Bill Text: CA AB938 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Public postsecondary education: fees.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2014-08-25 - In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author. [AB938 Detail]
Download: California-2013-AB938-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 938 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 2, 2014
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 18, 2014
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 5, 2014
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 25, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 20, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 22, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Weber
FEBRUARY 22, 2013
An act to amend Section 89700 of, and to add Section
66025.6 to, 89712 of the Education Code,
relating to public postsecondary education.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 938, as amended, Weber. Public postsecondary education: fees.
Existing law prohibits a campus of the California State
University, or the Chancellor of the California State University, or
both, from approving a student success fee, as defined, before
January 1, 2016.
This bill would require a campus of the California State
University that has implemented a student success fee to use its
institutional aid to pay the cost of the student success fee for
low-income students, as defined.
Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, the
California State University, and the University of California as the
3 segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Existing
law establishes community college districts throughout the state, and
authorizes them to provide instruction at community college
campuses. Under existing law, the California State University
comprises 25 campuses and the University of California comprises 10
campuses. Under existing law, the segments are authorized to impose
fees on their students, both on a systemwide basis and with respect
to individual campuses.
This bill would prohibit the California State University from
imposing a new student success fee, as defined, or increasing the
amount of an existing student success fee, unless the imposition of
the new fee or the increase of the existing fee is approved by a
majority vote of the students of that campus who vote in an election
held for that purpose. The bill would require that, in the event that
a new student success fee or an increase in the amount of an
existing student success fee is approved by the students of a campus
in an election held under the bill, an oversight committee, with
designated membership, be established.
The bill would urge the Regents of the University of California to
adopt regulations and procedures relating to the imposition of new
campus fees or increases in the amount of existing campus fees that
would be equivalent to the requirements of this bill.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 89712 of the
Education Code is amended 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 student success fee, as
defined in subdivision (d), before January 1, 2016.
(2) A campus of the California State University that has
implemented a student success fee shall use its institutional aid to
pay the cost of the student success fee for low-income students.
(b) During the 2014-15 fiscal year, the chancellor shall conduct a
review of the California State University Student Fee Policy
relating to student success fees and recommend to the trustees
changes to the fee policy. In conducting the review and preparing
recommended changes to the fee policy, the chancellor shall consider
all of the following:
(1) The approval process for student success fees, including, but
not limited to, the benefit of utilizing
using a student election or the consultative process in the
approval process.
(2) The need for statewide policies governing a student election,
the consultative process, or both, for approving a proposed student
success fee, including, but not necessarily limited to, policies
requiring campuses to issue a voter pamphlet, or other informational
document, or both, that provides an objective analysis of the
proposed fee, a detailed description of the proposed fee uses,
statements for and against the proposed fee action, and a
notification to students regarding the dates, times, and locations
available to either vote, for purposes of a student election, or
confer with campus leadership, for purposes of the consultative
process, regarding a proposed fee.
(3) The means to improve transparency and accountability regarding
a campus' use of student success fee funds for the benefit of
members of the campus' community, including, but not necessarily
limited to, students, faculty, staff, and the general public.
(4) The development of an annual report describing the use of
student success fee funds by each campus in the prior academic year,
to be posted on each campus' Internet Web site.
(5) The approval of a statewide policy to prohibit a campus from
implementing a student success fee for a period exceeding five years
unless a continuance of that fee is approved by an affirmative vote
of the majority of the student body voting, or through the
consultative process. Approval to continue an approved fee shall be
required every five years.
(6) The impact of student success fees on campuses' academic
programs and services available for students, including, but not
necessarily limited to, low-income students.
(7) A provision for financial assistance to offset the cost of the
fee for low-income students.
(c) (1) The chancellor shall report to the Department of Finance
and the appropriate fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature,
on or before February 1, 2015, regarding the chancellor's proposed
revisions to the California State University Student Fee Policy
related to student success fees.
(2) This subdivision is inoperative on January 1, 2019, pursuant
to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code.
(d) For purposes of this section, the following terms have the
following meanings:
(1) "Low-income student" means an undergraduate student who has an
expected family contribution, as defined in subdivision (g) of
Section 69432.7, at any time during the student's matriculation at
the institution that would qualify the student to receive a federal
Pell Grant. The calculation of a student's expected family
contribution shall be based on the Free Application for Federal
Student Aid (FAFSA) application or an application determined by the
California Student Aid Commission to be equivalent to the FAFSA
application submitted by that applicant.
(2) A "student success fee" is a type of category II campus-based
mandatory fee that must be paid by a student to enroll or attend a
campus of the California State University, as determined by that
campus or the Chancellor of the California State University.
SECTION 1. Section 66025.6 is added to the
Education Code, to read:
66025.6. Notwithstanding any other law:
(a) The California State University may only impose a new student
success fee, or increase the amount of an existing student success
fee, if the imposition of the new fee or the increase of the existing
fee is approved by a majority vote of the students of that campus
who vote in an election held for that purpose.
(b) The ballot used in an election held pursuant to subdivision
(a) shall include a specific description of the purposes for which
the proceeds of the proposed fee would be expended.
(c) In the event that a new student success fee or an increase in
the amount of an existing student success fee is approved by the
students of a campus in an election held pursuant to subdivision (a),
an oversight committee shall be established under this subdivision.
The oversight committee shall be composed of students appointed by
the student body organization of that campus, faculty members
appointed by the faculty senate of that campus, and administrators
appointed by the president of that campus, with the distribution of
the membership of that oversight committee among those three groups
being determined by the student body organization of that campus.
(d) As used in this section, "student success fee" has the same
meaning as that term is defined in paragraph (2) of subdivision (d)
of Section 89712.
SEC. 2. Section 89700 of the Education Code is
amended to read:
89700. (a) Except as required pursuant to Section 66025.6, the
trustees may by rule require all persons to pay fees, rents,
deposits, and charges for services, facilities or materials provided
by the trustees to those persons. The trustees may, by rule, provide
for the method of collecting such fees, rents, deposits, and charges,
and may, by rule, provide for the refund in whole or part of those
fees, rents, deposits, and charges collected in error or collected
for facilities, services, or materials not utilized.
(b) If the provisions of this section are in conflict with the
provisions of a memorandum of understanding reached pursuant to
Chapter 12 (commencing with Section 3560) of Division 4 of Title 1 of
the Government Code, the memorandum of understanding shall be
controlling without further legislative action, except that if such
provisions of a memorandum of understanding require the expenditure
of funds, the provisions shall not become effective unless approved
by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act.
SEC. 3. The Regents of the University of
California are urged to adopt regulations and procedures relating to
the imposition of new campus fees or increases in the amount of
existing campus fees that would be equivalent to the requirements of
Section 66025.6 of the Education Code as enacted by the act that adds
this section.
