BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2478
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Date of Hearing: May 9, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 2478 (Hayashi) - As Amended: April 9, 2012
Policy Committee: Higher
EducationVote:9-0
Veterans Affairs 8-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill provides that a California Community College (CCC)
student who was stationed in California for more than one year
immediately prior to being discharged, is exempt from paying
nonresident fees for up to four years upon filing an affidavit
with the community college stating their intent to establish
residency as soon as possible.
FISCAL EFFECT
The difference between resident and non-resident fees at the CCC
is $133 per unit. For a full-time student (30 units in an
academic year) the additional fee revenue to the CCC is $4,000.
There are about 44,000 veterans currently enrolled in the
community colleges. The Chancellor's Office does not know how
many of these students are paying non-resident fees and could
thus benefit from this bill. If only one percent of these
students could benefit from this bill and pay the resident fees,
and only half were full-time students with the remainder
half-time students, the annual revenue loss to the CCC would be
$1.3million. Community college districts would also incur state
reimbursable costs to administer this benefit.
COMMENTS
1)Background . Current law establishes the requirements for
determining residency in order to qualify for paying the
lower-cost "in-state" tuition and student fees at UC, CSU, and
CCC. To qualify for the California resident fees, students are
generally required to have resided in the state for more than
AB 2478
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one year immediately preceding the residence determination
date and undertake other specified actions such as registering
to vote or registering one's car in California. Current law
allows students who were on active duty in California for at
least one year immediately prior to their discharge to instead
pay in-state tuition and fees until the minimum time when they
should have established residency and otherwise qualify for
in-state tuition.
2)Purpose . According to the author, this bill will allow
veterans who were discharged from a military installation in
California additional time (up to four years) to establish
residency if they need to briefly return to their home state
prior to attending community college. The Chancellor's Office
also indicates that some veterans do not begin the residency
process immediately after discharge for various reasons,
including rehabilitation from injuries.
3)Related Legislation . AB 2250 (Gaines), also on today's
committee agenda, provides that a student, or their spouse,
who served in the Armed Forces for at least 36 months and
received an honorable discharge is exempt from paying
non-resident tuition for their first year of continuous
enrollment at the CCC, the California State University (CSU),
and the University of California (UC) if that student files an
affidavit with the college stating their intent to establish
residency in California.
4)Prior Legislation . AB 2472 (Wyland) of 2006, which was
substantially similar to AB 2250, was held on this committee's
Suspense File.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081