Assembly Standing Committee on Higher Education

Please note that while this hearing will not have phone testimony, we are accepting written testimony through the position letter portal on the Committee's website at www.AHEDAssembly.CA.Gov bills will be taken up in sign in order. Additionally, please note that the guideline for bills heard in this Committee is to allow testimony from two lead witnesses in support and two lead witnesses in opposition to speak for no more than two minutes each.

Stakeholder groups and entities that are neither in support nor in opposition will be allowed to give testimony for no more than two minutes. When a call for tweeners if a measure has more than two entities in the tweener category, only two will be allowed to speak for two minutes each. And for Members of the Committee. Members, if you'd like to respond to a roll call, ask a question, or provide a comment, please be sure to activate your mic and speak into microphone.

And for authors of bills up today, authors each Member presenting today will have an opening statement and a closing statement. Your two lead witnesses will each have two minutes to provide testimony. And just a quick note, Assembly Member Don Addis has been excused from today's Committee hearing. And when we have quorum, we'll take up the consent calendar. Today we have two bills on consent.

There are items 4, SB 711, authored by Assuming by Senator Caballo, and file item 5, SB 886, from the Senate Committee on Education. So once we have a quorum, we'll do the consent calendar, and Madam Secretary, please call the role. Okay, we'll call the role in a moment when we have quorum, but at this time, we'll start this meeting as a informational hearing. And we have three bills up and two bills are consent. So do we have any authors yet? Yes.

Mr. Bradford, perfect timing. Welcome. Mr. Bradford has item number 3, SB 661, the student athlete Bill of Rights. Welcome, Senator Bradford.

Thank you, Mr. Chair and Members, as stated, this is student Athletes Bill of Rights. This Bill will expand the rights of students athletes by requiring all four year colleges and universities in California to honor student athlete scholarships in the event that athletes suffered some incapacitating injury which prevents he or she from continuing in their children's sport. Currently, only schools that receive more than $10 million in media rights revenue are required to protect scholarships. However, all UC schools honor the scholarship of sick and injured student athletes.

And some, I should say, of the Cal State University system, do as well. This Bill requires student athletes to be given financial literacy education as well. Now, in light of know, it's a straightforward measure and I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Thank you so much. Senator Bradford, are there witnesses in support in the hearing room?

We have no primary witness in support.

Thank you. Are there witnesses in opposition in the hearing room? Are there tweeners in the hearing room? Committee Members, any questions or comments? See, none. We are awaiting a quorum. So with that, we have a do pass recommendation, but we'll take that up at that moment.

I appreciate it.

Thank you very much. Consideration. Thank you.

Thank you, colleagues. We're waiting authors for the other two bills. And so with that, thank you so much. How are you today?

Thank you so much, everyone, for your patience. I understand we have some authors on the way, so thank you.

Welcome. All right. Thank you so much, Committee Members. Senator Portantino, welcome. Senator Portantino will be presenting Item number one, SB 467. Welcome, Senator Portantino.

Thank you, Mr. Chair and Members. It's always good to be back in this room. I Chaired this Committee 100 years ago. Just a couple of years ago. Just a couple of years. It's good to see my good friend as chair. So thanks, Mr. Chair and Committee. For today, I'm presenting SB 467, which would prohibit a community college from denying a student access to an internship or an apprenticeship training program based on their use of an individual tax identification number when applying for these programs. In the past, we've made great strides to increase access to education for undocumented students, making completion and promote job placement.

Faculty Association for California Community Colleges brought to our attention that some colleges have denied admission to students into certain career, technical education, or workforce programs because of their immigration status, resulting in not being able to complete the program or schedule employment. This Bill provides an important next step in correcting this inequity and ensuring immigration status does not present a barrier to obtaining higher education for our students.

With me today, I have Austin Webster on behalf of the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges and Stephanie Goldman with the Student Senate for California Community Colleges and would respectfully ask for an aye vote at the appropriate time. Mr. Chair Thank you.

Chair and Members, Austin Webster with W Strategies on behalf of the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges. The Senator did an excellent job of summarizing this. We view this as a cleanup Bill to some prior legislation that has come through this Committee with bipartisan support. So we ask for your aye vote and thank the Senator for his efforts on this. Thank you. Welcome.

Good afternoon. Stephanie Goldman, on behalf of the Student Senate for California community Colleges. California is a home to approximately 2.5 million undocumented immigrants, which around with 50 to 70,000 enrolled at our community colleges. When the student Senate supported AB 595 in 2019, we thought that this would open up the doors for undocumented students and help fill high demand jobs.

