Amended in Assembly March 28, 2016

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 1846

Introduced by Assembly Member Lopez

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(Coauthors: Assembly Members Chávez and Eduardo Garcia)

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February 9, 2016

An act relating to adult education, and making an appropriation therefor.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1846, as amended, Lopez. Adult education consortium program.

Existing law requires the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges and the State Department of Education, pursuant to funding made available in the annual Budget Act, to jointly provide 2-year planning and implementation grants to regional consortia of community college districts and school districts for developing regional plans to better serve the educational needs of adults. Existing law requires the grant funds provided under this program to be used by each regional consortium to create and implement a plan to better provide adults in its region with certain skills, classes, courses, and programs, including, among other things, programs for apprentices.

This bill would appropriate $250,000,000 every fiscal year from the General Fund to the California Community Colleges and the State Department of Education for ongoing support of the adult education consortium program.

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This bill would also declare the intent of the Legislature to add this appropriation to the $500,000,000 appropriated annually in recent state budgets for the adult education block grant program for a total of $750,000,000 annually, and would make certain findings and declarations relating to adult education funding.

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The funds appropriated by this bill would be applied toward the minimum funding requirements for school districts and community college districts imposed by Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

begin delete The end delete begin insert (a) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert The Legislature finds and declares both
of the following: end insert

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(1) According to the Regional Planning Report of 2015 authored
by the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges and the
Superintendent, between the years of 2008 and 2013 an estimated
65 adult schools across California were closed.

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(2) Increasing funding for the adult education consortium
program to seven hundred fifty million dollars ($750,000,000)
would restore adult education funding to its 2008 level.

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(b) It is the intent of the Legislature to add two hundred fifty
million dollars ($250,000,000) annually to the five hundred million
dollars ($500,000,000) appropriated annually in recent state
budgets for the adult education block grant program established
pursuant to Article 9 (commencing with Section 84900) of Chapter
5 of Part 50 of Division 7 of Title 3 of the Education Code for a
total provided for these purposes each year of seven hundred fifty
million dollars ($750,000,000).

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begin insert (c) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert The end insert sum of two hundred fifty million dollars ($250,000,000)
is begin insert hereby end insert appropriated every fiscal year from the General Fund to
the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges and the State
Department of Education for ongoing support of the adult education
consortium program implemented pursuant to Section 84830 of
the Education Code.