Bill Text: CA ACR47 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Chaptered

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Bill Title: 529 College Savings Day.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 50-26-1)

Status: (Passed) 2015-06-02 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Res. Chapter 51, Statutes of 2015. [ACR47 Detail]

Download: California-2015-ACR47-Chaptered.html

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BILL NUMBER: ACR 47	CHAPTERED
	BILL TEXT

	RESOLUTION CHAPTER  51
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  JUNE 2, 2015
	ADOPTED IN SENATE  MAY 28, 2015
	ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 11, 2015
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 11, 2015

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Chau
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen,
Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke,
Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh,
Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina
Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon,
Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones,
Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes,
McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, Olsen,
Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas,
Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron,
Weber, Wilk, Williams, and Wood)

                        MARCH 18, 2015

   Relative to 529 College Savings Day.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   ACR 47, Chau. 529 College Savings Day.
   This measure would designate May 29, 2015, as 529 College Savings
Day, to raise awareness about the importance of saving for college
with the help of 529 college savings plans.



   WHEREAS, 529 college savings plans are important tools for
California families that want to save for their children's college
education, offering a diverse range of investment options,
tax-deferred growth, and withdrawals free of state and federal taxes
when those withdrawals are used for qualified higher education
expenses such as tuition, fees, books, certain room and board costs,
and required supplies; and
   WHEREAS, While the first college savings plans were developed by
states in 1988 as innovative programs designed to help families and
students save for higher education expenses, it was not until the
enactment of Section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code by Congress in
1996 that college savings plans began to rapidly gain popularity
across the country; and
   WHEREAS, Today, 49 states and the District of Columbia offer 529
college savings plans, nearly 12 million 529 accounts have been
opened, more than $244 billion have been saved for future higher
education expenses, and more than one million students nationwide
have withdrawn funds from 529 accounts to help pay higher education
expenses; and
   WHEREAS, The ScholarShare College Savings Plan, which has served
as California's official state-sponsored 529 college savings plan
since its launch in 1999, has grown to more than $6.3 billion in
total plan assets held in over 260,000 ScholarShare accounts; and
   WHEREAS, The ScholarShare College Savings Plan has helped students
meet their higher education goals with nearly $300 million withdrawn
annually for qualified higher education expenses at over 958
colleges and universities; and
   WHEREAS, In California, over the past 10 years, tuition rates at
the University of California, the California State University, and
the California Community Colleges have increased 114 percent, 117
percent, and 130 percent, respectively, and over the past 40 years,
tuition rates have consistently increased at two to three times the
rate of inflation every year; and
   WHEREAS, Federal financial aid awards have shifted away from
student grants to providing access to guaranteed student loans so
that, today, nearly 60 percent of all federal financial aid is in the
form of loans, substantially increasing the number of college
graduates who will face the burden of repaying significant student
loan debt upon entering the workforce; and
   WHEREAS, State support for public colleges and universities has
fallen over the past decade, primarily due to the economic recession
and budgetary shortfalls, and, as a result, public colleges and
universities now receive more funding from student tuition than from
direct state support, according to a 2014 Government Accountability
Office study; and
   WHEREAS, According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York,
student loan debt has now reached $1.16 trillion nationally, which is
more than triple the amount owed in 2005; and
   WHEREAS, When Americans are burdened with student loan debt, they
are not able to buy homes, cars, and other products that boost our
economy; and
   WHEREAS, College savings plans, such as the ScholarShare College
Savings Plan, help families to limit or eliminate future student loan
debt by helping them save for future higher education expenses; and
   WHEREAS, The contributions families make today pay off in the form
of an increased earning potential for their children in the future,
with a college graduate earning an average of $1 million more than a
high school graduate during his or her career according to the United
States Census Bureau; and
   WHEREAS, May 29th is recognized nationally as 529 College Savings
Day to help raise awareness across the country of the importance of
saving for college with the help of 529 college savings plans; now,
therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the Legislature of the State of California
hereby proclaims May 29, 2015, as 529 College Savings Day; and be it
further
   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.