BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2047
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Date of Hearing: May 12, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 2047 (Hernandez) - As Amended: April 28, 2010
Policy Committee: Higher
EducationVote:6-3
Judiciary 7-3
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill authorizes the University of California (UC) and the
California State University (CSU) to consider several
demographic characteristics of applicants for undergraduate and
graduate admissions. Specifically, this bill:
1)Authorizes UC and CSU to consider geographic origin and
household income of applicants.
2)Authorizes UC and CSU to consider race, gender, ethnicity, and
national origin to the maximum extent permitted by the equal
protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution and pursuant to a 2003 U.S. Supreme Court
decision.
3)Requires that CSU, and requests that UC, report to the
Legislature and the governor by November 2012 on
implementation of the above , including data on admissions
disaggregated by all of the factors identified in (1) and (2)
compared to two prior years of admissions.
FISCAL EFFECT
To the extent UC and/or CSU exercised the authority provided in
the bill, they would likely do so within their existing
resources. Any costs for the reporting requirement are also
absorbable. However, implementation of this bill would likely
lead to litigation, for which UC and/or CSU could incur legal
costs exceeding $150,000.
AB 2047
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COMMENTS
1)Proposition 209 and the Equal Protection Clause. In November
1996, California voters passed Proposition 209 which says:
"The State shall not discriminate against, or grant
preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the
basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in
the operation of public employment, public education, or
public contracting." Although controversial to some supporters
of Prop. 209, the U.S. Supreme Court under former Chief
Justice Rehnquist held that the Equal Protection Clause to the
14th Amendment does not prohibit a university from the
"narrowly tailored use of race in admissions decisions to
further a compelling interest in obtaining the educational
benefits that flow from a diverse student body." (Grutter v.
Bollinger (2003), 539 U.S. 306, 343.)
2)Background on Admissions . CSU generally admits as first-time
freshmen all students who are California residents and
graduate from high school, have a grade point average above
3.0, and complete a 15-unit pattern of courses with a grade of
C or higher. CSU authorizes impacted undergraduate majors,
programs, or campuses to use supplementary admission criteria
to screen applications. Each major, program, or campus is
authorized to determine its own supplementary admissions
criteria.
Under UC's admissions policy, known as Comprehensive Review,
campuses use 14 selection criteria-10 based upon academic
achievement and 4 based on factors such as special talents and
accomplishments, creativity, tenacity, community service, and
leadership to make admissions decisions. UC states that it
does not consider race, ethnicity, or gender in the admissions
process. In addition, UC has adopted new eligibility
criteria, which go into effect in Fall 2012, that allow more
flexibility in meeting the admissions requirements.
3)Purpose . According to the author, this bill addresses the
significant drop in the percentage of enrolled minority
students at both UC and CSU, which is an unintended
consequence of Proposition 209. The author states:
Recent reports have shown that California high schools are
graduating more underrepresented students who are eligible
for the UC and CSU, however, they are not enrolling (in the
AB 2047
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universities) at the same rate. In 1995, before
Proposition 209 took effect, underrepresented minority
students accounted for 38 percent of California high school
graduates but only 21 percent of entering UC freshmen, a
difference of 17 percent. In 2004, they made up 45 percent
of high school graduates but had fallen to 18 percent of
incoming UC freshmen, a difference of 27 percent. This gap
will continue to widen as Latinos and African Americans
will account for about 70 percent of the increase in
California public high school graduates between 2000 and
2008.
4)Opposition . Both the American Civil Rights Coalition
(ACRC) and the California Association of Scholars oppose
the bill, arguing that it is a violation of Prop. 209.
The ACRC in part argues that, if signed, the bill would
be challenged in court and "cause the state a needless
and expensive legal battle?"
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081