October 2020

The 2019 - 20 Legislative Session Comes to a Close

The deadline for the governor to sign bills passed on September 30th. As you may know, many critical pieces of legislation were cut due to the impact of COVID-19. Bills that addressed holistic financial aid reform for community colleges, basic needs, student trustee enfranchisement, and more, were unfortunately cut.

However, despite the severe budget cuts and the challenges we faced, the SSCCC remained dedicated. Through our advocacy with system stakeholders, we secured no cuts to programs that serve our most vulnerable students, which include the Disabled Students Programs and Services (DSPS), Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS), and Student Equity and Achievement Program (SEAP).

Additionally, a number of bills supporting community college students were signed by Governor Newsom.

Assembly Bill 2884, authored by Assemblymember Berman, expanded appropriate uses of lottery fund revenue to include basic needs like food, housing, and technology.
Assembly Bill 376, authored by Assemblymember Stone, established significant protections for student borrowers who are subjected to predatory loans.
Assembly Bill 2416, authored by Assemblymember Gabriel, added homelessness as an extenuating circumstance for students who are struggling to make satisfactory academic progress.
Senate Bill 1232, authored by Senator Glazer, provides payments to students participating in CalWORKs while attending a postsecondary institution.

To see how the SSCCC is working to address the needs of community college students through legislative advocacy, please visit our website at studentsenateccc.org.

AB 2884 and Lottery Funds

Prior to this bill’s passage, nearly $90 million in lottery funds allocated to California Community College districts went unspent from 2017–18. This is because these funds have to be spent in a very specific manner. This bill loosened the restrictions surrounding this lottery revenue and instead allows it to be spent to support students’ basic needs like food, housing, and technology. Additionally, because this has an urgency clause when Governor’s Newsom signed the bill, it took immediate effect.

Your district needs to hear from students like you to reclaim the millions of unspent dollars in support of students’ basic needs. Be on the lookout for a press release from the SSCCC unveiling our advocacy tool kit to help you advocate for your students’ share of AB 2884 funds.

Block Grant Advocacy

The 2020-2021 Budget Act passed by the State Legislature provided California Community Colleges Districts with a $120 million COVID-19 Block Grant to directly support student learning, the continuity of education, and mitigate learning loss related to COVID-19. The block grant is composed of $66 million from one-time Proposition 98 funds as well as $54 million from provisions of the recent CARES Act passed by Congress. Our districts can use these funds to address the great hardships students face revolving around basic needs, mental health, technology, internet access, and more.

Get involved and make sure your students get the funds they need! Take action by getting your student body association (SBA) to pass a resolution urging your community college district to spend the funds in support of your students' needs. You can find a sample slideshow presentation at this link and a sample resolution at this link. Remember to share the resolution your SBA passes with your influential decision-makers around your campus.

For questions about the block grant advocacy toolkit email vpla@studentsenateccc.org.

Proposition Advocacy

With less than a month until election day, the stakes have never been higher to educate California voters on a lot of important measures on the ballot this year. Issues like affirmative action, funding for schools and communities, and voting rights are on the line and will be decided by election day on November 3rd. Make sure you spread the word and support Propositions 15, 16, 17, and 18 by making the SSCCC your one-stop-shop for all your proposition advocacy resources. Find our proposition advocacy toolkit at this link.

This toolkit contains legal guidelines for community college student body association participation in proposition advocacy, sample resolutions, social media graphics, advocacy opportunities like phone banking, and more. Let your community hear your voice and don’t miss out on the most important election day in decades!

For questions about the proposition advocacy toolkit email vpla@studentsenateccc.org.