Thread by @mzinshteyn

CA higher-ed fans, Assembly higher-ed committee will now debate and vote on 26 bills. If anything passes today, a minimum of three other votes lie ahead (two floor votes and the senate's ed committee), and possibly two more approp committee votes. Dive in! ahed.assembly.ca.gov/legislativebil…

To watch the fun, view here: assembly.ca.gov/media/437-video

UPDATE: Only 21 bills will be heard today.

These two are pulled:
AB 2456
AB 2572

Consent calendar:
AB 2187
AB 2286*
AB 2747

So, 21 measures to be presented. Bill info for all here: ahed.assembly.ca.gov/legislativebil… (view the April 19 section)

*Earlier tweet gave the wrong bill #.

@AsmJoseMedina's AB 2046 would spend $1.46 billion to send UC Merced and UC Riverside a mix of one-time and ongoing funding for environmental and health research with student enrollment dollars. BUT! trades unions oppose it because bill lacks skilled/trained/prevailing wage lang.

Bill link: leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billText…
Context by @manuelatobiasm on why skilled and trained language is a common fault line in construction bills: calmatters.org/housing/2021/0…

Regarding AB 2046, Medina, when asked by a lawmaker whether he's spoken with the Trades about their opposition, said: "I don't disagree with anything that they said." It's yet another instance of a higher-ed major project attracting oppo from the Trades over this.

Notable: AB 2464 for @calstate employees:

It would give paid parental leave for a semester.

@calstate opposes this bill (see below). System gives six weeks of leave. Says bill bypasses bargaining process.

Faculty union says leave is only 30 days.
leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billAnal…

"The mommy tax is real," said bill author @AsmGarcia.

"We are very much regressive on this issue and I think this bill is one step in terms of trying to fix something that we really need to deal with on a systemic issue," said bill supporter and OBGYN @drakilahweber

We're two+ hours in, we've heard eight bills, and we have 13 to go.

"What were the votes so far"

Well, there's no quorum yet. So we haven't held any votes yet for any of the heard bills, just debate. I guess we have to assume the absent members know the debates already?

And 2.5 hours in, we have a quorum (but still quite a few absent members). We've heard 9 bills so far.

AB 2069 by Villapudua for the California Home Health Aide Training Scholarship Act just got a vote of 6-0. But, uh, there are 12 members in the higher-ed committee.

Another notable bill, and this one passed 12-0!

AB 2881 by @AsmMarcBerman would give priority college registration at @calstate @CalCommColleges to students who are parents. (And ask @UofCalifornia to do the same.)

It now moves to Human Services Comm.

leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavC…

AB 2266 by @SantiagoAD53 would drop first-time student requirement in CA's "free community college" program that applies to students who generally aren't eligible for CA's larger community college fee waiver.

One goal of bill is to boost CCC enrollment.
leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billText…

The eligibility applies to returning students who also have bachelor's degrees already.

This "free college" program isn't just for free tuition, though. Colleges are free to use the funding for this program on student supplies, such as books and laptops. edsource.org/2019/californi…

@AsmJoseMedina asks that bill be changed so that promise grant is not available to people with degrees or certificates already.

@SantiagoAD53 says career-changers should be able to learn new skills tuition-free.

The free-tuition provision still requires full-time enrollment.

It passes 9-0, but absent members may come in and vote later today.

Again all the bills passing still have at least three other votes ahead of them.

https://twitter.com/mzinshteyn/status/1516515541283835905

AB 2810 by @drarambulaAD31 would require @calstate and @CalCommColleges campuses to use FAFSA (federal fin aid) data to identify students who meet CalFRESH income requirements and tell them of their possible eligibility. leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavC…

And the bill passes 12-0 and moves to the Human Services Committee.

Students would still need to contact county personnel to formally apply for the food subsidies (CalFRESH).

Finally, after five hours, and the main reason I began listening today, we have #AB1746, last year's #AB1456, the massive Cal Grant overhaul. It would expand the Cal Grant to another 150,000 students.

The support for this is vast. Dozens from the public called in to support.

And the bill passes 12-0 and advances to the Appropriations committee.

And guess what, I'll have a story about financial aid overhauls in the works tomorrow morning!

All bills that lawmakers presented today or that were on the consent file passed and are now off to their respective committee or floor votes.

Of the 26 bills on the agenda today, just these two were pulled:
AB 2456
AB 2572

And so concludes a 5.5 hour bill hearing. Bye!