Yet colleges and placement programs have used what should have been a tool for accepting more students into their programs to block students based on immigration status. SB 467 clearly addresses this issue, and we're deeply appreciative of the Senator Pontino's efforts to support our students. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Are there witnesses in support in the hearing room?

Hello, Katrina Linden, on behalf of the California Undocumented Higher Education Coalition in support of SB 467. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and Members, Ron Rapp, on behalf of the California Faculty Association, in support of SB 467. Thank you so much.

Good afternoon, Chair and Members, Roman Vogelsang with the Aprea and Micheli, on behalf of our client, the California Workforce Association, and the 45 local workforce development Boards in support. Thank you.

Hi, Anna Matthews with the Faculty Association of the California Community Colleges, proudly co-sponsoring this Bill. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Are there witnesses in opposition in a hearing room? Are there tweeners in the hearing room? Committee Members, any questions or comments? Seeing none, we have a do pass recommendation on this, and we look forward to supporting this measure once we have a quorum. Senator, would you like to close?

Good afternoon, Chair and Members, Sasha Horowitz with Los Angeles Unified School District in support.

Good afternoon, Chair Fong and Members of the Assembly Education Committee, Imran Majid, on behalf of the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office, in support. Thank you.

Just respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Thank you. Thank you so much. We are. Thank you so much, colleagues. One more Member will have a quorum, and we're waiting. One more author. Thank you so much, colleagues. Thank you so much. Madam Secretary, please call the row for quorum.

Fong, aye. Aye. Here. Addis, Gabriel, Irwin, Low, Ortega, Sanchez, Santiago, Wallace, Weber, Arambula.

Thank you so much, colleagues. We have a quorum with that. Do we have a motion on item number one, SB 467, second, moved by Assemblymember Ortega, second by Assemblymember Arambula. Any comments or questions? Roll call, please.

Item one, SB 467. The motion is do passed to the floor. Fong, aye. Fong, aye. Ta, not voting. Ta, not voting. Addis Arambula. Arambula aye. Gabriel. Irwin. Low. Ortega. Ortega aye, Sanchez. Sanchez, not voting. Santiago, Wallace. Wallace aye. Weber, aye. Weber aye.

Thank you so much, colleagues. That item has five ayes. Two, not voting. We'll keep the item on call. Next up, we have SB 661 authored by Senator Bradford. Item number three, moved by Assembly Ortega. Do we have 2nd? 2nd by Assembly Wallace. Any questions or comments? Seeing none. Roll call.

Please file item three, SB 661. The motion is do passed to the Appropriations Committee. Fong, aye. Fong, aye. Ta aye, Addis. Arambula. Arambula aye, Gabriel. Irwin. Low. Ortega. Ortega aye, Sanchez. Sanchez aye. Santiago. Wallace. Wallace aye. Weber, aye. Weber, aye.

That measure has seven votes. It's out. We'll keep the item open for additional Members to add on, and we are waiting for our final author. So thank you, colleagues, for your patience. At this time. We can do the consent calendar so thank you, colleagues, for subsequent quorum. We have two items on consent today. All right. Moved by Dr. Arambula, second by Vice Chair Ta. The two items on consent are File, item four, SB 711, and File, item five, SB 886. Roll call.

Please file item four, SB 711. The motion is do passed to the Appropriations Committee. Fong? Aye. Fong, aye. Ta aye. Addis. Arambula. Arambula aye. Gabriel. Irwin. Low. Ortega. Ortega aye. Sanchez. Sanchez aye. Santiago. Wallace. Wallace aye. Weber, aye. Weber aye.

To consider the calendars out. Seven ayes. We'll keep the roll open for any Members that like to add on. Thank you so much, colleagues. We are waiting our final author. So with that, thank you for your patience. Welcome, Senator Gonzalez, Presenting item number two, Senate Bill 633. I know there's a lot of committees going on today. I really appreciate you coming in. It's item number two, SB 63, by Senator Gonzalez.

Thank you.

Welcome.

Thank you so much, Assembly Members, Mr. Chair, and good morning, or good afternoon. Members, I'm in the middle of chairing transportation, so it's been a day. I'm here to present Senate Bill 633. It authorizes. Thank you. A participating UC, CSU campus to award Dream Grants to grant eligible undocumented students if the institution has funds that have not been awarded in their existing Dream grant revolving fund.

With SB 633, the state has the opportunity to expand the DReam loan program by providing public higher education institutions with the ability to repurpose unused funds. Obviously, being able to pay for college has been a real hurdle for so many Californians, and we want to make sure that everybody is covered.

