BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 290
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Date of Hearing: August 13, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS
Al Muratsuchi, Chair
SB 290 (Knight) - As Amended: May 28, 2013
SENATE VOTE : 39-0
SUBJECT : Nonresident tuition exemption: veterans
SUMMARY : [ As proposed to be amended in committee ] Extends a two
year period for a former servicemember to use an exemption from
paying non-resident tuition to students attending a California
State University (CSU) and urges the University of California
(UC) to adopt the same standard. Specifically, this bill :
Exempts a student attending CSU, and urges the UC to do this
with its students, from paying nonresident tuition if:
1)That student was a member of the Armed Forces of the United
States stationed in this state on active duty for more than
one year immediately prior to being discharged, and
2)If he/she files an affidavit with the institution at which
he/she is enrolled or intends to enroll, stating that he/she
intends to establish residency in California as soon as
possible, and
3)If the student uses this exemption within two years of being
discharged.
EXISTING LAW : Requires a student who was a member of the Armed
Forces stationed in California on active duty for more than one
year immediately prior to being discharged to be exempt from
paying nonresident tuition for the length of time he/she lives
in the state, up to the minimum time necessary to become a
resident. In addition, existing law provides, for purposes of
community college fees , a former member of the Armed Forces may
utilize the one-year nonresident fee exemption within two years
of being discharged provided the former member of the Armed
Forces has filed an affidavit with the community college stating
his/her intention to establish residency in California as soon
as possible.
Existing law establishes uniform residency requirements for
purposes of ascertaining the amount of fees to be paid by
students at the UC, CSU, CCC, and establishes various exceptions
to these residency requirements, including the following:
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1)A member of the Armed Forces who is stationed in the state on
active duty, except a member assigned for educational
purposes.
2)A member of the Armed Forces who is transferred to another
state but continuously enrolled at a college in California.
3)A student who is a dependent of a member of the Armed Forces
stationed in this state on active duty.
4)A student dependent of a member of the Armed Forces may keep
his/her resident classification until he/she has resided in
the state for the minimum time necessary to become a resident
in the event the member of the Armed Forces upon whom they are
dependent is transferred outside of the state or retires as an
active member of the Armed Forces.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, the cost of the nonresident tuition exemption to the
UC and CSU depends upon the number of veterans that meet the
narrow requirements to qualify for the exemption.
Each affected veteran enrolling as an undergraduate in the CSU
would be eligible to pay $5,472 per year, instead of $5,472 +
$372 per unit (which would be an additional $11,160 per year for
two 15-unit course load semesters). Each affected veteran
enrolling as an undergraduate in the UC would be eligible to pay
$12,192 instead of $35,070, a difference of $22,878.
The number of veterans who will be eligible to benefit from this
bill is not known, but it likely to be very small (although, the
number may increase with this additional benefit). The CSU has
indicated it currently serves approximately 350 nonresident
veterans. If even 10% of them meet the other eligibility
criteria in this bill to qualify for in-state tuition under this
bill, and were full-time students, revenue loss to the CSU would
be nearly $400,000.
COMMENTS : SB 290 extends the nonresident tuition exemption
provided to a narrow subset of veterans enrolling in CCCs to
that same demographic seeking to enroll in the CSU or UC. As
such, it broadens the educational choices for veterans who were
not living in California prior to discharge seeking to use their
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GI Bill benefits (which only pay resident tuition amounts.)
Proposed Author's Amendments: The author proposes to amend the
bill to reflect the constitutional autonomy of the UC system as
noted below and rather than mandating the policy changes at that
segment, to urge that the UC adopt the changes.
This bill exempts veterans formerly stationed in California, who
intend to reside in the state, from paying nonresident tuition
at CSU and urges the same at UC. The number of veterans who will
be eligible to benefit from this bill is not known, but it
likely to be very small (although, the number may increase with
this additional benefit). The CSU has indicated it currently
serves approximately 350 nonresident veterans. It is hard to
say how large the number of veterans who will take advantage of
this new might be. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the vast
majority of student veterans enter the higher education system
at the Community College level, not necessarily because of cost,
but because most are re-entering education after having been
serving in the military for some time.
According to the author : Currently veterans who have served at
least 90 days on active duty are eligible to receive a
Government Issued Bill (or GI Bill) to help pay for their
college education. These federal dollars pay up to 100% of
in-state tuition costs, in addition to providing a housing
allowance and a book allowance to the veteran. However, many
veterans who were stationed at bases in California ? have not
had the opportunity to establish residency.
According to the Assembly Higher Education Committee:
UC Constitutional autonomy . The California Constitution
(Section 9 of Article IX) establishes UC as a public trust
and confers the full powers of the UC upon the UC Regents.
The Constitution establishes that the UC is subject to
legislative control only to the degree necessary to ensure
the security of its funds and compliance with the terms of
its endowments. Judicial decisions have held that there
are three additional areas in which there may be limited
legislative intrusion into university operations: authority
over the appropriation of state moneys; exercise of the
general police power to provide for the public health,
safety and welfare; and, legislation on matters of general
statewide concern not involving internal university
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affairs. UC retains authority to establish residency and
tuition policies for veterans, including the authority to
choose to adopt the provisions of this legislation;
however, UC policies have traditionally mirrored state
policies in this arena.
CSU relevant information . While CSU has not taken a
position on this bill, the committee did receive a letter
from CSU regarding this bill. Specifically, CSU notes that
there are three state-mandated tuition waiver programs in
place; CSU indicates that the tuition fee revenue forgone
by the CSU for these existing programs was more than $30.5
million in 2012-13. CSU requests that "a specific
appropriation be added to the program proposed by this
bill."
Related legislation : AB 13 (Chávez) provides the exemption
contained in this bill to members of the Armed Forces discharged
or released within the immediately prior year but does not
require that the individual have been stationed in California
immediately prior to being discharged. This bill was approved by
a vote of 13-0 by the Higher Education Committee and by a vote
of 10-0 in this committee and is currently pending in the Senate
Appropriations Committee. Committee staff recommends authors
address chaptering out issues prior to the two bills moving to
the Governor.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
American Legion-Department of California
AMVETS-Department of California
California State Commanders Veterans Council
Community College League of California
Veterans Caucus, California Democratic Party
VFW-Department of California
Vietnam Veterans of America-California State Council
Opposition
None on File.
Analysis Prepared by : John Spangler / V. A. / (916) 319-3550
SB 290
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