BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 801|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 801
Author: Bloom (D)
Amended: 9/1/15 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 7-0, 7/8/15
AYES: Liu, Hancock, Leyva, Mendoza, Monning, Pan, Vidak
NO VOTE RECORDED: Runner, Block
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 6-0, 8/27/15
AYES: Lara, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza, Nielsen
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 61-13, 6/3/15 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Postsecondary education: Success for Homeless Youth
in Higher Education Act
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill requires the extension of priority
enrollment, as specified, to homeless youth or former homeless
youth at the California Community Colleges (CCC) and the
California State University (CSU) and requests that the
University of California (UC) make this same extension; requires
designation of a Homeless and Foster Student Liaison at each Cal
Grant participating institution; grants homeless youth enrolling
in a public higher education institution residency status, as
specified; requires the waiver of per unit fees for a homeless
youth or former homeless youth at the community colleges; and
adds homeless youth to the categories of youth to be served
under existing financial aid programs and services.
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ANALYSIS:
Existing federal law:
1)Defines the term "homeless children and youth" to mean
individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime
residence, as specified, including, but not limited to, the
following: a) children and youth who are sharing the housing
of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or
a similar reason; b) are living in motels, hotels, trailer
parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative
adequate accommodations; c) are living in emergency or
transitional shelters; d) are abandoned in hospitals; e) are
awaiting foster care placement; f) have a primary nighttime
residence that is a public or private place not designed for
or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for
human beings; and, g) are living in cars, parks, public
spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train
stations, or similar settings. (42 United States Code §
11301, et seq.)
2)Defines "homeless youth", under Section 725 of the federal
McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act to mean a person who is
24 years of age or younger and who has been determined to be
homeless at any time during the current calendar year; and,
defines "former homeless youth" to mean a person who is 24
years of age or younger, and who, while not currently
homeless, has been determined to be homeless, at any time in
the immediately preceding six calendar years, by any of the
following: a) a homeless services provider, as defined; b)
the director of a federal TRIO program or Gaining Early
Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs program, or
a designee of that director; and, c) a financial aid
administrator for an institution of higher education.
Existing state law:
1)Requires, until January 1, 2017, the CSU and each community
college district, and requests each campus of the UC that
administers a priority enrollment system, to grant priority
registration for enrollment of current or former foster youth.
(Education Code § 66025.9)
2)Establishes the Community College Student Financial Aid
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Outreach Program, administered by the California Student Aid
Commission (CSAC) to provide financial aid training to high
school and community college counselors and advisors who work
with students planning to attend or attending a CCC. The
training is required to address the specific needs of CCC
students intending to transfer to a four-year institution,
foster youth, and students with disabilities. (EC § 69514.5)
3)Establishes the Student Opportunity and Access Program,
administered and supported by CSAC, to apportion funds, as
specified for projects designed to increase the accessibility
of postsecondary educational opportunities for elementary and
secondary school pupils who are from low-income families, who
would be the first in their families to attend college, and
who are from schools or geographic regions with documented
low-eligibility or college participation rates. (EC § 69561)
4)Requires a community college governing board to charge each
student a $46 per unit fee per semester. Existing law makes
this fee requirement inapplicable to noncredit courses and
specified student groups and authorizes the governing board to
exempt certain student groups from this fee. Existing law
specifically requires that these fees be waived for students
who, at the time of enrollment meet specified requirements,
including, that they are members of the military, veterans or
their dependents, as specified, receive benefits under the
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, the
Supplemental Security Income/State Supplementary Payment
Program, or a general assistance program, demonstrate
eligibility according to income standards established by
regulations of the CCC Board of Governors, demonstrates
financial need in accordance with the methodology set forth in
federal law or regulation for determining the expected family
contribution of students seeking financial aid, is a dependent
or surviving spouse who has not remarried, of any member of
the California National Guard who, in the line of duty and
while in the active service of the state, was killed, died of
a disability resulting from an event that occurred while in
the active service of the state, or is permanently disabled as
a result of an event that occurred while in the active service
of the state and various others, as specified. (EC § 76300)
This bill:
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1)Requires the CSU and each CCC, and requests each UC campus that
administers a priority enrollment system, to extend priority
enrollment to current homeless youth.
