Amended in Senate September 3, 2013

Amended in Senate July 11, 2013

Amended in Senate June 27, 2013

Amended in Assembly April 15, 2013

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly BillNo. 1358


Introduced by Assembly Member Fong

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(Coauthor: Senator Lara)

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February 22, 2013


An act to amend Section 76060.5 of the Education Code, relating to community colleges.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1358, as amended, Fong. Student body association: student representation fee.

Existing law authorizes the governing board of a community college district to authorize the students of a college to organize a student body association to encourage students to participate in the governance of the college and conduct any activities, including fundraising activities. Existing law authorizes the governing body of a student body association to order an election be held to establish a student representation fee of $1 per semester, collected by officials of the community college at or before registration, and requires an affirmative vote of 23 of the students voting in the election to establish the fee.

This bill would instead authorize the election to establish the student representation fee in the amount of $2,begin insert andend insert would require an affirmative vote of a majority of the students voting in the election to establish the student representationbegin delete fee, andend deletebegin insert fee. The billend insert would, for a student representation fee adopted on or after January 1, 2014, require $1 of the $2 student representation fee to be expended to establish and support the operations of a statewide community college student organization, recognized by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, with effective student representation and participation in state-level community college shared governance and with governmental affairs representatives to advocate before the Legislature and other state and local governmental entities. The bill would specify the underlying goals of a statewide community college student organization and would require the organization to comply with specified open records and open meetings laws. The bill would require the fees expended to establish and support the operations of the statewide community college organization to be distributed to the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges for further distribution to the recognized statewide community college student organization if the organization satisfies certain conditions. The bill would, for a student representation fee adopted before January 1, 2014, provide that the student body association shall retain the authority to continue to receive the $1 student representation fee, and authorize the student body association to conduct an election to instead adopt a $2 student representation fee, as described above. The bill would require the statewide community college student organization to reimburse the Office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges for any costs incurred to implement these provisions. The bill would also require preparation of a summary by a community college district describing the amount of student representation fees collected, the expenditures of the proceeds of the student representation fee, and the amount distributed to the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges. The bill would require the summary to be presented at the community college district board meeting each year and posted to the district Internet Web site. To the extent that this additional requirement would impose new collection duties on the community colleges, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

P3    1

SECTION 1.  

Section 76060.5 of the Education Code is
2amended to read:

3

76060.5.  

(a) If a student body association has been established
4at a community college as authorized by Section 76060, the
5governing body of the association may order that an election be
6held for the purpose of establishing a student representation fee
7of two dollars ($2) per semester. The election shall be held in
8compliance with regulations of the Board of Governors of the
9California Community Colleges and shall be open to all regularly
10enrolled students of the community college. The affirmative vote
11of a majority of the students voting in the election shall be
12sufficient to establish the fee. However, the election shall not be
13sufficient to establish the fee unless the number of students who
14vote in the election equals or exceeds the average of the number
15of students who voted in the previous three student body
16association elections.

17(b) The student representation fee authorized by this section
18shall be collected by the officials of the community college,
19together with all other fees, at the time of registration or before
20registration and shall be deposited in a separate fiduciary fund
21established per the California Community Colleges Budget and
22 Accounting Manual for student representation fees. The money
23collected pursuant to this section shall be expended to provide
24support for governmental affairs representatives of local or
25statewide student body organizations who may be stating their
26positions and viewpoints before city, county, and district
27governments, and before offices and agencies ofbegin delete theend delete state
28government.

29(c) (1) One dollar ($1) of every two-dollar ($2) fee collected
30shall be expended to establish and support the operations of a
31statewide community college student organization, recognized by
32the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges,
33with effective student representation and participation in state-level
34community college shared governance and with governmental
35affairs representatives to advocate before the Legislature and other
P4    1state and local governmental entities. This subdivision shall only
2apply to student representation fees adopted on or after January 1,
32014.

4(2) The underlying goals of a statewide community college
5student organization shall include, but are not limited to, all of the
6following:

7(A) Establishing a sustainable foundation for statewide
8community college student representation and advocacy.

9(B) Promoting institutional and organizational memory.

10(C) Ensuring and maintaining responsible community college
11student organizational oversight and decisionmaking.

12(D) Strengthening regional approaches for community college
13student representation and coordination.

14(E) Promoting and enhancing student opportunities for
15engagement in community college student issues and affairs.

