BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 393
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Date of Hearing: May 13, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
393 (Roger Hernández) - As Amended March 23, 2015
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|Policy |Higher Education |Vote:|12 - 0 |
|Committee: | | | |
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| |Veterans Affairs | |8 - 0 |
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
The bill establishes a grant program to support California
Community Colleges (CCC) veterans' resource centers.
Specifically, this bill:
AB 393
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1)Requires the Chancellor of the CCC to develop and administer
the grant program. Community college districts may apply for
grants for existing or planned centers to provide assistance
to veterans and active duty Armed Forces members to help them
succeed academically.
2)Provides that the program requirements may include funding
priority to campuses providing matching funds.
3)Stipulates that funding for the program is subject to
appropriation by the Legislature.
4)Requires the Chancellor to provide a progress report to the
Legislature regarding the program by May 31, 2018.
FISCAL EFFECT:
1)State costs will depend on the parameters of the grant
program, such as the extent of any district matching
requirement, and how many districts seek to participate. It is
assumed the grants would be an ongoing cost to support the
veterans' resource center, though the program could be
designed to phase out state support after a period of time. A
viable state grant program would be at least several million
dollars annually. Assuming a minimum state grant of $100,000
per campus, statewide costs would be $11 million annually.
[GF-Prop 98]
2)The Chancellor's Office would need at least one staff to
administer the program at an annual GF cost of around
$110,000.
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COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the CCC Chancellor's Office, in 2013-14,
veterans and active duty military personnel comprised over
60,000 of the over 2.1 million students attending CCCs.
According to the author, "Based on our research, current law
is silent regarding VRCs [Veterans Resource Centers]. The
recent proliferation of VRCs is largely based on philanthropic
efforts by public and private donors." The author contends
that, "AB 393 demonstrates a commitment by the state to work
with charitable groups and build VRCs to provide veterans with
necessary academic tools to succeed." There are reportedly 54
CCC campuses that current have VRCs.
2)Related Legislation. AB 421 (Calderon), also on today's
committee agenda, in part requires every community college
district governing board to provide each of its colleges
having 200 or more enrolled student veterans with a veterans
counselor.
Analysis Prepared by:Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
AB 393
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