BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 421 Page 1 Date of Hearing: May 13, 2015 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Jimmy Gomez, Chair AB 421 (Calderon) - As Amended April 13, 2015 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Higher Education |Vote:|12 - 0 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | |Veterans Affairs | |8 - 0 | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable: Yes SUMMARY: This bill requires every community college district governing board to provide each of its colleges having 200 or more enrolled student veterans with a veterans' counselor. AB 421 Page 2 The bill also requires the California Community College (CCC) Board of Governors (BOG) to adopt regulations establishing minimum qualifications for a veterans' counselor, and in doing so to consider specified requirements. FISCAL EFFECT: Ongoing reimbursable state-mandated costs (GF-Prop 98) of around $6 million annually to fund a counselor at the 60 to 70 campuses with more than 200 enrolled student veterans. Costs would increase to the extent veteran enrollment increases beyond this threshold at additional campuses. 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, "While the State of California and the CCC have made strides recently in the area of reintegrating veterans to civilian life and addressing their educational needs, the State of California can do more to ensure student veterans are adequately prepared to meet their educational goals. Currently 54 CCC campuses have Veterans Resource Centers [VRC] which provide an environment for student veterans to relax and unwind with other students that have shared their experiences. Still, nearly half of CCC campuses do not have a VRC; with student-to-counselor ratios hovering around 719:1, it is easy for student veterans to get lost in the fray of overcrowded campuses and the difficulty of navigating the transfer process." AB 421 Page 3 The author contends that, "By requiring each CCC campus to employ at least one academic counselor specified for student veterans, AB 421 will ensure a minimum level of services for student veterans at each community college campus [with enrollment of at least 200 veterans]." 2)Related Legislation. AB 393 (Roger Hernández), also on today's committee agenda, requires the Chancellor of the CCC to develop and administer a grant program to provide funding to support existing or planned veterans resource centers. Analysis Prepared by:Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081