BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1995
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
1995 (Williams and Gonzalez)
As Amended May 31, 2016
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Higher |13-0 |Medina, Baker, Bloom, | |
|Education | |Chávez, Irwin, | |
| | |Jones-Sawyer, Levine, | |
| | |Linder, Low, Olsen, | |
| | |Santiago, Weber, | |
| | |Williams | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |17-1 |Gonzalez, Bigelow, |Obernolte |
| | |Bloom, Bonilla, | |
| | |Bonta, Calderon, | |
| | |Chang, Daly, Eggman, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Eduardo Garcia, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Roger Hernández, | |
| | |Holden, Quirk, | |
| | |Santiago, Wagner, | |
AB 1995
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| | |Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Requires campuses of the California Community Colleges
(CCC) to grant enrolled homeless students access and usage of
campus shower facilities. Specifically, this bill:
1)Specifies that if a CCC has shower facilities for student use
on campus, the governing board of the community college
district (CCD) shall grant access to the shower facilities to
any homeless student, provided the student:
a) Is enrolled in coursework;
b) Has paid enrollment fees; and,
c) Is in good standing with the CCD.
2)Requires the governing board to determine a plan of action in
order to have homeless students access and use the shower
facilities that includes, but is not limited to, all of the
following:
a) Hours of operation for the shower facilities;
b) The minimum number of units a student must be enrolled
in to use the facilities;
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c) A plan of action if hours of operation conflict with an
intercollegiate athletic program; and,
d) A definition of homeless student that is based on the
definition of homeless youth specified in the
McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 United States
Code Section (U.S.C.) 11434a(2)), but also reflects the age
of the homeless student population at the community college
campus.
3)Specifies that hours of operation shall be consistent with
campus hours of instruction and shall not conflict with the
campus' intercollegiate athletic program.
4)Requires through the Student Success and Support Program
(SSSP), the administration of a program to provide shower
facilities to homeless students, as specified.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes in federal law the McKinney-Vento Homeless
Education Assistance Improvements Act of 2001 to ensure
educational rights and protections for youth experiencing
homelessness (42 U.S.C. 11431, et seq.).
2)Defines in federal law "homeless children and youth" to mean
individuals who lack a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime
residence, as specified, including children and youth who are:
a) Sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of
housing, economic hardship, or similar reason;
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b) Living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping
grounds due to the lack of alternative adequate
accommodations;
c) Living in emergency or transitional shelters;
d) Abandoned in hospitals;
e) Awaiting foster care placement;
f) Inhabiting a primary nighttime residence that is a
public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used
as a regular sleeping accommodation, as specified;
g) Living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned
buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or
similar settings; and,
h) Migratory, as defined, and who otherwise qualify as
homeless per this definition (42 U.S.C. 11434(a)(2)).
3)Establishes the Community College Student Financial Aid
Outreach Program and requires the California Student Aid
Commission (CSAC) to develop and administer this program for
the purpose of providing financial aid training to high school
and community college counselors and advisors, as specified.
Further requires the program to:
a) Include training to address the specific needs of
community college students intending to transfer to a
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four-year institution of higher education, foster youth,
and students with disabilities;
b) Provide specialized information on financial aid
opportunities available to community college students, as
specified; and
c) Concentrate its efforts on high schools and community
colleges that are located in geographic areas with a high
percentage of low-income families (Education Code (EC)
69514.5).
4)Permits CSAC to, via the Student Opportunity and Access
Program, apportion funds on a progress payment schedule for
the support of projects designed to increase the accessibility
of postsecondary educational opportunities for any elementary
and secondary school pupils who are: from low-income
families, will be the first in their families to attend
college, or are from schools or geographic regions with
documented low eligibility or college participation rates (EC
69561).
5)Creates the SSSP in order to provide a variety of programs
intended to ensure the success of CCC students (EC 78212).
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, assuming costs of $2,000 per district to adopt the
required policy, one-time state reimbursable costs for 72
districts will be $144,000 (General Fund - Proposition 98 of
1988). Ongoing state reimbursable costs to implement the policy
are unknown, but should not be significant.
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COMMENTS: Background. According to the National Association
for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth (NAEHCY),
college homelessness is a serious issue that is often
overlooked; there exists an assumption that if someone is
homeless, he/she is so focused on basic needs like food and
shelter that school is not a concern. However, NAEHCY contends
that for homeless youth, education is the answer to providing
homeless youth means to be able to enter into the work force,
earn a living, and no longer be homeless.
To note, there is no concrete estimate for the number of
homeless college students nationwide, but 58,158 college
applicants indicated that they were homeless on federal
financial aid forms for the 2012-13 academic year (most recent
data available to date); which, according to NAEHCY, is up eight
percent from 53,705 in the previous year, according to federal
data. NAEHCY argues that the number is likely understated,
since some students may be staying in a car, relatives' or
fellow classmates' couches, or motels, and do not realize they
are technically homeless, or do not want to admit to it.
Additionally, 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 CA vs. two percent
nationally).
Purpose of the measure. According to the author, food and
housing insecurity impairs the academic performance of college
students. Students without permanent housing may go without
showering and basic hygienic products. The author states,
"Students are less likely to attend class when they do not take
showers and feel insecure about their physical appearance." The
author contends that homeless students who lack access to shower
facilities and other necessities are at an extreme risk of
dropping out of school.
This measure requires the governing board of a CCD to create
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certain protocols when authorizing homeless students to access
and use campus shower facilities.
Previous legislation. AB 1228 (Gipson), Chapter 571, Statutes
of 2015, extends priority for housing at the University of
California, the California State University, and the CCC, to
homeless youth, and requests campuses to develop plans to ensure
that homeless and foster youth have housing during school
breaks.
AB 801 (Bloom) of the current legislative session, which is
awaiting action on the Senate Floor, would, among others, create
the Success for Homeless Youth in Higher Education Act.
Analysis Prepared by:
Jeanice Warden / HIGHER ED. / (916) 319-3960
FN: 0003263