So, testifying in support of this measure today, I have Tyler Aguilar, Legislative Director of State Government Relations at UC Office of the President, and Genesis Aguilar, a current student and Dream Loan recipient, and I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Thank you so much. Welcome.

Thanks, Chairman Fong, Senator Gonzalez, and Members of the Assembly Higher Education Committee, thank you for the opportunity to share my enthusiastic support for SB 633, the Dream Grant Bill. My name is Shawn Brick, and I am the Executive Director for Student Financial Support at the University of California Office of the President. UC is passionate about its support for our undocumented students. We sponsored the original Dream Loan Bill nearly a decade ago and are sponsoring this one todAy.

The Dream Loan provides equity to our AB 540 undocumented students by giving them access to the same types of student loans that are available to their peers who are through the Federal Government. However, each year we add more to the Dream Loan Fund through our state budget, through our University matching program, matching funds, and the repayments from former students. And yet, in most years since the Dream loan started, the demand from students forward Dream Loans has not kept pace with the amount of additional funding.

And this means that every year the Dream Loan Fund sits idle. A portion of the DReam Loan Fund sits idle rather than opening doors for our students. Senate Bill 633 would provide UC with the flexibility to make grant awards out of these idle funds. Dreamers would still be offered a Dream loan, but we could also offer them small grants to help cover educational costs. Out of this Fund that has already been designated to help these students, the University would award Dream grants to qualifying students.

If Dreamers did not use up all of the loan funds from the prior year, we would prioritize awarding these grants to low-income undergraduate Dreamers. As students across California now strive for a debt-free path to a degree, we want to be sure that the same dream is available to our undocumented students. This is critical since most of them currently do not have work authorization. The DREAm grant will be one more tool in our toolbox for helping some of our most vulnerable students. Thank you.

And this is Sean, not Tyler. My apologies. So now we have Genesis.

Thank you so much. Welcome.

Good afternoon. Firstly, I would like to thank the Chair for allowing me to speak today. My name is Genesis Aguilar and in the fall I will start my senior year at UC Merced. I come from a low-income household made up of just my mother and I. She works as a janitor at the moment and is very hardworking. She abandoned her career as a lawyer in Honduras so that I could pursue higher education here in California.

She has managed to financially support me through college with that salary of $16 an hour, but her efforts would never be enough to cover the $16,000 it cost me for one semester at UC Merced. If it weren't from the Dream Loan and scholarships offer at UC Merced for undocumented students, I would not have been able to pursue higher education in this country.

When I was in high school, I was really scared because I thought that I would have to pay non-resident tuition and I don't qualify for FAFSA. So I thought that higher education would not be an option for me. I was extremely relieved when I saw that this opportunity for financial aid was available to me, and thanks to it, I will graduate with honors next year from UC Merced and I will be able to complete this chapter of my life.

I urge you all to support SB 633 so that institutions can make use of unused stream grant money, which will be a fantastic help to other students who, like me, don't have the financial means to pursue higher education, but are driven and want to succeed in the United States. Just a month ago, I was struggling as the semester ended, but I was lucky and I received $400 in emergency funds from the Dream grant money. And it was an amazing help to me, and I know that other students would find it helpful as well. So thank you.

Thank you so much. Are there witnesses in support in the hearing room?

Ron Rapp, on behalf of the California Faculty Association in support of SB 633, thank you.

Daniela Rodriguez with the Student Aid Commission, also in support.

Good afternoon. Sasha Horwitz with Los Angeles Unified School District in support.

Good afternoon. Maggie White with the California State University in proud support. Thank you.

Good afternoon. Valerie Rodriguez, on behalf of the California Undocumented Higher Ed Coalition in support.

Thank you so much. Are there witnesses in opposition in the hearing room? Are there tweeners in the hearing room? Colleagues, any questions or comments? Dr. Assemblymember Weber.

Good afternoon, Senator, thank you so much for bringing this Bill forward and allowing us to kind of dig a little deeper into this program. It is definitely clearly working. Congratulations. Good luck. One of the things I noted in the analysis is that it says the average dream loan balance at the time of repayment for students borrowed over four years is close to $13,000, which was also noted to be significantly less than what our California students have as far as their federal loans.

So it's definitely working in that sense. Looking at the analysis, though, as far as the UC and CSU, there are a significant number of students who would qualify for these loans that don't appear to be applying for them. Do we have a sense of why? And also, are there any guardrails around this particular grant program that you're considering?

