BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 130
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Date of Hearing: April 13, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 130 (Cedillo) - As Amended: April 6, 2011
Policy Committee: Higher
EducationVote:6-3
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill enacts the California Dream Act of 2011, which,
effective January 1, 2012 makes a student eligible for the AB
540 exemption-which allows certain nonresident public
postsecondary students to pay in-state tuition or fees-eligible
to receive a scholarship, derived from nonstate funds, received
for the purpose of scholarships by the California public
postsecondary institution they are attending.
FISCAL EFFECT
No direct state costs. The bill could result in a reallocation
of any available scholarship monies by the public universities
and college students.
COMMENTS
1)Background . Students eligible for resident tuition under AB
540 are typically persons without lawful immigration status or
United States citizens or Permanent Residents who are
residents of another state and would be ineligible for
state-administered or campus-based financial aid programs
without the provisions of AB 540. According to the segments,
in 2009-10, enrollment of AB 540 students was: 1,941 at UC (of
these 32% were undocumented immigrants); 3,633 at CSU; and
36,203 at CCC. CSU and CCC do not identify the immigration
status of AB 540 students but believe that undocumented
students make up a larger proportion of these students than
they do at UC. In 2010-11, annual nonresident undergraduate
student tuition amounted to approximately $22,879 at UC,
$10,000 at CSU, and $4,800 at CCC.
AB 130
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2)Privately-Funded Scholarships . According to UC, it cannot
award its own funds to undocumented students, whether they are
derived from private gifts to the university, tuition revenue,
or any other source. When donors want to help these students,
campuses must therefore refer the donor to external
organizations that help undocumented students. AB 130 makes AB
540 students eligible for scholarships derived from nonstate
funds that the campuses receive for scholarships.
3)Related Legislation . AB 130 (Cedillo), also on today's
committee agenda, makes AB 540 students eligible for all
state-administered financial aid programs.
4)Prior Legislation . Numerous bills have sought to expand
financial aid to AB 540 students. Most recently, in 2010, SB
1460 (Cedillo), which dealt with institutional financial aid
and the adult school provisions, and AB 1413 (Fuentes), which
dealt with Student Aid Commission programs, were vetoed by
Governor Schwarzenegger, mainly for financial reasons. SB 1301
(Cedillo) of 2008, which only dealt with UC and CSU
institutional aid, was vetoed.
SB 1 (Cedillo) of 2007, which made AB 540 students eligible
for Cal Grant Entitlement Awards and community college fee
waivers, was also vetoed for financial reasons, as was SB 160
(Cedillo) of 2005.
In addition, SB 160 (Cedillo) of 2009, AB 2083 (Nunez) of
2008, and SB 160 (Cedillo) of 2007 were all held on Suspense
in Senate Appropriations.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081