BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1358
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1358 (Fong)
As Amended April 15, 2013
Majority vote
HIGHER EDUCATION 7-4 APPROPRIATIONS 12-5
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Ayes:|Williams, Bloom, Fong, |Ayes:|Gatto, Bocanegra, |
| |Jones-Sawyer, Levine, | |Bradford, |
| |Medina, Weber | |Ian Calderon, Campos, |
| | | |Eggman, Gomez, Hall, |
| | | |Ammiano, Pan, Quirk, |
| | | |Weber |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Ch�vez, Olsen, |Nays:|Harkey, Bigelow, |
| |Quirk-Silva, Wilk | |Donnelly, Linder, Wagner |
| | | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY : Authorizes organized California Community College (CCC)
student body associations (SBA) to hold campus-wide elections in
order to potentially increase the student representation fee
(SRF). Specifically, this bill :
1)Authorizes the CCC SBA to call campus-wide elections for the
purpose of the study body to vote to determine if they want to
pay a SRF, and changes the SRF from $1 per semester to $2 per
semester.
2)Changes the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the students
voting in the election to establish the SRF to a majority of
students voting.
3)Specifies that $1 of every $2 fee collected shall be expended to
establish and support the operations of an independent statewide
CCC student organization that is recognized by the Board of
Governors (BOG) of the CCC if colleges adopt the SRF on or after
January 2014.
4)Specifies that the statewide CCC student organization shall have
governmental affairs representatives to advocate before the
Legislature and other state and local governmental entities on
AB 1358
Page 2
their behalf.
5)States that any college SBA that adopts a SRF before January 1,
2014, shall retain authority to continue to receive the $1 fee
and may elect to conduct another election to determine if they
will revise their SRF from $1 to $2.
6)Specifies that no reimbursement is required by this act because
local districts have authority to levy service charges, fees, or
assessments as required by this measure.
7)Makes clarifying and technical changes to existing law.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Authorizes the governing board of a CCC district to authorize
the students of a college to organize a SBA to encourage
students to participate in the governance of the college and
conduct any activities, including fundraising activities
(Education Code (EC) Section 76060).
2)Authorizes a SBA of a college to order an election be held to
establish a SRF fee of $1 per semester, collected by officials
of the college at or before registration; specifies that
two-thirds of the students voting in the election shall be
sufficient to establish the fee, but that the election shall not
be sufficient to establish the fee unless the number of students
who vote in the election equals or exceeds the average of the
number of students who voted in the previous three SBA
elections; specifies that the chief fiscal officer of the
college shall have custody of the money collected, but that the
funds shall be disbursed to the SBA for specified purposes;
allows the CCC district to retain a portion of the SRF collected
and deposited that is equal to the actual costs of administering
the SRF up to, but not more than, seven; allows the SRF to be
terminated by a majority vote of the students voting in an
election held for that purpose; and, allows a student to refuse
to pay the SRF for religious, political, financial, or moral
reasons (EC Section 76060.5).
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, this measure has potential minor cost savings to the
CCC Chancellor's Office, which indicates that, while it currently
budgets around $30,000 to fund the CCC Student Senate's
AB 1358
Page 3
activities, actual expenditures have exceeded this amount in
recent years. To note, pursuant to current law, community college
districts have custody of SRF revenues and may retain up to 7% of
these revenues to cover district administrative costs.
To the extent campus-wide elections result in approval of the
higher SRF, non-state funds will be generated to support the
state-level student organization. Currently, 67 of 112 CCC
campuses have adopted the $1 SRF. Depending on the number of
campuses approving the higher SRF, additional revenues statewide
could be in the hundreds of thousands to low millions of dollars
annually.
COMMENTS : According to the author, the 2.4 million students at
the CCC, unlike their counterparts at the University of California
and the California State University, do not have a sustainably
funded statewide student association. This bill will assist CCC
students in establishing and sustaining statewide legislative and
governmental advocacy through their recognized representative
organization, the Student Senate for California Community Colleges
(SSCCC).
According to the 2012 CCC Chancellor's Office (CCCCO) Student Fee
Handbook, a newly formed student government organization cannot
order an election for the purpose of having the student body vote
to establish a SRF without having held three prior student body
elections. In specifically requiring three previous student body
elections prior to raising the student fee issue, the intent of
the Legislature was to ensure meaningful participation in the
student body election process. However, under certain
circumstances, voting results from student body elections held
under a previous and related student government structure may
satisfy this requirement.
The CCCCO finds that if a CCC district has multiple colleges and a
student attends more than one college within the district, that
he/she may be responsible for a SRF at each college he/she
attends.
According to the SSCCC, there is a great deal of support for an
increased SRF for the sole purpose of being able to form an
organized independent statewide organization.
Related legislation: AB 2756 (Hayden), Chapter 1238, Statutes of
AB 1358
Page 4
1987, established the SRF.
Analysis Prepared by : Jeanice Warden / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960 FN: 0000420