BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
AB 970 (Fong) - UC and CSU Systemwide Fees.
Amended: July 6, 2012 Policy Vote: Education 6-2
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: August 6, 2012
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez
This bill may meet the criteria for referral to the Suspense
File.
Bill Summary: AB 970 establishes requirements and timeframes for
the University of California (UC) and the California State
University (CSU) regarding the approval and implementation of
student fee increases, and requires the segments to report
annually on their use of student fee revenues. This bill also
requires the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) to annually
review and report on CSU and UC compliance with these
provisions.
Fiscal Impact:
CSU compliance: Minor and absorbable costs to comply with
notification and consultation requirements; current CSU
practices are similar to these provisions.
UC compliance: Minor and absorbable costs to comply with
notification and consultation requirements; current UC
practices are similar to these provisions.
Fee revenue: Potentially substantial revenue loss to the UC
and CSU, to the extent that this bill hinders or delays any
future ability to raise student fees.
LAO report: Minor costs, absorbable within existing
resources.
Background: Existing law authorizes the UC Regents and the CSU
Trustees to charge various fees and prohibits certain fees from
applying to specified categories of students.
Existing law further provides that statutes related to UC (and
most other aspects of the governance and operation of UC) are
applicable only to the extent that the Regents of UC make such
provisions applicable. (EC � 67400)
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Existing law confers upon the Trustees of the CSU powers,
duties, and functions with respect to the management,
administration, and control of the CSU system. (EC � 66066)
Proposed Law: AB 970 establishes state policies applicable to
resident student financial aid and mandatory systemwide fees
charged at the UC and CSU. More specifically it requires that
the UC and CSU:
1) Explain to students the impact that increased fees will
have, as specified.
2) Consult students prior to any increase in fees so that
they may provide input and ask questions regarding the need
for the increase.
3) Provide students with adequate advance notice regarding
fee increases.
4) Provide current and prospective students with timely
information regarding financial aid, as specified.
5) Make every effort to ensure increased transparency in
the uses of, and rationale for, increased fee revenue.
This bill further requires the UC Regents and the CSU Trustees,
in consultation with appropriate student associations, to
develop and formally adopt in an open and public meeting of the
regents or trustees, a list of factors to be considered when
developing recommendations to adjust fees. It further
establishes the following notice, consultation, and timeframe
requirements for the UC and the CSU regarding the approval and
implementation of student fee increases:
1) Requires the UC and the CSU, 10 days prior to holding a
meeting to discuss or adopt a mandatory systemwide fee
increase, to provide public notice that includes, at a
minimum, specified information.
2) Requires the UC Regents and the CSU Trustees to consult
with their respective statewide student associations, at
least 30 days prior to providing public notice of a
proposed mandatory systemwide fee increase.
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3) Defines required "consultation" with the statewide
student association.
4) Prohibits the UC Regents and CSU Trustees from adopting
a fee increase until at least 45 days after a public
meeting to discuss the fee.
5) Prohibits adopting a fee increase after 90 days have
elapsed from the start of an academic year, except in the
case of increases for summer session.
6) Provides specific exceptions to the outlined timeframe
and notice requirements, as specified.
7) Requires, upon the adoption of a fee increase, that the
UC and CSU notify matriculated students of the upcoming
assessment of fees and inform students of financial aid
options, as specified.
8) Requires the UC Regents and CSU Trustees, by February 1,
2013, and annually thereafter, to provide the Legislature
information on: the expenditure of revenues derived from
student fees; uses of institutional financial aid; and, the
systemwide average total cost of attending per student.
This bill also requires the LAO to annually review and report to
the Legislature regarding UC's and CSU's compliance with all of
the above.
Related Legislation: SB 1461 (Negrete-McLeod) 2012 limited the
amount by which the CSU Trustees could increase the mandatory
system-wide fees for undergraduate students, in a given year,
and requested the UC Regents adhere to the same limit. That bill
was held under submission in this Committee.
Staff Comments: The UC and CSU have both indicated that this
bill's requirements are substantially similar to the processes
both segments currently employ in considering and implementing
student fee increases. Both segments believe that any minor
changes necessary for full compliance with this bill's
provisions could be accomplished within existing resources,
including adherence to the bill's specific notice and timeline
requirements for implementing fee increases.
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This bill would, however, bind the CSU and UC to continue to
adhere to these specific processes indefinitely. By codifying
extensive procedural requirements that these segments must
adhere to before they can raise student fees, this bill prevents
the segments from being able to streamline their current
processes in the future, and may prevent them from realizing new
revenue as quickly as they might without these requirements.
Additionally, by specifying a detailed process in statute,
students and other interested groups could challenge fee
increases if the CSU or UC were to miss a deadline or fail to
follow one of the requirements in the future. This could result
in delayed or lost revenue to the CSU and UC.
The LAO has indicated that it can complete the required annual
compliance review and report within its existing resources.