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AB-951 University of California: law school.(2023-2024)

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Date Published: 02/14/2023 09:00 PM
AB951:v99#DOCUMENT


CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 951

Introduced by Assembly Member Cervantes

February 14, 2023

An act to add Article 9 (commencing with Section 92190) to Chapter 2 of Part 57 of Division 9 of Title 3 of the Education Code, relating to postsecondary education, and making an appropriation therefor.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 951, as introduced, Cervantes. University of California: law school.
The California Constitution provides that the University of California constitutes a public trust administered by the Regents of the University of California, a corporation in the form of a board, with full powers of organization and government, subject to legislative control only for specified purposes.
This bill would appropriate an unspecified sum of moneys from the General Fund to the Regents of the University of California each fiscal year, commencing with the 2024–25 fiscal year, to be expended only for the creation, construction, and establishment of a public law school in the County of Riverside administered by the University of California.
Vote: 2/3   Appropriation: YES   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Article 9 (commencing with Section 92190) is added to Chapter 2 of Part 57 of Division 9 of Title 3 of the Education Code, to read:
Article  9. Construction of a University of California School of Law in the County of Riverside

92190.
 (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1) A robust and functioning legal system is an essential element to a free and democratic society.
(2) Schools of law are not only invaluable as institutions of legal education, but also as centers of regional legal systems and communities. These schools of law serve as hubs for the sharing of legal ideas and as drivers of local legal economies.
(3) The last school of law established by the University of California was at the University of California, Irvine, in 2008. The only other school of law operated by the University of California in southern California is located at the University of California, Los Angeles.
(4) The Inland Empire, with a population of more than 4.2 million people, is one of the most populous regions of the state. The unique needs and concerns of the Inland Empire are distinct and different from those even in other parts of southern California, including the Counties of Los Angeles and Orange.
(5) The geographical distance between many Inland Empire communities and Westwood or Irvine, especially with traffic congestion factored in, makes attendance at the schools of law at the University of California, Los Angeles, or the University of California, Irvine, logistically difficult for prospective law students in the Counties of Riverside and San Bernardino.
(6) There is currently no school of law in the Inland Empire operated by the University of California. Indeed, there is only one school of law in the entire region that is accredited either by the American Bar Association or by the Committee of Bar Examiners.
(7) The lack of a public school of law in the Inland Empire is detrimental not only to prospective law students, but to the health of the legal community in the region.
(b) The sum of ____ dollars ($____) is hereby appropriated from the General Fund to the Regents of the University of California each fiscal year, commencing with the 2024–25 fiscal year, to be expended only for the creation, construction, and establishment of a public law school in the County of Riverside administered by the University of California.