BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                          AB 1197
                                                          Page  1

Date of Hearing:   May 19, 1999

              ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS 
                    Carole Migden, Chairwoman

           AB 1197 (Firebaugh) - As Amended: 4/27/99 

Policy Committee:                              Higher  
EducationVote:7-4

Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local  
Program:NoReimbursable:           No

  SUMMARY  :

This bill QUALIFIES long-term California residents, who are not  
citizens of the United States, for the lower state resident  
tuition at the California Community Colleges (CCC) and the  
California State University (CSU). Specifically, this bill  
requires the CCC and CSU to assess residential fees to any  
student who attended a high school for at least three years in  
California.

  FISCAL EFFECT  :

Unknown GF (Prop 98) costs, potentially over $16 million to CCC,  
to backfill the loss of fee revenues for non-residents, assuming  
4,500 eligible students at $3,500 per pupil.

Unknown GF (non-Prop 98) costs, potentially over $12 million to  
CSU, to backfill for the loss of fee revenues for non-residents,  
assuming that there about 1,500 undocumented students on campus.  
 Non-residents tuition is $8,118.

  COMMENTS  :

  1)Purpose  . The author contends many of the students that would  
  benefit under this measure are children of parents who have  
  been granted amnesty by the federal government and are waiting  
  for their own applications for citizenship to be accepted by  
  the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). The majority  
  of these students consider California their home and expect to  
  become citizens.

  2)Background  . Current law establishes residency requirements for  








                                                          AB 1197
                                                          Page  2

  students attending a CSU or CCC campus and requires CSU and  
  CCC to charge nonresident tuition to any student who is not a  
  California resident; furthermore, current law precludes  
  undocumented students from establishing residency in  
  California. 

  3)Student fees  .  In the current year, CSU resident students pay  
  $1,506 in systemwide fees, while nonresident students pay  
  $9,253. The amount for nonresident tuition will increase to  
  $9,991 in the 1999-2000 fiscal year. 

4)   It is not clear why this bill is silent on the University  
of California.

  4)Background  .  Current law, as noted above, was contested in a  
  1985 court case (" Leticia A" v. Board of Regents of the  
  University of California  ) when a group of undocumented  
  students challenged UC and CSU for not recognizing them as  
  California residents and charging them out-of-state  
  (nonresident) tuition. At that time, the court ruled that  
  charging nonresident tuition to undocumented students was  
  unconstitutional because UC and CSU used a different  
  definition of "residency" for undocumented aliens as it used  
  for US citizens. 

  The 1985 decision was later overridden by a 1990 Court of  
  Appeal, Second District decision (  Regents of the University  
  of California v. Los Angeles County Superior Court  ), also  
  known as the  Bradford  decision. In  Bradford  , the court held  
  that current law was constitutional.  As a result of  Bradford  
   , current law regarding the assessment of nonresident tuition  
  charges on undocumented students is being enforced at  
  California public colleges. 

  Both the  Leticia A  case and the  Bradford  case dealt solely  
  with the issue of defining California residency for purposes  
  of assessing nonresident tuition. This measure does not change  
  the definition of California resident nor does it alter  
  current law regarding the assessment of nonresident tuition to  
  students that are not California Residents. 


  Analysis Prepared by  :    Jai Sookprasert / APPR. / (916)  
319-2081