BILL ANALYSIS SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION Gloria Romero, Chair 2009-2010 Regular Session BILL NO: SB 82 AUTHOR: Hancock AMENDED: August 16, 2010 FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: August 26, 2010 URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Kathleen Chavira NOTE : This bill has been amended to replace its contents and this is the first time the bill is being heard by this committee. SUBJECT : Community College Transportation Fees KEY POLICY ISSUES Should the cap on California Community College transportation fees be increased? Should the cap be subject to an annual inflationary adjustment? SUMMARY This bill increases, and requires an annual inflationary adjustment to, the statutory cap placed on California Community College (CCC) transportation fees. BACKGROUND Current law authorizes California Community College (CCC) districts to charge a fee to students or to students and employees, subject to specified requirements, in order to fund transportation services for purposes of partially or fully recovering the district's transportation costs or for reducing fares for services provided by municipally owned transit services to these students and employees. These requirements, among others, include a favorable vote of a majority of students, a pro-rata fee for part-time students, optional exemption for low-income students and a contract limitation of no more than 10 years. SB 82 Page 2 Current law prohibits the transportation fee from exceeding the amount necessary to reimburse districts for transportation costs/services and caps the amount which may be charged for these services. Specifically, combined transportation and parking services fees cannot exceed $60 per semester or $30 per intersession, or the proportionate equivalent for part-time enrollment. (Education Code 76361 & 76361.1) Current law authorizes a local CCC governing board to require students and employees to pay a fee for parking services and caps this fee at $40 per semester and $20 per intersession. (Education Code 76360) ANALYSIS This bill : 1) Increases the statutory cap on transportation services fees from $60 to $70 per semester and from $30 to $35 per intercession. 2) Requires that the statutory cap on transportation services fees be increased annually by the same percentage increase as the Implicit Price Deflator for State and Local Government Purchases of Goods and Services published by the United States Department of Commerce. 3) Consolidates duplicative code sections on transportation fees into a single code section. STAFF COMMENTS 1) Need for the bill . According to the sponsors, the transportation services fee cap has been in place for over a decade. When initially put into law, few California Community College (CCC) districts provided public transportation opportunities for students. Districts that have provided for these services have only been able to do so due to recent legislation that expanded the ability for students to assess themselves a fee for discounted transit passes. Those that have programs, are seeking to expand programs, or are exploring initiating programs, are limited in their SB 82 Page 3 ability to do so due to the outdated cap. This bill ensures that districts can work with local transit authorities to provide passes that are cost effective for both students and the transit provider. 2) Further clarification . This bill increases the overall amount which may be charged for transportation services by $10 per semester and $5 per intercession. The maximum amount which a district could levy would be annually adjusted for inflation. However, all other existing statutory requirements regarding such a fee would remain unchanged, including the requirement that the actual imposition and amount of the fee be subject to a favorable vote by a majority of students. Additionally, while current law requires the calculation of the maximum transportation services fee to consider the amount of any parking fees levied by the district, this bill does not change the statutory cap on parking fees. 3) Implicit Price Deflator . This bill authorizes the use of the Implicit Price Deflator for State and Local Government Purchases of Goods to annually adjust the cap on the transportation services fee for community college students and employees. This measure of inflation is used to compare expenditures over a period of time and is currently also used to calculate increases to school district revenue limits and to adjust the health fees authorized to be required of CCC students (Education Code 76355). 4) Prior legislation . AB 2812 (Higher Education Committee, Chapter 954, Statutes of 1998), reorganized CCC parking fee provisions, authorized all CCC governing boards to levy fees to fund parking facility construction and transportation services, and established the maximum fee amounts CCCs are authorized to charge for parking and transportation services. AB 774 (Cook, Chapter 253, Statutes of 2009), expanded the flexibility granted to three CCC districts (by legislation enacted in 2006 and in 2008) to charge a fee to students or students and employees in order to fund transportation services, if specific requirements SB 82 Page 4 were met, to apply to all CCC districts. SUPPORT Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District Butte-Glenn Community College District California Community College League California Transit Association Kern Community College District Los Angeles Community College District Mt. San Jacinto Community College District Peralta Community College District Rio Hondo Community College District San Jose-Evergreen Community College District West Kern Community College District OPPOSITION None received.