Following the rollout of the Governor’s budget proposal last month, the legislature began the process of determining the impact. The Assembly Budget Sub-Committee #2 conducted a hearing last week to hear issues related to proposed cuts to the California State University’s (CSU) budget in the current year and budget year.

Chairperson Assembly member Julia Brownley (D-Santa Monica) indicated at the start of the meeting that the purpose of the hearing was to get a sense of specific impacts that the Governor's budget proposal would have on the CSU and other higher education institutions. No action on the current year or budget year budgets were taken during the hearing.

The Subcommittee only spent a brief time on the CSU’s $3.1 billion budget and proposed reductions of $319.2 million but the CSU was given an opportunity to get its message across. The Subcommittee understands the enrollment dilemma facing CSU, is concerned about student fees, and recognizes CSU’s contributions to the workforce.

Assembly member Brownley instructed the CSU to work with the University of California (UC) and the California Community College’s (CCC) to have a coordinated approach on providing student access and serving students at a time when higher education is facing these significant budget reductions. Patrick Lenz representing the CSU responded that Chancellor Reed has already taken a leadership role in contacting the UC and the CCC’s for this very approach on behalf of all higher education students.

The Subcommittee chair also seemed interested in the Legislative Analyst's argument that across-the-board 10 percent reductions to state budgets may not be the most effective strategy to address the budget shortfall. There appeared to be some support for evaluating the impact on a case-by-case basis to see where the most meaningful reductions could be sustained without unnecessarily jeopardizing programs or missions. What such an evaluation would mean to CSU is unclear, because there was not a clear sense what the Subcommittee’s direction on meeting enrollment demand or improving access to underserved student populations would be.

Cecil Canton, Criminal Justice professor at Cal State Los Angeles spoke for the California Faculty Association. He reiterated the major themes of CSU joint advocacy including enrollment demand suppressed and underserved population access threatened if the cuts remained in place. Pat Gantt representing CSU Employee Union said that CSU has not fully recovered from the significant reductions sustained just three years ago. Two Sacramento State students addressed issues of affordability and access and urged the legislature to make higher education a budget priority.

The Assembly Budget Committee and its Subcommittees have not scheduled any further hearings and the Senate has indicated that they do not intend to take up budget year items until April or May. The Legislative Analyst will issue its Budget Analysis on Friday, February 22nd where it is expected they will give specific recommendations to the budget themes they identified shortly after the governor's budget was released. (A special thanks to Rodney Rideau, Budget Director, CSU System Budget Office for providing this report.)