Bill Text: CA AB2459 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Postsecondary education: student housing: data collection.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2022-09-27 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 593, Statutes of 2022. [AB2459 Detail]

Download: California-2021-AB2459-Amended.html

Amended  IN  Assembly  March 24, 2022

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 2459


Introduced by Assembly Member Cervantes

February 17, 2022


An act to amend Section 66002 of add Section 66014.6 to the Education Code, relating to postsecondary education.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 2459, as amended, Cervantes. Postsecondary education: Master Plan for Higher Education. student housing: guarantee.
Existing law establishes the University of California, under the administration of the Regents of the University of California, the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, independent institutions of higher education, as defined, and private postsecondary educational institutions, as defined, as segments of postsecondary education in this state.
This bill would require the California State University, the University of California, independent institutions of higher education, as defined, and private postsecondary educational institutions, as defined, that maintain student housing facilities, to guarantee, at a minimum, one year of student housing for all incoming freshman and transfer students.

The Donahoe Higher Education Act sets forth, among other things, the missions and functions of California’s public and independent segments of higher education, and their respective institutions of higher education, in the context of the goals of the Master Plan for Higher Education in California. Among other things, the act expresses legislative intent to outline in statute the broad policy and programmatic goals of the master plan. The act also includes legislative findings relating to the historical committees that reviewed the master plan, and expresses the legislative intent that the work completed by the master plan review committees be used to guide higher education policy.

This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to certain of these legislative findings.

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: NOYES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Section 66014.6 is added to the Education Code, to read:

66014.6.
 The California State University, the University of California, independent institutions of higher education, as defined in Section 66010, and private postsecondary educational institutions, as defined in Section 94858, that maintain student housing facilities, shall guarantee, at a minimum, one year of student housing for all incoming freshman and transfer students.

SECTION 1.Section 66002 of the Education Code is amended to read:
66002.

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a)The Master Plan for Higher Education in California, 1960–75, was originally prepared in 1959, and its recommendations were approved in principle by the affected governing boards of the higher education segments. Subsequently, legislation necessary to implement certain of the master plan’s provisions was enacted, including this part. A need to differentiate the functions of the segments of higher education and rapidly increasing enrollments were primary factors that motivated the creation of the master plan.

(b)Pursuant to Resolution Chapter 285 of the Statutes of 1970, and Resolution Chapter 232 of the Statutes of 1971, a joint committee of the Legislature issued its report in 1973, entitled “Report of the Joint Committee on the Master Plan for Higher Education,” which reaffirmed the principles of the original master plan and emphasized a need for the segments of higher education to improve access and educational equity, coordination and planning, governance, and diversity within the entire system. As in the 1960s, legislation necessary to implement certain of the joint committee’s recommendations was enacted, largely through amendments to this part.

(c)(1)Pursuant to Chapter 1507 of the Statutes of 1984, the Commission for the Review of the Master Plan for Higher Education conducted public hearings and deliberations. In 1987, it issued its report and recommendations, “The Master Plan Renewed: Unity, Equity, Quality, and Efficiency in California Postsecondary Education.”

(2)Building on this report and two more years of public dialogue pursuant to Resolution Chapter 175 of the Statutes of 1984, the Joint Committee for the Review of the Master Plan for Higher Education adopted a comprehensive report in 1989, entitled “California Faces. . .California’s Future: Education for Citizenship in a Multicultural Democracy,” which affirms the achievements and the basic structure of the 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education and identifies new challenges for California’s institutions of higher education.

(d)Pursuant to Resolution Chapter 106 of the Statutes of 2009 (A.C.R. 65), the Committee for the Review of the Master Plan for Higher Education conducted a needs-based assessment comprising public hearings and deliberations to understand the needs of our state and our people and how our system of higher education can best meet those needs and issued a report titled, “Appreciating Our Past, Ensuring Our Future: A Public Agenda for Public Higher Education in California,” viewing the master plan as a living document, reaffirming the essential tenets of the master plan of universal access, affordability and high quality, and identifying the need for an overarching policy framework of statewide public policy goals based upon the outcomes required, increased fiscal and programmatic accountability, and more effective coordination and articulation.

(e)California in the 21st century continues experiencing a period of unprecedented population growth and extraordinary social and economic changes while the ability of our state’s public system of higher education to carry out the master plan is at risk.

(f)In the spirit of the original master plan and the subsequent reviews, the Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(1)California has now passed the threshold of becoming a state with a new multicultural majority as the ethnic composition of the population is changing dramatically. Our state’s future economic, social, and cultural development depends upon ensuring that all its citizens have opportunities to develop themselves so that they can contribute their best to society.

(2)Current estimates indicate that California will need to prepare more than one million additional graduates by the year 2025 in public higher education institutions to meet our workforce needs. California needs to prepare now for the projected enrollments in the 21st century. And, if the goals of the master plan and its subsequent updates are to be fully achieved, especially if groups that are historically and currently underrepresented increase their rates of participation in higher education, enrollments will most likely exceed even these projections.

(3)California must support an educational system that prepares all Californians for responsible citizenship and meaningful careers in a multicultural society; this requires a commitment from all to make high-quality education available and affordable for every Californian.

(4)To accomplish these goals, California’s system of higher education will need to expand.

(5)It is the intent of the Legislature that the work completed by the master plan review committees be used to guide higher education policy.

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