BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  AB 2478
                                                                  Page  1

          CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
          AB 2478 (Hayashi)
          As Amended  August 6, 2012
          Majority vote
           
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |ASSEMBLY:  |75-0 |(May 30, 2012)  |SENATE: |37-0 |(August 22,    |
          |           |     |                |        |     |2012)          |
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
            
           Original Committee Reference:    HIGHER ED.  

           SUMMARY  :   Extends resident classification for up to one year to 
          California Community College (CCC) students who were stationed 
          in California on active duty for more than one year immediately 
          prior to being discharged, if the student:

          1)Files an affidavit with the community college stating his or 
            her intent to establish residency as soon as possible. 

          2)Resides in this state while using the exemption and within two 
            years of being discharged.

          3)Did not receive a dishonorable or bad conduct discharge.

           The Senate amendments  reduce the length of the exemption from 
          nonresident fees from two years to one year and prohibit 
          students with dishonorable or bad conduct discharges from 
          receiving this benefit.

           EXISTING LAW  establishes uniform residency requirements for 
          purposes of ascertaining the amount of fees to be paid by 
          students at the University of California, the California State 
          University, and CCC and establishes various exceptions to these 
          residency requirements, including members of the Armed Forces 
          who are stationed in California on active duty and their 
          dependents.  (Education Code Sections 68074 and 68075)

           AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY  , this bill provided a two year 
          exemption from nonresident CCC fees for eligible veterans.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :   According to the Senate Appropriations 
          Committee:

          1)Each affected veteran would be eligible to pay $46 per unit, 








                                                                  AB 2478
                                                                  Page  2

            rather than $244 per unit.  For each full time student 
            (enrolled in 30 units per academic year), the CCC would lose 
            $5,920 in fee revenue.  

          2)The number of veterans who will be eligible to benefit from 
            this bill is not known.  There are currently approximately 
            44,000 veterans enrolled in CCCs statewide.  If 1% of them 
            were full-time students newly eligible to pay resident tuition 
            rates, the resulting fee loss would be approximately $2.6 
            million.  The CCC system budget assumes a certain amount of 
            fee revenue each year.  Fee revenue losses result in General 
            Fund cost pressure to backfill the lost revenue in order to 
            continue to provide necessary programs.

          3)This bill does not make affected veterans eligible for Board 
            of Governors (BOG) fee waivers, because it only waives 
            non-resident fees requirements, rather than providing that 
            they meet residency requirements (needed for Board of 
            Governors (BOG) fee waiver eligibility).

           COMMENTS  :   Under existing law, veterans from other states are 
          charged nonresident fees during their first year while they 
          establish residency.  The Post-GI Bill benefits fund a student's 
          in-state tuition and fees for 36 months.  Thus, this bill would 
          provide a subsidy equaling the difference between the resident 
          and non-resident fees at the student's college for the one year 
          required to establish residency.
           

          Analysis Prepared by  :    Sandra Fried / HIGHER ED. / (916) 
          319-3960 



                                                               FN: 0005014