BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
957 (Price)
Hearing Date: 04/26/2010 Amended: 04/06/2010
Consultant: Dan Troy Policy Vote: ED 6-0
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BILL SUMMARY: SB 957 would require the California Student Aid
Commission (CSAC) to develop areas of occupational and technical
training for which students may utilize Cal Grant C awards and
to give priority for grants to students pursuing training in
areas that meet two of the following criteria: 1) high
employment need, 2) high employment salary or wage projection,
and 3) high employment growth. The bill would also require CSAC
to report biennially on program outcomes commencing in 2014.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 Fund
Cal Grant C 85 85 85
General
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STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
The Cal Grant C, administered by CSAC, program provides grants
to financially needy students pursuing occupational or technical
education. Cal Grant C awards assist with tuition and training
costs at occupational or vocational programs (e.g., community
college programs or independent schools that run programs of at
least 4 months but no more than two years) and may be used for
institutional fees, charges, and other costs, including tuition,
plus other costs such as transportation, equipment, tools,
supplies, and books. The program annually awards 7,761 grants
with the maximum award amounts capped at 1) $2,592 for tuition
and fee awards or 2) $576 for book and supply awards pursuant to
the 2009-10 Budget Act.
Current law provides that Cal Grant C awards shall be awarded in
occupational or technical training areas as determined by CSAC
in consultation with appropriate state and federal entities. In
recent years, though, there has been no attention given to
targeting appropriate occupational areas. In fact, the LAO
recently reported that only 43 percent of 2008-09 award
recipients even reported the occupational area in which they
were pursuing training. The author's office indicates that the
bill is intended to better match the program with the state's
growing and high paying industries.
This bill would attempt to prioritize the allocation of grant
awards to applicants pursuing training in occupational areas
that meet two of the following criteria: 1) high employment
need, 2) high employment salary or wage projection, and 3) high
employment growth. This bill specifies that CSAC would consult
with state and federal agencies, including the Employment
Development Division (EDD), and also with nongovernmental
stakeholders to develop areas of occupational and technical
training for utilization of the awards. The areas would be
required to updated at least once every five years commencing in
2011, and would utilize projections from EDD's Labor Market
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SB 957 (Price)
Information Directory. Finally, the bill would require CSAC to
biennially report on program outcomes commencing in 2014.
CSAC reports that since the program currently has only the
minimum staff required to ensure eligibility and process grants,
an additional full-time position at an annual cost of
approximately $85,000 would be necessary to meet the provisions
of the bill. In order to streamline the bill's specifications
and ease the workload burden on CSAC, staff recommends two
amendments: 1) shift the responsibility for reporting from CSAC
to the Legislative Analyst's Office, and 2) limit the obligation
of CSAC to consult with various stakeholders and have the
Commission simply identify appropriate industries for
prioritization through the use of existing EDD data. CSAC
reports that these changes should reduce staffing costs by half.