BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1000
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ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
1000 (Weber)
As Amended May 28, 2015
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes |Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+--------------------+----------------------|
|Higher |13-0 |Medina, Baker, | |
|Education | |Bloom, Chávez, | |
| | |Harper, Irwin, | |
| | |Jones-Sawyer, | |
| | |Levine, Linder, | |
| | |Low, Santiago, | |
| | |Weber, Williams | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+--------------------+----------------------|
|Appropriations |17-0 |Gomez, Bigelow, | |
| | |Bonta, Calderon, | |
| | |Chang, Daly, | |
| | |Eggman, Gallagher, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Eduardo Garcia, | |
| | |Gordon, Holden, | |
| | |Jones, Quirk, | |
| | |Rendon, Wagner, | |
| | |Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
AB 1000
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| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Establishes various requirements for the implementation
and rescission of California State University (CSU) student success
fees (fees). Specifically, this bill:
1)Prohibits a CSU campus or the CSU Chancellor from approving a new
student success fee or increasing an existing fee until the
campus:
a) Undertakes a consultation process to inform students on a
fee's uses, impacts, and costs.
b) Holds a binding student election and a majority of students
voting vote affirmatively. The fee would then be adopted
contingent on final approval by the Chancellor.
c) Informs students that the fee may be rescinded by a majority
vote of the students, but not less than six months after a vote
to implement the fee. Rescission is not allowed, however, for
the portion of the fee committed to support long-term
obligations.
2)Stipulates that a fee proposal may not be brought before the
student body more than once per academic year.
3)Provides that a success fee in place as of January 1, 2016, may be
rescinded by student vote only after six years have elapsed
following implementation.
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4)Requires the Chancellor to:
a) Ensure there is majority student representation in success
fee oversight groups, an annual report to the chancellor from
each campus on its success fee, and a transparent process for
allocation of success fee revenues.
b) Report annually on December 1, to the Legislature and the
Department of Finance, a summary of fees adopt or rescinded in
the prior academic year, and on the uses of proposed and
implemented fees.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Prohibits a campus-based mandatory student fee at the CSU
established through a student vote from being reallocated without
an affirmative student vote unless a majority of the members of
either the student body or a campus fee advisory committee voting
on the fee support the reallocation and the fee authorized the
alternative allocation mechanism. (Education Code Section 89711)
2)Prohibits a CSU campus or CSU Chancellor from approving a student
success fee before January 1, 2016, and requires the CSU
Chancellor to conduct a review and report on student success fees
currently in place, as follows. (Education Code Section 89712)
a) Requires, during the 2014-15 fiscal year, the CSU Chancellor
to conduct a review of the CSU Student Fee Policy relating to
student success fees and recommend to the trustees changes to
the fee policy; and requires the review to consider:
i) The approval process for student success fees, including
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the benefit of using a student election or the consultative
process in the approval process;
ii) The need for statewide policies governing a student
election, the consultative process, or both, for approving a
proposed student success fee;
iii) The means to improve transparency and accountability
regarding a campus' use of student success fee funds for the
benefit of members of the campus' community;
iv) The development of an annual report describing the use
of student success fee funds by each campus in the prior
academic year, to be posted on each campus' Internet Web
site;
v) The approval of a statewide policy to prohibit a campus
from implementing a student success fee for a period
exceeding five years unless a continuance of that fee is
approved by an affirmative vote of the majority of the
student body voting;
vi) The impact of student success fees on campuses' academic
programs and services available for students, including, but
not necessarily limited to, low-income students; and,
vii) A provision for financial assistance to offset the cost
of the fee for low-income students.
a) Requires the CSU Chancellor to report to the Department of
Finance and the appropriate fiscal and policy committees by
February 1, 2015.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee,
the bill's requirements are generally consistent with a recent
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policy adopted by the CSU Trustees, though placing these
requirements in statute would reduce CSU's flexibility to adjust its
policy in reaction to reductions in state support.
COMMENTS: A number of CSU campuses have adopted student success
fees, which, in some cases, substantially increase the cost of
attendance at a CSU. Since 2008, 12 of the 23 CSU campuses have
adopted such fees. These fees, which were adopted largely in
response to significant state funding reductions, are required to be
paid by students enrolling in these campuses. Concern over the
amount of these fees, the process used for adoption on campuses, and
the impact of the fees on low-income students led to the Legislature
placing an 18-month moratorium on new fees and establishing CSU
reporting requirements in the 2013-14 Budget Act education trailer
bill (SB 860 (Budget and Fiscal Review Committee), Chapter 34,
Statutes of 2014).
In June 2014, the CSU Board of Trustees (BOT) formed a working group
to study the role, process and enactment of student success fees.
The working group found that fees had been used in a number of ways
by the different campuses. At some campuses, fees support
technology, campus-wide WiFi, library hours, veteran services,
career services, athletics and additional otherwise unfunded
services. Some campuses, however, have used these fees to fund
educational needs that have traditionally been supported by tuition
and state appropriation such as faculty, advisors, counselors and
tutors, and to provide more courses.
According to the working group, of the 12 campuses with fees, only
two had referendums where a majority of students voted in favor of
the fee, and one of those two allowed students to vote only if they
attended alternative consultation meetings about the proposal. At a
third campus students voted to rejected the proposed fee and the fee
was imposed despite the student rejection. At remaining campuses
"alternative consultation" meetings were used instead of student
votes.
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At the January 27-28, 2015, meeting of the CSU Board of Trustees
(Trustees), the Trustees adopted a resolution memorializing the
final recommendations of the working group. The resolution requires
all of the following:
1)A binding student vote, where all eligible students are authorized
to vote, prior to the implementation of any proposed new student
success fee and a rigorous consultation process prior to the vote,
students must be informed prior to the vote of their rights to
rescind the fee and any limitations surrounding ongoing and/or
long-term obligations supported by the fee;
2)Student success fees currently in place shall remain unchanged,
however a new addition to an existing fee must be approved by a
binding student vote and the campus must receive approval from the
CSU Chancellor's Office on the process.
3)Student success fees accepted by a majority of students voting may
not be implemented without the approval of the CSU Chancellor and
the campus president. If the proposed uses of the fee were
historically covered by tuition and state funding, the Chancellor
is required to consult with the Board of Trustees.
4)Student success fees may be rescinded at any time after six years
with another binding majority student vote, except that student
success fees supporting ongoing and long-term obligations may not
be rescinded until the obligation is satisfied. Current student
success fees may not be rescinded until after January 1, 2021;
5)Student success fee implementation and fee rescinding proposals
may not be brought before students more than once per academic
year; and,
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6)Each campus is required to have transparent, online accountability
protocols that clarify the decision process and allocation of the
student success fees, with annual reporting to the Chancellor by
October 15th;
This bill is largely consistent with the requirements of the CSU BOT
resolution, the CSU Chancellor's Office is currently in the process
of establishing an Executive Order consistent with the requirements
of the resolution
Analysis Prepared by:
Laura Metune / HIGHER ED. / (916) 319-3960 FN:
0000747