AB 190

Bill Subjects

Abstract

(1) Existing law establishes the Higher Education Student Housing Grant Program to provide one-time grants for the construction of student housing or for the acquisition and renovation of commercial properties into student housing for the purpose of providing affordable, low-cost housing options for students enrolled in public postsecondary education in the state. Existing law requires an administering entity to rank eligible applications for student housing grants using a composite score of certain measures, as provided. Existing law appropriates $1,428,133,000 for grants under the program, of which $21,107,000 is for allocation to the California State University, Humboldt. Existing law additionally appropriates $3,893,000 for the program, with specific projects to be funded with this appropriation to be identified in subsequent legislation. This bill would (A) revise certain provisions of the program relating to submission of student housing project applications, as provided, (B) add a new measure to be used for ranking eligible applications using a composite score, (C) appropriate an additional $6,000,000 for the program to be allocated to the California State University, Humboldt, and (D) repeal the $3,893,000 appropriation for specific projects to be identified in subsequent legislation. (2) Existing law establishes the Classified Community College Employee Summer Assistance Program. Existing law authorizes community college districts to elect to participate in the program, and authorizes a classified employee of a participating community college district who meets specified requirements to withhold an amount from the employee's monthly paycheck during the academic year to be paid out during the summer recess period, as provided. Existing law authorizes a classified employee to be eligible to participate in the program if the classified employee is employed by the community college district in the employee's regular assignment for 11 months or fewer out of a 12-month period. This bill would define "month," for purposes of these provisions, as 20 days or 4 weeks of 5 days each, including legal holidays. (3) Existing law establishes the California School Finance Authority, and authorizes the authority to issue revenue bonds to finance projects for a single or several participating parties, defined to include a community college district that undertakes the financing or refinancing of a project. Existing law, the California Educational Facilities Authority Act, authorizes the California Educational Facilities Authority, among other things, to develop student housing on or near public institutions of higher education through the use of agreements with participating nonprofit entities. This bill would establish the California Student Housing Revolving Loan Fund Act of 2022 to provide zero-interest loans to qualifying applicants of the University of California, the California State University, and the California Community Colleges for the purpose of constructing affordable student housing and affordable faculty and staff housing, as specified. The bill would establish the California Student Housing Revolving Fund as a continuously appropriated fund in the State Treasury, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would state the intent of the Legislature to appropriate $900,000,000 in the 2023–24 fiscal year and $900,000,000 in the 2024–25 fiscal year for purposes of the housing loans. The bill would require the California School Finance Authority and the California Educational Facilities Authority to submit a report, by March 15, 2025, to the Department of Finance and the budget committees of the Assembly and Senate containing information on the act, as provided. The bill would apply certain provisions of the California Educational Facilities Authority Act to the University of California and the California State University for purposes of housing projects, as defined. (4) Existing law, the Ortiz-Pacheco-Poochigian-Vasconcellos Cal Grant Program, establishes the Cal Grant A and B Entitlement awards, the California Community College Expanded Entitlement Awards, the California Community College Transfer Entitlement awards, the Competitive Cal Grant A and B awards, the Cal Grant C awards, and the Cal Grant T awards under the administration of the Student Aid Commission, and establishes eligibility requirements for these awards for participating students attending qualifying institutions. Under existing law, an otherwise qualifying institution with a 3-year cohort default rate that is equal to or greater than 15.5%, or a graduation rate of 30% or less, is ineligible for initial and renewal Cal Grant awards at the institution, as specified, with certain exceptions. Existing law requires the commission to establish an appeal process for an otherwise qualifying institution that fails to satisfy the 3-year cohort default rate and graduation rate requirements. Existing law authorizes the commission to grant an appeal for an academic year only if the commission has determined the institution has a cohort size of 20 individuals or less and the cohort is not representative of the overall institutional performance. This bill would authorize, for the 2023–24 academic year only, the commission to also grant an appeal for an otherwise qualifying institution that failed to meet the 3-year cohort default rate due to the acquisition of an out-of-state institution that impacted its 3-year cohort default rate and the acquired institution has since closed any time between the 2019–20 and 2022–23 academic years, inclusive, as provided. (5) Existing law establishes the Middle Class Scholarship Program under the administration of the Student Aid Commission. Existing law makes an undergraduate student eligible for a scholarship award under the program if the student is enrolled at the University of California or the California State University, or enrolled in upper division coursework in a community college baccalaureate program, and meets certain eligibility requirements. Existing law requires the commission to annually determine if certain amounts appropriated under the program in each fiscal year are sufficient to