Copyright© 2000 by School Services of California, Inc.
2000 Chaptered and Vetoed Legislation-Part II
The following are additional bills impacting community colleges that have either been signed or vetoed by the Governor through September 13, 2000. Bills that contain an urgency clause are effective upon the Governor's signature. All other bills become effective January 1, 2001, or later, as specified. Bills that were tracked in Bills at a Glance are preceded by an asterisk.
AB 1509 (Machado, D-Linden), Chapter 74/00: State Teachers' Retirement: Defined Benefit Supplement Program
This bill creates the defined benefit supplement program, which diverts 25 percent of an employee's STRS contributions into a tax-deferred account that will be available to the teacher upon retirement.
AB 2182 (Mazzoni, D-Novato), Chapter 292/00: Bidding Procedures: Alternative Bids
This bill outlines guidelines for a public entity to include alternatives that may be added or deleted from the final bid award for a public works project, and specifies how those alternatives are to be considered in awarding the contract.
SB 1644 (Ortiz, D-Sacramento), Chapter 403/00: Student Financial Aid: Ortiz-Pacheco-Poochigian-Vasconcellos Cal Grant Program
This bill expands Cal Grants and guarantees nearly one out of three California high school graduates awards under the Cal Grant program.
Amounts of the awards range from full tuition at California Community Colleges, State Universities, and the University of California, to $9,700 for tuition support at private universities in California. For community college students, awards of $1,551 may be used for books and living expenses.
SB 2122 (Ortiz, D-Sacramento), Chapter 320/00: Retirement System: Investments: Information Sharing
This bill authorizes and encourages the Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) and the State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) to cooperate with each other and share information that may assist both systems in developing and implementing investment strategies.
SB 338 (Wright, R-Simi Valley): Intercollegiate Athletics: Discontinuation of Intercollegiate Athletic Teams
This bill would have required the public segments of higher education to comply with specified notification requirements prior to the elimination of intercollegiate athletic programs, to honor scholarships for affected students, and to make efforts to place affected students in similar programs at other universities.
The Governor's veto message stated:
"Currently, each of the public segments of higher education has administrative flexibility to make decisions regarding continuation, expansion, or elimination of academic and athletic programs. This bill would reduce that flexibility with regard to athletic programs. In addition, the measure's notification requirements would result in reimbursable state-mandated local costs to the California Community College districts.
"Furthermore, the University of California and the California State University have already committed to honoring scholarships for affected students and to helping place those students in similar athletic programs in other institutions. It is not necessary to codify these practices, nor to remove their administrative flexibility to manage their programs, academic or otherwise."
--Arnold Bray and Carmen Thompson