BILL NUMBER: AB 1997	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 17, 2010

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Portantino

                        FEBRUARY 17, 2010

   An act to amend Section 69433 of the Education Code, relating to
student financial aid.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1997, as amended, Portantino. Community colleges: student
financial aid programs: application forms.
   Existing law establishes various student financial aid programs
under the administration of the Student Aid Commission, and
establishes eligibility requirements under these programs for
participating students attending qualifying institutions.
   Existing law requires the commission to authorize the use of
standardized student financial aid application forms and requires
these forms to be used for the Cal Grant Program and all other
programs funded by the state or a public institution of postsecondary
education, except that a simplified form may be used for a specified
financial assistance program of the Board of Governors of the
California Community Colleges.
   This bill would instead authorize a community college district to
use the simplified form solely for purposes of specified fee waivers
provided by the board of governors,  solely on a case-by-case
basis,  and only under certain circumstances. The bill would
require a community college district that elects to use the
simplified form to annually report to the Chancellor of the
California Community Colleges the number of simplified forms used and
its justifications for the use of that form.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 69433 of the Education Code is amended to read:

   69433.  (a) (1) A Cal Grant Program award shall be based upon the
financial need of the applicant, and shall not exceed the calculated
financial need for any individual applicant. The minimum level of
financial need of each applicant shall be determined by the
commission pursuant to Section 69432.9. The commission may provide
renewal awards.
   (2) A student attending a nonpublic institution shall receive a
renewal award for tuition or fees, or both, in an amount not to
exceed the maximum allowable award amount that was in effect in the
year in which the student first received a new award.
   (b) A Cal Grant award authorized pursuant to this chapter shall be
defined as a full-time equivalent grant. An award to a part-time
student shall be a fraction of a full-time grant, as determined by
the commission.
   (c) (1) The commission shall prescribe the use of standardized
student financial aid applications for California. These applications
shall be simple in nature, and collect common data elements required
by the federal government and those elements needed to meet the
objectives of state-funded and institutional financial aid programs.
   (2) (A) The applications prescribed in paragraph (1) shall be used
for the Cal Grant Program, all other programs funded by the state or
a public institution of postsecondary education, and all federal
programs administered by a public postsecondary education
institution.
   (B) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), a community college district
may use a simplified form solely for purposes of fee waivers from
the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges under
Section 76300. The community college district may use the simplified
form  solely on a case-by-case basis and  only in those
cases in which it is determined  by the governing board of
the district  to be appropriate  by a campus authority
with responsibility for student financial aid programs  . If a
community college district elects to use a simplified form pursuant
to this subparagraph, the district shall annually report to the
Chancellor of the California  community  
Community  Colleges the number of simplified forms used by the
district and its justifications for the use of that form.
   (3) Supplemental application information may be used if the
information is essential to accomplishing the objectives of
individual programs. All supplemental application information used
for the purposes of commission-administered programs shall be subject
to approval by the commission, and applications shall be identical
for programs with similar objectives, as determined by the
commission.
   (4) Public postsecondary institutions are encouraged to use, but
may decide whether to use, the standard applications for funds
provided by private donors.
   (5) The Legislature finds and declares that it is in the best
interest of students that all postsecondary education institutions in
California participating in federal and state-funded financial aid
programs accept the standard applications prescribed by the
commission.
   (d) Nothing in this chapter shall prevent an individual public
postsecondary institution from processing, with its own staff and
fiscal resources, the standard financial aid applications specified
in subdivision (c) for student aid programs for which it has legal
responsibility.
   (e) The commission may enter into contracts with a public agency
or a private entity to improve the processing and distribution of
grants, fellowships, and loans through the use of electronic networks
and unified databases.