cover the costs of the scholarships as projected to be awarded pursuant to the program. If those amounts are not sufficient for this purpose, existing law requires the scholarships to be reduced proportionately by an equal percentage for all recipients of scholarships under the program. This bill would set, commencing with the 2022–23 academic year, for any student who qualifies for a scholarship award under the program of at least $1, the minimum annual scholarship amount for full-time enrollment at $90. (6) Existing law, the NextUp program, authorizes the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to enter into agreements with community college districts to provide, and allocate to selected community colleges within a community college district, funds for services in support of postsecondary education for foster youth. Existing law requires a student participant in the program to meet specified requirements, including be no older than 25 years of age at the commencement of any academic year in which the student participates in the program. Existing law requires the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges to adopt regulations for the program and requires those regulations to authorize waiver of any income criteria specified in the regulations as a condition of eligibility, as provided. This bill would instead require a student participant in the program to be no older than 25 years of age at the commencement of the academic year in which the student first enrolls in the program. The bill would deem foster youth who meet specified eligibility criteria eligible to enroll in the program without being required to meet any additional eligibility requirements as a condition for enrollment. The bill would delete the provision requiring the regulations adopted by the board of governors for the program to allow waiving of income criteria specified in the regulations as a condition of eligibility. (7) Existing law establishes an Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Student Achievement Program at the California State University and the California Community Colleges to provide culturally responsive services to enhance student educational experiences and promote higher education success for low-income, underserved, and first-generation AANHPI students and other underrepresented students. Existing law requires certain amounts appropriated in the annual Budget Act to support a statewide central office for each segment's program. Existing law requires each statewide central office to develop a process to allocate funds to qualifying campuses. Existing law requires the offices of the Chancellors of the California Community Colleges and California State University to submit on or before March 31, 2026, a report prepared by an independent evaluator, evaluating their segment's program, including an assessment of the impact of the program, as provided. This bill would (A) instead require the applicable statewide central office to develop the criteria and process for a grant program to provide funding to the segment's qualifying campuses, (B) require the applicable statewide central office to establish an AANHPI stakeholder process for purposes of the segment's program, as provided, (C) require the applicable statewide central office to prepare an annual report that includes specified information on or before March 31 of each year, and (D) require the report prepared by the independent evaluator and submitted by the offices of the Chancellors of the California Community Colleges and California State University on or before March 31, 2026, to include an assessment of the impact of the segment's program, as specified. (8) Existing law establishes the Part-time Community College Faculty Health Insurance Program, which authorizes the governing board of a community college district to provide a program of health insurance for part-time faculty and their dependents. Existing law defines "part-time faculty," for purposes of the program, as any faculty member whose teaching assignment equals or exceeds 40% of the cumulative equivalent of a minimum full-time teaching assignment. This bill would additionally authorize the governing board of a community college district to provide a program of health insurance for multidistrict part-time faculty, defined as any faculty member whose total teaching assignments at 2 or more community college districts equals or exceeds 40% of the cumulative equivalent of a minimum full-time teaching assignment. The bill would make a multidistrict part-time faculty member who individually purchases health insurance benefits eligible to participate in the program, and would require a community college district to reimburse a multidistrict part-time faculty member for the district's proportionate share, as determined, of the total health insurance premium paid by the multidistrict part-time faculty member, as specified. Existing law requires the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, by June 15 of each year, to apportion to each community college district that establishes a health insurance program pursuant to the Part-time Community College Faculty Health Insurance Program an amount that equals up to ½ of the total cost of the individual enrollment premiums required to be paid for the health insurance coverage of participating part-time faculty and their dependents in the district. This bill would additionally require the chancellor, by June 15 of each year, to apportion any remaining funds appropriated to the program to each community college district that establishes a health insurance program and meets specified criteria, up to the total cost of the individual premiums required to be paid, as specified. The bill would require that criteria to include (A) offering health insurance coverage to all part-time faculty, (B) offering part-time faculty the same health insurance benefits provided to full-time faculty, (C) limiting individual premiums paid by part-time faculty to the actual individual premium paid by full-time faculty, and (D) offering health insurance coverage to all multidistrict part-time faculty, as specified. (9) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.