advocacy and policy development Enhance the par tnership and

STATE ADVOCACY CONT’D

The Voice of Community Colleges in Sacramento

The League’s Government Relations Team endeavors to make cer tain that decisions in Sacramento recognize the challenges confronting California Community Colleges resulting from the global public health crisis. While our colleges continue to respond to COVID-19, elected off icials in Sacramento are contending with the many challenges the global pandemic has created. This includes a signif icantly abbreviated legislative calendar with lawmakers being forced to scale back their policy agenda and wrestle with a severely constrained and a highly uncer tain economic environment.

The following section offers an over view of signif icant legislation that was the focus of much of our advocacy and outreach connecting League members and policymakers.

Irvine Valley College

Legislative Successes

In 2019, the League sponsored three bills: AB 30 (Holden), AB 612 ( Weber), and SB 291 (Ley va). Each of these bills aimed to expand student access, success, and equity. League staff is pleased to repor t that two of the bills – AB 30 and AB 612 – were signed into law, while SB 291 was held due to cost concerns. Although SB 291 did not move for ward, it has fur thered the discussion about how we can more equitably ser ve low-income students.

Expanding Access to College and Career Access Par tnerships

Several studies show that access to dual or concurrent enrollment programs helps increase student success and time to degree. However, there were still several programmatic obstacles that made it diff icult to enter into these par tnerships. Thus, the League sponsored AB 30 (Holden), which made it easier for our California Community Colleges to work with their K-12 par tners. Governor Newsom approved and signed AB 30 into law on October 4, 2019.

Expanding Campus Access to CalFresh’s Restaurant Meals Program

The League’s Affordability, Food, and Housing Access Taskforce found that a signif icant number of California Community Colleges were ineligible for CalFresh and that it required an inordinate amount of time and effor t to initiate the program. AB 612 ( Weber) was introduced to implement one of the taskforce’s recommendations: to make it easier for colleges to accept EBT transactions in their on-campus cafeterias and restaurants. This bill simplif ied the process by establishing a statewide memorandum of understanding that all California Community Colleges can sign to become eligible for the program. Governor Newsom approved and signed AB 612 into law on October 12, 2019.

Financial Aid Reform for Community College Students

While California Community Colleges ser ve nearly two-thirds of college students in the state, these students receive less than 10% of the total dollars allocated by the state’s Cal Grant system. This has reduced our students’ ability to attend classes full-time, be more academically successful, and achieve their goals in a timely manner. While SB 291 (Ley va) failed to move this year due to overall cost concerns and the COVID-19 induced recession, the bill has ser ved as a vehicle to advance deliberation on this impor tant topic.