparagraph (B).
   (D) Lived in California immediately before moving abroad. The
student shall provide information and evidence that demonstrates the
student previously lived in California.
   (E) Attended a public or private secondary school, as described in
Sections 52 and 53, in the state for three or more years. The
student shall provide documents that demonstrate his or her secondary
school attendance.
   (F) Upon enrollment, will be in his or her first academic year as
a matriculated student in California public higher education, as that
term is defined in subdivision (a) of Section 66010, will be living
in California, and will file an affidavit with the institution
stating that he or she intends to establish residency in California
as soon as possible.
   (6) A nonresident student who is a covered individual as defined
 pursuant to   in  Section 702 of the
federal Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014
(Public Law 113-146), as it read on July 1, 2015, who is using, or is
intending to use, GI Bill education benefits while living in
California and enrolled at a community  college. 
 college on or after July 1, 2015.  As used in this
paragraph, "GI Bill education benefits" refers to any education
benefit administered by the United States Department of Veterans
Affairs pursuant to Title 38 of the United States Code that is
designed to help eligible veterans of the Armed Forces of the United
States or other persons eligible for those benefits because of a
relationship to a veteran of the Armed Forces of the United States to
cover the costs associated with enrollment as a community college
student.
   (b) A district may contract with a state, a county contiguous to
California, the federal government, or a foreign country, or an
agency thereof, for payment of all or a part of a nonresident student'
s tuition fee.
   (c) Nonresident students shall not be reported as full-time
equivalent students (FTES) for state apportionment purposes, except
as provided by subdivision (j) or another statute, in which case a
nonresident tuition fee may not be charged.
   (d) The nonresident tuition fee shall be set by the governing
board of each community college district not later than February 1 of
each year for the succeeding fiscal year. The governing board of
each community college district shall provide nonresident students
with notice of nonresident tuition fee changes during the spring term
before the fall term in which the change will take effect.
Nonresident tuition fee increases shall be gradual, moderate, and
predictable. The fee may be paid in installments, as determined by
the governing board of the district.
   (e) (1) The fee established by the governing board pursuant to
subdivision (d) shall represent for nonresident students enrolled in
30 semester units or 45 quarter units of credit per fiscal year one
or more of the following:
   (A) The amount that was expended by the district for the expense
of education as defined by the California Community College Budget
and Accounting Manual in the preceding fiscal year increased by the
projected percent increase in the United States Consumer Price Index
as determined by the Department of Finance for the current fiscal
year and succeeding fiscal year and divided by the FTES (including
nonresident students) attending in the district in the preceding
fiscal year. However, if for the district's preceding fiscal year
FTES of all students attending in the district in noncredit courses
is equal to, or greater than, 10 percent of the district's total FTES
attending in the district, the district may substitute the data for
expense of education in grades 13 and 14 and FTES in grades 13 and 14
attending in the district.
   (B) The expense of education in the preceding fiscal year of all
districts increased by the projected percent increase in the United
States Consumer Price Index as determined by the Department of
Finance for the fiscal year and succeeding fiscal year and divided by
the FTES (including nonresident students) attending all districts
during the preceding fiscal year. However, if the amount calculated
under this paragraph for the succeeding fiscal year is less than the
amount established for the current fiscal year or for any of the past
four fiscal years, the district may set the nonresident tuition fee
at the greater of the current or any of the past four-year amounts.
   (C) An amount not to exceed the fee established by the governing
board of any contiguous district.
   (D) An amount not to exceed the amount that was expended by the
district for the expense of education, but in no case less than the
statewide average as set forth in subparagraph (B).
   (E) An amount no greater than the average of the nonresident
tuition fees of public community colleges of no less than 12 states
that are comparable to California in cost of living. The
determination of comparable states shall be based on a composite
cost-of-living index as determined by the United States Department of
Labor or a cooperating government agency.
   (2) The additional revenue generated by the increased nonresident
tuition permitted under the amendments made to this subdivision
during the 2009-10 Regular Session shall be used to expand and
enhance services to resident students. In no event shall the
admission of nonresident students come at the expense of resident
enrollment.
   (f) The governing board of each community college district also
shall adopt a tuition fee per unit of credit for nonresident students
enrolled in more or less than 15 units of credit per term by
dividing the fee determined in subdivision (e) by 30 for colleges
operating on the semester system and 45 for colleges operating on the
quarter system and rounding to the nearest whole dollar. The same
rate shall be uniformly charged nonresident students attending any
terms or sessions maintained by the community college. The rate
charged shall be the rate established for the fiscal year in which
the term or session ends.
   (g) Any loss in district revenue generated by the nonresident
tuition fee shall not be offset by additional state funding.
   (h) Any district that has fewer than 1,500 FTES and whose boundary
is within 10 miles of another state that has a reciprocity agreement
with California governing student attendance and fees may exempt
students from that state from the mandatory fee requirement described
in subdivision (a) for nonresident students.
   (i) Any district that has more than 1,500, but less than 3,001,
FTES and whose boundary is within 10 miles of another state that has
a reciprocity agreement with California governing student attendance
and fees may, in any one fiscal year, exempt up to 100 FTES from that
state from the mandatory fee requirement described in subdivision
(a) for nonresident students.
   (j) The attendance of nonresident students who are exempted
pursuant to subdivision (h) or (i), or pursuant to paragraph (3),
(5), or (6) of subdivision (a), from the mandatory fee requirement
described in subdivision (a) for nonresident students may be reported
as resident FTES for state apportionment purposes. Any nonresident
student reported as resident FTES for state apportionment purposes
pursuant to subdivision (h) or (i) shall pay a per unit fee that is
three times the amount of the fee established for residents pursuant
to Section 76300. That fee is to be included in the FTES adjustments
described in Section 76300 for purposes of computing apportionments.
  SEC. 2.  If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this
act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local
agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant
to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of
the Government Code.
  SEC. 3.  This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
   In order for the nonresident tuition exemption authorized by this
act to be in effect for the 2015-16 academic year, it is necessary
that this act take effect immediately.
                                            
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