(1) Existing law, the Donahoe Higher Education Act, sets forth, among other things, the missions and functions of California’s public and independent segments of higher education, and their respective institutions of higher education. Under existing law, the segments of the public higher education system in the state include the University of California, which is administered by the Regents of the University of California, the California State University, which is administered by the Trustees of the California State University, and the California Community Colleges, which is administered by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges. Provisions of the Donahoe Higher Education Act apply to the University of California only to the extent that the Regents of the University of California, by appropriate resolution, act to make a provision applicable.

An existing provision of the act prohibits any campus of the University of California, the California State University, or the California Community Colleges from charging any mandatory systemwide tuition or fees, including enrollment fees, registration fees, differential fees, or incidental fees, to prescribed categories of children and other dependents of veterans of the United States military or members of the California National Guard who have been killed in service, or who have died of a service-connected disability. Other provisions waive these fees for undergraduate students who are recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor or the children of recipients of that medal who meet prescribed requirements. Additional provisions waive the community college enrollment fees of specified dependents of members of the California National Guard who are killed in the line of duty or died of a disability resulting from an event that occurred while in the active service of the state, or are permanently disabled as a result of such an event.

This bill would enact the Golden State GI Bill of Rights for Higher Education, also known as the Cal GI Bill of Rights. The bill would prohibit any campus of the University of California, the California State University, or the California Community Colleges from charging any mandatory systemwide tuition or fees, including enrollment fees, registration fees, differential fees, or incidental fees, to a California resident, as defined, who is an undergraduate student or a graduate student seeking a postbaccalaureate degree, and who, irrespective of income level or need, was a member of the Armed Forces of the United States who enlisted therein while he or she was a California resident and who was honorably discharged from the Armed Forces, or is, or has been, on active duty, as defined, as a member of the California National Guard, the State Military Reserve, or the Naval Militia, and has demonstrated, in a prescribed manner, that he or she has no remaining months of educational benefits for which he or she is eligible under the federal GI Bill. The bill would specify that no person may obtain a waiver of fees for a number of academic semester or equivalent quarters that is longer than the number of semesters or quarters for which he or she previously received educational benefits under the federal GI Bill.

The bill would provide that a graduate student who qualifies for a fee waiver under these provisions may use that waiver for studies leading to no more than one postbaccalaureate degree.

The bill would provide that a person who qualifies for a waiver of mandatory systemwide tuition and fees under one or more specified provisions, including this bill and the provisions of existing law discussed above, may choose to apply for a waiver under the provision that provides him or her with the greatest benefit, but may not concurrently receive a waiver under more than one of these provisions.

In accordance with existing law, the bill would apply to the University of California only if the regents act, by resolution, to make it applicable.

To the extent that the bill would require community college districts to revise their procedures for calculating enrollment fees for students, the bill would constitute a state-mandated local program.

The bill would also make various technical and conforming changes.

(2) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.