BILL NUMBER: HR 4INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Portantino (Coauthors: Assembly Members Beall, Block, Buchanan, Coto, Fong, Lieu, Ruskin, and Swanson) DECEMBER 1, 2008 Relative to federal aid to higher education. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST HOUSE OR SENATE RESOLUTIONS DO NOT CONTAIN A DIGEST WHEREAS, The recent global financial crisis has brought a renewed focus to the task of strengthening our public universities as the key to our country's long-term economic viability and continued prosperity; and WHEREAS, Although the President and Congress have infused massive amounts of American taxpayers' dollars in an attempt to stanch the financial bleeding on Wall Street, it is not clear what commitment will be made to rebuild our human infrastructure; and WHEREAS, Individuals from all walks of life and of different political persuasions agree that broad access to high-quality higher education is a key ingredient to a positive economic outcome for the American people, and the very survival of a strong United States economy requires a highly educated workforce; and WHEREAS, An affordable, accessible, high-quality education is good not only for an individual's personal finances, but more importantly, it is essential for our society's prosperity; and WHEREAS, For years, stakeholders in California's education community have advocated proper funding for high-quality public higher education that is accessible and affordable for every Californian; and WHEREAS, Unfortunately, due to increasingly dire economic conditions and only modest federal support, we have witnessed the persistent erosion of public resources dedicated to California's higher education segments; and WHEREAS, Declining state and federal support of public higher education has translated into fewer, larger classes available to students', compounding the costs and making students timely progress towards degrees more difficult; and WHEREAS, The budgetary neglect over many years of the University of California, California State University, and California Community Colleges systems now warrants a bold approach by policymakers, just as decisive action has been taken to prevent the collapse of Wall Street; and WHEREAS, During this economic slowdown, the segments of public higher education are grappling with a surge in applications as unemployment continues to rise and the need for workers to retrain and reenter the workforce continues to grow; and WHEREAS, Since 2002, the segments have increased student fees dramatically, with the California State University (CSU) and the University of California (UC) having more than doubled fees; and WHEREAS, Coupled with the announcement that, for the first time ever, CSU will be capping admissions and will be potentially turning away 10,000 new students, California is on the verge of breaking the promise of the 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education of an accessible and affordable education for every student; and WHEREAS, Thousands of students and families who rely on the three segments are California's future entrepreneurs, business owners, peace officers, educators, and public officials-groups that are "too important to fail"; and WHEREAS, Seven hundred billion dollars ($700,000,000,000), the amount that the federal government has allocated to bail out Wall Street, is more than 10 times the size of the United States Department of Education budget for the 2007 fiscal year, and could be used to send 5,400,000 students to a public university somewhere in the United States this year; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, That the Assembly calls upon the Congress and the President of the United States to enact a "New Deal for a New Millenium for Higher Education" that will enable California to rebuild its three segments of public higher education and help the public education systems of the other states as well; and be it further Resolved, That the Assembly calls for a federal program for higher education in the amount of seventy billion dollars ($70,000,000,000)-just 10 percent of what the United States government is spending on the financial crisis-to rebuild access for students to our nation's public universities and colleges, including establishing college-going grants similar to the World War II era G.I. Bill of Rights, and student loan debt forgiveness for all students who take jobs in public service; and be it further Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, and to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States.