Bill Text: CA AJR33 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Federal student debt: cancellation.
Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 56-3)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2022-06-30 - Referred to Com. on ED. [AJR33 Detail]
Download: California-2021-AJR33-Introduced.html
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Joint Resolution
No. 33
| Introduced by Assembly Member Santiago (Coauthors: Assembly Members Arambula, Boerner Horvath, Mia Bonta, Carrillo, Mike Fong, Eduardo Garcia, Lee, Low, Reyes, Blanca Rubio, and Stone) (Coauthors: Senators Allen and Newman) |
May 16, 2022 |
Relative to federal student debt.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AJR 33, as introduced, Santiago.
Federal student debt: cancellation.
This measure would call upon the Biden Administration to cancel all federal student debt.
Digest Key
Fiscal Committee: NOBill Text
WHEREAS, Research suggests that over 43 million people in the United States collectively owe approximately $1.6 trillion in federal student loan debt; and
WHEREAS, As noted in a final report of the California Student Aid Commission (CSAC) entitled “California Student Loan and Debt Service Review Workgroup,” nearly 4 million borrowers in California collectively owe a total of $147 billion in student loans with an average debt of $38,530; and
WHEREAS, According to that CSAC report, Black and Latinx Californians have higher rates of delinquency and default on their student loans compared to White Californians; and
WHEREAS, According to that CSAC report, Black student borrowers in California with bachelor’s degrees possess nearly 50 percent more student loan debt compared to their White peers four years after graduation; and
WHEREAS, According to that CSAC report, 20 percent of Latinx borrowers and 32 percent of Black borrowers who entered college in 2011 and entered loan repayment in 2017 defaulted on their student loans, compared with only 13 percent of White borrowers; and
WHEREAS, According to that CSAC report, women possess nearly two-thirds of student debt in the United States despite accounting for only 57 percent of total higher education enrollment; and
WHEREAS, According to that CSAC report, Black women in the United States accrue more student loan debt in their undergraduate educations than any other group, with an average student loan debt of $37,558; and
WHEREAS, Historic unemployment rates in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic left millions of borrowers unable to pay back their student loans and led the President to implement a nationwide pause on student loan payments beginning on March 13, 2020, that has been extended several times since; and
WHEREAS, Prior to the pause, student loan borrowers were paying a monthly average of $393, reducing household disposable income and savings; and
WHEREAS, As inflation rises, adding to the burdens placed on working-class Americans by reinstating student loan payments will cause widespread hardship and suffering; and
WHEREAS, The student loan moratorium has temporarily allowed borrowers to spend money on basic necessities and to save and has proven that forgiving student loans is possible; and
WHEREAS, The intent of student loan forgiveness is to provide immediate relief to low-income borrowers and to narrow the racial wealth gap; and
WHEREAS, The federal government holds more than 90 percent of student loans in the United States; and
WHEREAS, Full-scale student debt cancellation is projected to add between $86 billion and $108 billion to the country’s gross domestic product the first year after implementation and billions more over time; and
WHEREAS, Research suggests that policies such as student debt cancellation can be the first step of a necessary redesign of United States higher education policy that decreases students’ reliance on taking on debt to finance their higher education; and
WHEREAS, The Biden Administration has implemented many programmatic changes in order to forgive the student debt of more qualified individuals, including, as of October 6, 2021, offering a temporary waiver so that student borrowers can count payments from all federal loan programs or repayment plans towards loan forgiveness, including loan types and payment plans that were not previously eligible; and
WHEREAS, The aforementioned cancellation of certain student loans has demonstrated the President’s ability to cancel student loan debt and his willingness to take the next step; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature calls upon the Biden Administration to cancel all federal student debt; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States and to the United States Secretary of Education.