Because with the loan, you have to repay it, which allows for this Fund to continue and further students in the future, but with the grant, you wouldn't have to. So I just want to make sure that we're not incentivizing people to go to the grant route and not the loan route. So my first question, I guess, would be for representative, do we have a sense of why? At UC, you've got almost 4500 students that can apply for this, but you have only about 3300 that do apply for this loan.

If you'd like to take the sure.

It is always difficult to understand what's inside the choice of any individual student, but we have seen a gradual reduction in recent years among all of our students from taking out student loans. So I imagine for our undocumented students, it's the same set of decision points that they're choosing not to take out the loan. We do offer the dream loan to all of the students who would qualify, and so it's really about their choice not to take out that loan.

Almost 4500 in the UC system and 9500 in the CSU and almost over 62,000 in the CCU. And I know this Bill doesn't apply to them. Our CCC, excuse me, have the option to apply for the loan. They're just choosing not to. Which is why you have an excess of funds.

Correct.

And so with that excess of funds, are we planning on giving those funds to the people who have applied for these loans instead of creating a pathway that would incentivize people to only apply for the grants instead of the loans? Do we have that?

That's a fair question. I would argue that we wouldn't be presenting an individual with the choice, do you take the loan or do you take the grant? It's that after a year has passed and we see that there are excess loan funds available, we would offer both the loan and the grant to the students in the subsequent year.

But I guess my question is, if I'm a student, right, I'm going to definitely choose the one that I don't have to pay back, which was not the purpose of this initial act. And if you are giving out grants with excess, then that's less money that you have in the pocket for future students.

So I guess my question, Senator Gonzalez, is in the thought process of creating this, was there any thought to stating that this grant would be available to students that had maxed out on this loan? Because college is very expensive, and you do have that. I think it's $4,000 a year. So was there any consideration towards that, like, you've applied, you've maxed out on the loan?

Yes, absolutely. And that's something that we're certainly taking into consideration. It had been brought up in another Committee as well. And so we want to make sure that, like Shawn mentioned, is that if you have applied for a loan in the past, that you have this opportunity to have the grant. But also if you've, I mean, there may know additional folks, even half the time they don't even know that this is available to them. And that's the problem as well.

And I know that they're doing their due diligence to make sure that they're marketing this and getting this out to the students. But in this age of people just really wanting to get into the system, wanting to get an opportunity, the path is theirs to do so with either a loan or a grant.

And I would also say the way that our financial aid works, every student is asked to have skin in the game. So every student is asked to contribute through part time work and loan to their education. And so an individual who's offered a dream loan probably needs that Dream loan in addition to could also use additional grant dollars because our, as we call it, self help portion is more around $9,000. And so they're capped at $4,000 in the Dream Loan program.

So any additional Dream grant for the individual who needs to borrow, I still don't think that a small $500 to $1,000 grant is going to change their decision on whether or not they need to take out that dream loan.

Right. I would just hope that there would be eventual language before it hits the Assembly Floor that actually demonstrates that there needs to be skin in the game. Because I don't see that in this particular language.

I would ask you what that actually means because I think these are students that just want to go to school. That's what they're trying to do and get access to these funds, whether a loan or a grant. And I don't agree with the sentiment that this is trying to incentivize them. To. Just take the loan off the table. That's not what we're saying here. We want to have both options, but I think through the UC and CSU systems, we're really trying to figure out how to get these funds utilized to their max.

And I think having skin in the game would be that you've actually applied for the loan. Right. So what I'm saying is if you don't have that as a stipulation that you have applied and you're getting a loan, but you need more money because college is expensive, then you are the one who is eligible for the grant. And I don't see that necessarily in this Bill as is. So yes, we definitely need to provide more money.

We need to use the money that the state is given. But I want, as was stated before, if you've applied for the loan, understand that there is a cap and you need more, then those should be those that are prioritized to get more through a grant because they have come out versus at the UC system, you've got about 1000 students who haven't even applied for the loan. But the way the Bill is they would be eligible for the grant because there's no-

Well, it's also hard to change behavior, too, as mentioned by Sean. Is that, again, in this time of borrowing, it's really tough. And so we'd like to, I would hope that everyone would take advantage of the loan and then see the grant as a simultaneous opportunity. But it's really difficult sometimes, whether it's just financial literacy and understanding what a loan actually means. I mean, there's a multitude of issues. And then on top of that, you layer the fact that there are undocumented students that aren't able to qualify for FAFSA.

They've never gone through a FAFSA application because they can't. And so it's an extra layer that I think, and to hear you loud and clear, and your considerations will be, your comments will be taken into consideration. I just think we will tool through that. We'll certainly work on language, but I also think we may be in the same place even with that language.

