BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Gloria Romero, Chair
2009-2010 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 82
AUTHOR: Hancock
AMENDED: August 16, 2010
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: August 26,
2010
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Kathleen Chavira
NOTE : This bill has been amended to replace its contents
and this is the first time the bill is being heard by this
committee.
SUBJECT : Community College Transportation Fees
KEY POLICY ISSUES
Should the cap on California Community College
transportation fees be increased?
Should the cap be subject to an annual inflationary
adjustment?
SUMMARY
This bill increases, and requires an annual inflationary
adjustment to, the statutory cap placed on California
Community College (CCC) transportation fees.
BACKGROUND
Current law authorizes California Community College (CCC)
districts to charge a fee to students or to students and
employees, subject to specified requirements, in order to
fund transportation services for purposes of partially or
fully recovering the district's transportation costs or for
reducing fares for services provided by municipally owned
transit services to these students and employees. These
requirements, among others, include a favorable vote of a
majority of students, a pro-rata fee for part-time
students, optional exemption for low-income students and a
contract limitation of no more than 10 years.
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Current law prohibits the transportation fee from exceeding
the amount necessary to reimburse districts for
transportation costs/services and caps the amount which may
be charged for these services. Specifically, combined
transportation and parking services fees cannot exceed $60
per semester or $30 per intersession, or the proportionate
equivalent for part-time enrollment. (Education Code
76361 & 76361.1)
Current law authorizes a local CCC governing board to
require students and employees to pay a fee for parking
services and caps this fee at $40 per semester and $20 per
intersession. (Education Code 76360)
ANALYSIS
This bill :
1) Increases the statutory cap on transportation services
fees from $60 to $70 per semester and from $30 to $35
per intercession.
2) Requires that the statutory cap on transportation
services fees be increased annually by the same
percentage increase as the Implicit Price Deflator for
State and Local Government Purchases of Goods and
Services published by the United States Department of
Commerce.
3) Consolidates duplicative code sections on
transportation fees into a single code section.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill . According to the sponsors, the
transportation services fee cap has been in place for
over a decade. When initially put into law, few
California Community College (CCC) districts provided
public transportation opportunities for students.
Districts that have provided for these services have
only been able to do so due to recent legislation that
expanded the ability for students to assess themselves
a fee for discounted transit passes. Those that have
programs, are seeking to expand programs, or are
exploring initiating programs, are limited in their
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ability to do so due to the outdated cap. This bill
ensures that districts can work with local transit
authorities to provide passes that are cost effective
for both students and the transit provider.
2) Further clarification . This bill increases the overall
amount which may be charged for transportation
services by $10 per semester and $5 per intercession.
The maximum amount which a district could levy would
be annually adjusted for inflation. However, all
other existing statutory requirements regarding such a
fee would remain unchanged, including the requirement
that the actual imposition and amount of the fee be
subject to a favorable vote by a majority of students.
Additionally, while current law requires the
calculation of the maximum transportation services fee
to consider the amount of any parking fees levied by
the district, this bill does not change the statutory
cap on parking fees.
3) Implicit Price Deflator . This bill authorizes the use
of the Implicit Price Deflator for State and Local
Government Purchases of Goods to annually adjust the
cap on the transportation services fee for community
college students and employees. This measure of
inflation is used to compare expenditures over a
period of time and is currently also used to calculate
increases to school district revenue limits and to
adjust the health fees authorized to be required of
CCC students (Education Code 76355).
4) Prior legislation .
AB 2812 (Higher Education Committee, Chapter 954,
Statutes of 1998), reorganized CCC parking fee
provisions, authorized all CCC governing boards to
levy fees to fund parking facility construction and
transportation services, and established the maximum
fee amounts CCCs are authorized to charge for parking
and transportation services.
AB 774 (Cook, Chapter 253, Statutes of 2009), expanded
the flexibility granted to three CCC districts (by
legislation enacted in 2006 and in 2008) to charge a
fee to students or students and employees in order to
fund transportation services, if specific requirements
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were met, to apply to all CCC districts.
SUPPORT
Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District
Butte-Glenn Community College District
California Community College League
California Transit Association
Kern Community College District
Los Angeles Community College District
Mt. San Jacinto Community College District
Peralta Community College District
Rio Hondo Community College District
San Jose-Evergreen Community College District
West Kern Community College District
OPPOSITION
None received.