Community College Facility Coalition

04/22/2021 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/22/2021 15:01

April 22, 2021CCFC Update: Bond Bills Moving Through Legislature; Budget Update; State Reaches Appropriations Limit; Additional Federal Stimulus

Assembly Bill 75 - 2022 School Bond

AB 75 (O'Donnell) was passed by the Assembly Higher Education Committee on April 22nd with strong support from the community college community. The measure will next be heard by the Assembly Appropriations Committee in the next few weeks.

Senate Bill 22 - 2022 Higher Education Bond

SB 22 (Glazer) was heard in the Senate Appropriations Committee on April 19th and has been placed on the Suspense File, which will be taken up later in May. CCFC continues to communicate support, moving the conversation forward while seeking changes in the bill that would increase local bonding capacity while addressing concerns which hindered Proposition 13, the 2020 state school bond that was rejected by voters.

Budget Update

The Governor will be releasing the May Revision in a few weeks, reflecting an additional $14.34 billion in additional state revenues above January estimates. While additional ongoing funding for community colleges may be reflected in the upcoming May Revision, most additional revenue that may be proposed may likely be one-time funding and could include increases for workforce development.

State Reaches Appropriations Limit

The Legislative Analyst's Office issued a new report this week indicating the state has reached its State Appropriations Limit (SAL) this year, with excess revenues of $100 million between 2018-19 and 2019-20 and $500 million between 2019-20 and 2020-21. The SAL was established by Proposition 4 in 1979 and specifies if the states revenues are above the appropriations limit, which is based upon tax revenue, for over two consecutive years, then the state must split the excess amount between taxpayer rebates and additional spending on Proposition 98. These changes will be incorporated into the May Revision.

Additional Federal Stimulus

On March 31st, President Biden released his $2 trillion infrastructure proposal as The American Jobs Plan. Included in the proposal is $12 billion for community college infrastructure and $213 billion for affordable housing. No specific detailed language has been released for either program. CCFC will conduct an analysis once details are provided.

Jennifer Baker
CCFC Legislative Advocate