Board of Trustees Committees: Update on Legislative and Public Affairs Committee (February 19)

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By the time an agenda item gets to the LACCD Board of Trustees at its monthly meeting, it's gone through a process of review at one of four different Board committees.  These committees, each comprised of three trustees and convening on a monthly basis, have responsibility to review, analyze, and evaluate a wide variety of issues and proposals that affect the operations of the District.  Full details on the agendas for all four committees are always available on the District's website.

With this entry, I'll focus on the Legislative and Public Affairs Committee. Reports were received from LACCD lobbyists at the federal, state, and local levels.  Of interest at the state level...

  • AB 302 (the "parking lot bill") is still in the Senate inactive file.  The author (Assemblymember Marc Berman) has indicated he will work with administrative officials on amendments.
  • AB 1862 proposes two years' free tuition in the CSU system to a CA community college transfer who has completed an associate degree for transfer and has received a Board of Governors fee waiver.  The bill was first heard on February 7.
  • A new bill which would require community college students to complete an ethnic studies course in order to receive an Associate of Arts degree is in development and is currently seeking an author.
Significant discussion centered around a proposal by Student Trustee Alfredo Gama Salmeron to grant full voting rights to the LACCD student trustee.

New legislation sponsored by LACCD includes the "Joint Occupancy:  Student and Workforce Housing Bill" which advocates for the development of public/private partnerships for additional student and employment housing.  Also, LACCD is advocating for AB 2003, which requires a community college to stock 50% of the school's restrooms with feminine hygiene products.

LACCD's budget priorities in this session of the legislature include
  • $12 million to support LACCD Dream Resource Centers and LGBTQ Centers,
  • Additional funding for food pantries and rapid re-housing efforts,
  • Re-calculation of the Strong Workforce Funding Formula, 
  • $5 million in grants to support veterans' resource centers,
  • Establishment of a veterans' promise program similar to the California Promise,
  • Increase in base funding for community colleges,
  • $7 million to provide additional mental health services in community colleges, and
  • Expansion of services to the formerly incarcerated.
Finally, several public speakers advocated for the District to make a statement of support for the "Schools and Communities First" initiative, a measure that would appear on the November ballot that requires commercial and industrial properties, except those zoned as commercial agriculture, to be taxed based on their market value rather than on purchase price.