BILL ANALYSIS
------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1980|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1980
Author: Swanson (D)
Amended: 3/24/08 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 9-0, 6/11/08
AYES: Scott, Wyland, Alquist, Denham, Maldonado, Padilla,
Romero, Simitian, Torlakson
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 67-7, 5/5/08 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Peralta Community College District:
transportation fees
SOURCE : Peralta Community College District
DIGEST : This bill authorizes the Peralta Community
College District (CCD) to charge a fee to students or to
students and employees in order to fund transportation
services if specified requirements are met. This
authority is currently provided only to the Los Rios and
Rio Hondo CCDs.
The bill also expands the terms by which the Los Rios and
Rio Hondo CCDs may charge transportation fees (and extends
these terms to Peralta, as well.)
ANALYSIS : Currently, although CCDs are generally
prohibited from charging transportation fees, existing law
authorizes the Los Rios and the Rio Hondo CCDs to require a
CONTINUED
AB 1980
Page
2
fee for transportation services of students and employees
who use the service.
Current law also authorizes the Los Rios and Rio Hondo CCDs
upon a majority vote of (a) students and employees or (b)
only students, to require students and/or employees at a
campus to pay a fee for a period not to exceed 10 years to
partially or fully recover transportation costs incurred by
the district for reducing student and/or employee fares for
services provided by common carriers or municipally owned
transit systems. Such fees for part-time students are
required to be of a pro rata lesser amount. Low-income
students may be exempt from this fee or be required to pay
all or part of the fee.
This bill:
1.Expands slightly the authorization currently provided to
the Los Rios and Rio Hondo CCD to charge specified
transportation fees to students or students and
employees. Specifically, the bill expands this
authorization to allow the districts to limit the
transportation fee and corresponding transportation
benefits to students taking at least a prescribed minimum
number of course credits.
2.Includes the Peralta CCD in the "transportation fee"
authorization provided under current law to the Los Rios
and Rio Hondo CCDs (and as proposed to be amended in #1
above).
Comments
Current law authorizes only the Los Rios and the Rio Hondo
community college districts to charge their
students/employees transportation fees. The Peralta CCD
has been having positive discussions with local transit
authorities about offering discount mass transit passes to
its students/employees (as is currently done in both the
Los Rios and Rio Hondo districts) but is unable to so do
without specific statutory authorization which this bill
provides.
In addition, there is some concern that in districts which
AB 1980
Page
3
offer discounted mass transit passes students might enroll
in as little as a one unit course simply to obtain the
discounted transit pass. This bill modifies the existing
transit fee authorization to allow CCDs to charge the fees
(and, correspondingly, provide the passes) only to students
who are enrolled in at least a minimum number of course
credits.
The Peralta CCD is located in Alameda County and enrolls a
total of about 30,000 students at the following four
colleges: College of Alameda, Laney College (in Oakland),
Merritt College (in Oakland) and Vista College (in
Berkeley).
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/11/08)
Peralta Community College District (source)
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Aghazarian, Arambula, Beall, Berg, Berryhill,
Blakeslee, Brownley, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter,
Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, DeSaulnier,
DeVore, Dymally, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fuentes,
Fuller, Furutani, Galgiani, Garcia, Garrick, Hancock,
Hayashi, Hernandez, Horton, Houston, Huff, Huffman,
Jeffries, Jones, Karnette, Laird, Leno, Levine, Lieber,
Ma, Mendoza, Mullin, Nakanishi, Nava, Niello, Parra,
Plescia, Portantino, Price, Sharon Runner, Ruskin, Salas,
Saldana, Silva, Smyth, Solorio, Spitzer, Strickland,
Swanson, Torrico, Tran, Wolk, Nunez
NOES: Anderson, Duvall, Gaines, Keene, La Malfa, Maze,
Walters
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bass, Benoit, Krekorian, Lieu, Soto,
Villines
NC:do 6/12/08 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
AB 1980
Page
4
**** END ****