16(F) Providing for open and public transparency and
17accountability.

18(d) Fees collected pursuant to subdivision (c) shall be annually
19distributed to the Board of Governors before February 1. The Board
20of Governors shall have custody of the moneys and shall, each
21year by April 15, distribute the moneys to the recognized statewide
22community college student organization if the recognized statewide
23community college student organization satisfies all of the
24following:

25(1) Is established as a legal entity registered with the Secretary
26of State.

27(2) Demonstrates compliance with all applicable state and
28federal laws and reporting requirements.

29(3) Exercises prudent fiscal management by establishing
30 generally accepted accounting controls and procedures.

31(4) (A) Commencing after the first year it receives funding
32pursuant to this subdivision, completes an annual independent
33financial audit, the results of which shall be annually provided to
34the Board of Governors for review.

35(B) (i) Except as provided in clause (ii) and after the first year
36funding is received, it shall be a condition for funding pursuant to
37this subdivision that the results of the annual audit identify no
38significant audit findings.

39(ii) In no event shall funds be withheld from the statewide
40community college student organization unless the statewide
P5    1community college student organization fails to address and correct
2any identified exceptions, concerns, errors, or deficiencies
3contained in the annual audit after being given a reasonable
4opportunity to do so.

5(5) Meets the obligations and addresses the goals described in
6subdivision (c).

7(e) Meetings of the recognized statewide community college
8student organization shall be open to the public and shall comply
9with the requirements of the California Public Records Act
10(Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 6250) of Division 7 of
11Title 1 of the Government Code) and the Ralph M. Brown Act
12(Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 54950) of Part 1 of Division
132 of Title 5 of the Government Code).

14(f) Notwithstanding subdivision (c), a student body association
15that adopted a student representation fee before January 1, 2014,
16shall retain the authority to continue to receive the one-dollar ($1)
17fee as authorized pursuant to this section as it read before January
181, 2014. The student body association may conduct an election
19pursuant to subdivision (a) to adopt a revised student representation
20fee. If an election conducted pursuant to subdivision (a) establishes
21the revised student representation fee, then one dollar ($1) of every
22two-dollar ($2) fee collected shall be expended as described in
23subdivision (c).

24(g) (1) The chief fiscal officer of the community college shall
25have custody of the money collected pursuant to this section,begin insert except
26as provided in subdivision (d),end insert
and the money shall be disbursed
27for the purposes describedbegin delete aboveend deletebegin insert in subdivision (b) end insertupon the order
28of the governing body of the student body association.

29 (2) The community college district shall annually prepare a
30summary of all revenue collected from the student representation
31fee and the expenditures of the proceeds of the student
32representation fee. The summary shall include the amount
33distributed to the Board of Governors of the California Community
34Colleges each year. The summary shall be presented at the
35community college district board meeting each year and posted to
36the community college district Internet Web site.

37(3) The community college district may retain a portion of the
38fees collected and deposited pursuant to this section that is equal
39to the actual cost of administering these fees up to, but not more
40than, 7 percent.

P6    1(h) The student representation fee authorized by this section
2may be terminated by a majority vote of the students voting in an
3election held for that purpose. The election shall be called and held
4in compliance with regulations of the Board of Governors of the
5California Community Colleges and shall be open to all regularly
6enrolled students of the community college.

7(i) A student may, for religious, political, financial, or moral
8reasons, refuse to pay the student representation fee established
9under this section. The refusal shall be submitted in writing to the
10 community college officials at the time the student pays other fees
11collected by the community college officials. The refusal shall be
12submitted on the same form that is used for collection of fees as
13provided by the community college, which, as determined by the
14 community college, shall be as nearly as practical in the same form
15as a model form prescribed by regulations of the Board of
16Governors of the California Community Colleges.

17(j) Any costs incurred by the Office of the Chancellor of the
18California Community Colleges to implement subdivisions (c) and
19(d) shall be reimbursed by the statewide community college student
20organization.

21(k) If no statewide community college student organization that
22qualifies for funding in accordance with this section is recognized
23by the Board of Governors, the funds collected pursuant to this
24section shall be held by the Office of the Chancellor of the
25California Community Colleges until a qualifying statewide
26community college student organization is recognized, or shall be
27returned to the source of funds.

28

SEC. 2.  

No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
29Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
30a local agency or school district has the authority to levy service
31charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for the program or
32level of service mandated by this act, within the meaning of Section
3317556 of the Government Code.



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