As the last weeks of July are coming to a close most of the measures the CSU is tracking are in the possession of the Appropriations Committee of the Senate or the Assembly. Each of the houses’ fiscal committees will meet at least twice near the end of August to debate the fiscal cost of these measures and to either move them onto the final step before the Governor or hold them in committee for another year.

Of the 35 measures that the CSU has made a priority measure, 14 are in the possession of Appropriations and only two of those measures have been put on the Committee’s suspense calendar.

Senate Appropriations

AB 35 (Ruskin) Environment: State Buildings: Sustainable Building Standards
This measure would require new state buildings constructed or renovated after July 1, 2010 to be built, designed and operated using sustainable building standards, or green technology of at least the “Gold” standard.
Position: OPPOSE UNLESS AMENDED

AB 400 (Nunez) Public School Accountability
This measure would, starting in the 2008-09 fiscal year, require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to incorporate, into the API, certain rates including high school graduation rates, rates by which pupils are offered and actually complete a A-G course, and rates by which pupils are offered and actually complete a career technical course.
Position: SUPPORT

AB 888 (Lieu) Green Building Standards
This measure was amended to require green building standards for California’s commercial buildings, which would apply to the CSU.
Position: OPPOSE UNLESS AMENDED

AB 1168 (Jones) Social Security Numbers
This measure would establish a taskforce to explore how higher education uses, including the CSU, use Social Security Numbers for their students.
Position: NO OFFICIAL POSITION

AB 1413 (Portantino) Public Postsecondary Education: California State University
This measure (sponsored by California Faculty Association) makes various governance changes to the CSU, including allowing the ex-officio members of the Board of Trustees to send an employee in their place for meetings.
Position: OPPOSE

AB 1415 (Brownley) Teacher Credentialing: Services Credential: Programs of Professional Preparation
This bill requires require the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to assess the effectiveness of professional preparation programs in education administration.
Position: OPPOSE UNLESS AMENDED

Senate Appropriations Suspense

AB 519 (Mendoza) Pupil Achievement: Academic Performance Index
This bill requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to include data on dropouts in the annual API measurement.
Position: NO OFFICIAL POSITION

Assembly Appropriations

SB 139 (Scott) Nursing Education
Would make various clarifications to the State Nursing Assumption Program of Loans for Education (SNAPLE) program, requires that the statutory expansion of enrollment nursing programs administered by CSU and the University of California (UC) be funded within the general enrollment growth funding provided for in the annual budget process, and prohibits CSU from requiring nursing students (BSN) to take additional general education coursework if they have already earned a baccalaureate degree.
Position: SUPPORT IF AMENDED

SB 190 (Yee) Public Postsecondary Education: California State University, University of California: Open Meetings: Higher Education Governance Accountability Act
This bill would restate that all meetings of the California State University be conducted in open session. The measure would also limit the ability of the Trustees to participate in a regularly scheduled meeting with staff unless it is noticed and open to the public.
Position: NO OFFICIAL POSITION

SB 232 (Ducheny) Instructional Strategies: Subject Matter Projects
This bill adds projects in the areas of art, foreign language, and physical education/health to the Subject Matter Projects (SMPs) and extends the sunset of the projects, by seven years to June 30, 2014.
Position: SUPPORT

SB 235 (Negrete McLeod) Vision Care: Annuitants: California State University
This measure would allow annuitants of the CSU system to participate in the Vision Care Program for State Annuitants, but requires the CSU to administer it.
Position: NO OFFICIAL POSITION

SB 405 (Steinberg) Schools: Curriculum: Opportunities for Pupils
This measure creates a five year program called the Fair Competition for College and Career Pilot Program and would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to select up to 100 schools for participation in the program. These schools would receive grants of $100 per pupil to be used to increase the course offerings of the school and provide support for the pupils related to career technical education and courses satisfying the admission requirements for California public institutions of postsecondary education.
Position: SUPPORT

SB 890 (Scott) Pupils: Early Commitment to College Program
This measure establishes the Early College Commitment Program and would require the superintendent of Education to declare 30 percent of school districts with the highest low-income population to be "college opportunity zones." It would direct the Superintendent to provide materials, along with school districts on how to get to college and would encourage California’s institutes of higher learning to participate and provide support services for this program.
Position: SUPPORT

Assembly Appropriations Suspense

SB 946 (Scott) Community College Early Assessment Pilot Program
This measure states the intent of the legislature to establish a Community College Early Assessment Pilot Program for the purpose of providing high school pupils with an indicator of their readiness for transfer-level English and mathematics at the end of grade 11 and allowing high schools to work with pupils in grade 12 to elevate the skills of these pupils to a level commensurate with transfer-level English and mathematics.
Position: SUPPORT