Right. So what I'm saying is I just hope that we don't not have some kind of requirements initially for the grant program that you have at least looked into and applied for the loan program. Because, again, one of the things with the loan program is that when people pay that back, that is more money going into the pot for future students.

And so if you're taking that somewhat off of the table, then it's not only contrary to what the initial thought process behind this is, but you're also impacting the ability for future students in 10-15 years to be able to have this. As was stated at the beginning, some of the excess money that you have is based on the money that you have received from some of these students who've repaid back their loan. So I will support it today.

And hopefully you and I can continue to talk about this so that some of my concerns can be kind of alleviated because I definitely want students to get their money. 4000 is very low in this day and age, and if someone has already gone through the process to get the loan, then I think that there should be some kind of priority as to who would be in line and eligible for the grant. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Assembly Member. Assemblymember Ortega?

I just want to thank the author for bringing this forward and our witness. As a formerly undocumented child myself, I know how difficult it can be to go to school and watch your mom and dad sacrifice to make sure that you reach that American dream of going to a system such as the University of California so I want to thank you for being here sharing with us today and look forward to seeing what you can do in the future and hopefully be our future representative here in the State of California. So thank you.

Thank you so much, Assembly Member, any further comments or questions? Seeing, do we have a second? We have a motion on the floor. Do we have a second? Second by Assemblymember Santiago. Thank you so much, Senator, for bringing this important measure forward. It's important to look at additional opportunities and funds for our eligible undocumented students as they continue education, the UC and CSU system. And thank you to your witnesses as well, for your testimony.

And thank you, Assembly Members, for your comments and insights here today as well. And we look forward to working going forward as well with that. Roll call, please. The motion is do pass. Madam Secretary, call the roll please.

File item number two, SB 63. The motion is do pass to the Appropriations Committee. Fong, aye. Fong, aye. Ta no. Addis? Arambula. Arambula aye. Gabriel. Gabriel aye. Irwin aye. Low. Ortega. Ortega aye. Sanchez. Sanchez no. Santiago, aye. Santiago aye. Wallace. Wallace aye Weber Aye. Weber aye.

Thank you, colleagues. That measure is out with eight votes and two no's, and we'll keep the roll open for any Members that like to add on. Thank you so much, colleagues. Thank you so much. If you haven't, we'll visit a couple of the items back for add ons. We'll open up item number one for add on SB four, six, seven by Senator Quentino. Madam Secretary, please call the roll for add ons.

File item number one, SB 467. The motion is do passed to the Assembly floor. Addis. Gabriel. Gabriel aye Irwin. Irwin aye Low Santiago. Santiago aye.

That measure is out with eight ayes, two not voting. We'll keep the roll open for any Members that would like to add on for item number one. And item number three is item number.

File item number three, SB 661. The motion is do passed to the Appropriations Committee. Addis. Gabriel. Aye. Gabriel aye Irwin. Irwin aye Low Santiago. Santiago aye.

Thank you so much, colleagues. That measure is out with 10 ayes. We'll keep the roll open for any Members that would like to add on, and I believe now we will do the consent calendar. Consent calendar is items 4 and 5. Madam Secretary, please call the role in the consent calendar for anybody who would like to add on.

Gabriel. Gabriel aye Irwin. Irwin aye Low Santiago. Santiago aye Addis.

Thank you so much. Consent calendars out with 10 eyes. And we'll keep the roll open for any Members that would like to add on. Thank you so much, colleagues, for a robust meeting. Thank you to the Assembly Higher Education Committee for a bus meeting. To everyone who has participated here today. And we'll keep the roll open for anybody who would like to add on. Thank you, colleagues. Thank you so much. We'll go back to item number one, please. Madam Secretary, please call the role in item one.

File. Item One, SB 467. The motion is due, passed to the floor, Low aye.

Thank you so much, colleagues. That has nine eyes and two not voting. That measure is out. Thank you. Now we'll proceed to item number two. Madam Secretary, please call the roll.

File item number two, SB 63. The motion is due, passed to the Appropriations Committee. Low aye.

Thank you so much. Now we'll move to item number three. Madam Secretary, please call the roll.

File. Item number three, SB 661. The motion is due, passed to the Appropriations Committee. Low. aye

Thank you so much. Now we'll move on to the consent calendar, file items number 4 and 5. Madam Secretary, please call the roll.

Low aye.

That is out. 11 ayes. Thank you so much, colleagues. And I think with that, thank you so much, Assembly Higher Education staff and colleagues, for a robust meeting here today. Have a wonderful afternoon, everyone. Thank you so much. This meeting is adjourned.