Bill Text: CA AB951 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: University of California: law school.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Failed) 2018-02-01 - From committee: Filed with the Chief Clerk pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [AB951 Detail]
Download: California-2017-AB951-Amended.html
|
Amended
IN
Assembly
March 21, 2017 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION
| Assembly Bill | No. 951 |
| Introduced by Assembly Member Cervantes (Coauthor: Assembly Member Medina) |
February 16, 2017 |
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 951, as amended, Cervantes.
University of California: law school.
The California Constitution provides that the University of California constitutes a public trust administered by the Regents of the University of California, a corporation in the form of a board, with full powers of organization and government, subject to legislative control only for specified purposes.
This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to later enact legislation that would
provide for the establishment and construction of a school of law at the University of California, Riverside.
This bill would appropriate an unspecified sum of moneys from the General Fund to the Regents of the University of California each fiscal year, commencing with the 2018–19 fiscal year, for the creation, construction, and establishment of the University of California, Riverside School of Law.
Digest Key
Vote:Bill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Article 7 (commencing with Section 92165) is added to Chapter 2 of Part 57 of Division 9 of Title 3 of the Education Code, to read:Article 7. Construction of the University of California, Riverside School of Law
92165.
(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(1) A robust and functioning legal system is an essential element to a free and democratic society.
(2) Schools of law are not only invaluable institutions of legal education, but also as centers of regional legal systems and communities. These schools of law serve as a hub for the sharing of legal ideas and as drivers of local legal economies.
(3) The last school of law established by the University of California was at the University of California, Irvine, in 2008. The only other school of law operated by the University of California in southern
California is located at the University of California, Los Angeles.
(4) The Inland Empire, with a population of more than 4.2 million people, is one of the most populous regions of the state. The unique needs and concerns of the Inland Empire are distinct and different from those even in other parts of southern California, including the Counties of Los Angeles and Orange.
(5) The geographical distance between many Inland Empire communities and Westwood or Irvine, especially with traffic congestion factored in, make attendance at the schools of law at the University of California, Los Angeles, or the University of California, Irvine, logistically difficult for prospective law students in the Counties of Riverside and San Bernardino.
(6) There is currently no school of law in the Inland Empire operated by the
University of California. Indeed, there is only one school of law in the entire region that is accredited either by the American Bar Association or by the Committee of Bar Examiners.
(7) The lack of a public school of law in the Inland Empire is detrimental not only to perspective law students, but to the health of the legal community in the region.
(b) The sum of ____ dollars ($____) is hereby appropriated from the General Fund to the Regents of the University of California each fiscal year, commencing with the 2018–19 fiscal year, for the creation, construction, and establishment of the University of California, Riverside School of Law.
It is the intent of the Legislature to later enact legislation that would provide for the establishment and construction of a school of law at the University of California, Riverside.