2)Defines "homeless" and "homeless youth" as having the same
meaning as defined in Section 725 of the federal
McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (see background).
3)Requires a qualifying postsecondary educational institution, as
defined for purposes of the Cal Grant program, to both:
a) Designate an existing staff member within the
financial aid office, or another appropriate office or
department of the institution to serve as the Homeless and
Foster Student Liaison who is required to be responsible
for understanding the federal Higher Education provisions
on financial aid eligibility applicable to foster youth and
homeless youth, as specified, and to assist these students
in applying for and receiving federal and state financial
aid and services.
b) Inform current and prospective students of the
institution about student financial aid and other
assistance available to current homeless and/or foster
youth, including their eligibility as independent students,
per the federal Higher Education Act.
4)Request the UC Regents adopt policies, to the extent feasible,
equivalent to the provisions outlined in 3) above.
5)Expands the training requirements for high school and community
college counselors and advisors under the Community College
Student Financial Aid Outreach Program to include training on
the specific needs of current homeless youth, as defined.
6)Adds homeless youth, as defined, to the student groups that may
be served under Student Opportunity and Access Program
projects administered and supported by the CSAC.
7)Expands the list of students whose fees are required to be waived
by a community college governing board to include any student
who is a current homeless youth, as defined, at the time of
enrollment.
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8)Makes other clarifying, technical, and conforming changes.
Comments
1)Need for the bill. This bill allows homeless youth to receive
some of the same services and exemptions that are available to
foster youth. While many services exist for foster youth and
former foster youth, homeless youth are often not documented
in the child welfare system or legally identified as
dependents, so most are either unable to utilize these
benefits or unaware of programs for which they may qualify.
According to the author, in the 2012-13 school year there were
18,000 homeless pupils in grade 12 alone; yet only 10,208
California college students in total indicated a status of
being homeless and unaccompanied.
2)Homeless youth. According to a September 2014 publication by the
California Homeless Youth Project, California's Homeless
Students, a Growing Population, California has the highest
rate of homeless youth in the nation and twice the rate of
homeless students as the national average (four percent in
California versus two percent nationally). In its 2013 Annual
Homeless Assessment Report to Congress, the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development reports an estimated 46,924
homeless youths nationally on a single night in January, with
80 percent of these individuals between the ages of 18-24.
3)Other services for homeless youth. SB 1023 (Liu, Chapter 771,
Statutes of 2014) authorized the CCC Chancellor's Office to
enter into agreements with up to 10 CCC districts to establish
the Cooperating Agencies Foster Youth Educational Support
program in order to provide additional funds for services in
support of postsecondary education for foster youth. The
2015-16 Budget Act provides up to $15 million for this
purpose.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, the CSU
indicates the need to redirect staff to fulfill the liaison
requirement which would likely equate to a part-time position
for each campus, resulting in statewide costs between $782,000
and $1.2 million. There are likely minor costs to the CCC to
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update the Board of Governors Fee Waiver form and other related
materials. Costs pressures related to waiving student
enrollment fees for homeless youth are expected to be minor as
these students are likely to qualify based on income criteria.
The CSAC indicates costs to incorporate homeless youth into
training and outreach programs to be absorbable. However, if
this population is larger than anticipated, there could be a
need for additional staffing resources. The UC anticipates no
additional costs to implement this bill.
SUPPORT: (Verified8/28/15)
None received
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/28/15)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 61-13, 6/3/15
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Baker, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brown,
Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley,
Cooper, Dababneh, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Cristina
Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez,
Gordon, Gray, Hadley, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin,
Jones-Sawyer, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, McCarty,
Medina, Mullin, Nazarian, O'Donnell, Olsen, Perea, Quirk,
Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth,
Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood,
Atkins
NOES: Bigelow, Brough, Dahle, Beth Gaines, Grove, Harper,
Maienschein, Mathis, Melendez, Obernolte, Patterson, Wagner,
Waldron
NO VOTE RECORDED: Travis Allen, Chang, Gallagher, Jones, Kim,
Mayes
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Prepared by:Kathleen Chavira / ED. / (916) 651-4105
9/1/15 21:30:35
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