BILL NUMBER: SB 279	CHAPTERED  04/13/04

	CHAPTER  32
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  APRIL 13, 2004
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR  APRIL 12, 2004
	PASSED THE SENATE  MARCH 30, 2004
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  MARCH 25, 2004
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 18, 2004
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  SEPTEMBER 9, 2003
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  SEPTEMBER 4, 2003
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  AUGUST 18, 2003
	AMENDED IN SENATE  MAY 15, 2003

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Chesbro
   (Principal coauthor:  Assembly Member La Malfa)
   (Coauthor:  Senator Denham)
   (Coauthors:  Assembly Members Berg, Dutton, Hancock, Koretz, Maze,
Reyes, and Strickland)

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2003

   An act to amend Section 68120 of the Education Code, relating to
public postsecondary education, and declaring the urgency thereof, to
take effect immediately.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 279, Chesbro.  Public postsecondary education:  excuse of
tuition and fees.
   Existing law requires the Regents of the University of California,
the Board of Directors of the Hastings College of the Law, and the
Trustees of the California State University to excuse the mandatory
systemwide tuition and fees of any surviving spouse or surviving
child, natural or adopted, of a deceased person who was a resident of
the state, who was employed by a public agency, as defined, whose
principal duties consisted of active law enforcement service or
active fire suppression and prevention, and who was killed in the
performance of active law enforcement or active fire suppression and
prevention duties.  Until January 1, 2004, this provision also
applied to the surviving spouse or surviving child of a person who
died while performing these duties, and who was employed as a
contractor, or as an employee of a contractor, performing services
for a public agency, as defined.  This provision is applicable to the
Regents of the University of California only if the regents, by
resolution, make it applicable.
   This bill would once more extend the application of this provision
to the surviving spouse or surviving child of a contractor, or an
employee of a contractor, as defined, performing services for a
public agency.  The bill would require that a surviving child of a
contractor, or of an employee of a contractor, be enrolled as an
undergraduate student at a campus of the University of California or
the California State University and document that his or her annual
income, including the value of any support received from a parent,
does not exceed the maximum household income and asset level, as
defined, for an applicant for a Cal Grant B award.
   The bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an
urgency statute.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Section 68120 of the Education Code, as amended by
Section 2 of Chapter 347 of the Statutes of 2001, is amended to read:

   68120.  (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no
mandatory systemwide fees or tuition of any kind shall be required of
or collected by the Regents of the University of California, the
Board of Directors of the Hastings College of the Law, or the
Trustees of the California State University from any surviving spouse
or surviving child, natural or adopted, of a deceased person who met
all of the following requirements:
   (1) He or she was a resident of this state.
   (2) He or she was employed by a public agency, or was a
contractor, or an employee of a contractor, performing services for a
public agency.
   (3) His or her principal duties consisted of active law
enforcement service or active fire suppression and prevention.  This
section shall not apply to a person whose principal duties were
clerical, even if he or she was subject to occasional call or was
occasionally called upon to perform duties within the scope of active
law enforcement or active fire suppression and prevention.
   (4) He or she was killed in the performance of active law
enforcement or active fire suppression and prevention duties, or died
as a result of an accident or an injury caused by external violence
or physical force, incurred in the performance of his or her active
law enforcement or active fire suppression and prevention duties.
   (b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), a person who qualifies for
the waiver of mandatory systemwide fees and tuition under this
section as a surviving child of a contractor, or of an employee of a
contractor, who performed services for a public agency shall, in
addition to the requirements set forth in subdivision (a), meet both
of the following requirements:
   (1) Enrollment as an undergraduate student at a campus of the
University of California or the California State University.
   (2) Documentation that his or her annual income, including the
value of any support received from a parent, does not exceed the
maximum household income and asset level for an applicant for a Cal
Grant B award, as set forth in Section 69432.7.
   (c) As used in this section:
   (1) "Contractor" or "employee of a contractor" does not include a
security guard or security officer, as defined in Section 7582.1 of
the Business and Professions Code.
   (2) "Public agency" means the state or any city, city and county,
county, district, or other local authority or public body of or
within the state.
  SEC. 2.  This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect.  The facts constituting the necessity are:
   In order to prevent hardship for those students currently
attending public postsecondary institutions who have received waivers
for tuition and fees under Section 68120 of the Education Code as it
existed prior to January 1, 2004, it is necessary that this act take
effect immediately.