California College Affordability Act (2008)
| Not on Ballot |
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| This measure was not put on an election ballot |
The College Affordability Act (07-0084) was a statutory initiative in California that would freeze mandatory fees for state universities for undergraduate students from 2009 to 2014. The initiative was also referred to as the Freeze Tuition ballot initiative. The initiative has been cleared for circulation.[1]
The goals of the initiative were to:
- Forbid increasing resident undergraduate student fees in University of California and California State University systems for five years.
- Provide fee increases after five years shall not exceed the change in California Consumer Price Index.
- Provide application of the fee restrictions to University of California requires approval by University Regents.
- Impose one-percent tax on individual taxable income that exceeds one-million dollars, and requires 60% of revenue go to the university systems subject to the fee restrictions.
- Establish accountability panel and require annual “accountability update” detailing how tax revenue are spent.[2]
Fiscal impact
The estimated fiscal impact statement released by California's Legislative Analyst's office suggests that passage of the initiative might result in:
- An annual increase in state revenues of roughly $2 billion from a new 1 percent tax on high-income individuals. Of these new revenues, 60 percent would be allocated to undergraduate education at the state’s public universities and the remaining 40 percent likely would be spent on K-14 education.
- Reduction in public university undergraduate fee revenues (primarily from a five-year freeze on fee levels), potentially exceeding $1 billion by the end of the freeze period.[3]
Support
Valeria Fike-Rosales filed the proposal. The official group supporting it is called Students and Families for Tuition Relief Now,[4] and they have announced that they intend to sponsor the initiative as "first student-led and volunteer-staffed ballot initiative in CA's history."
Having just received the Attorney General’s official title and summary, the group’s thousands of volunteers – donned in ubiquitous bright yellow T-shirts – have fanned out across 30 campuses and surrounding communities across California.
The group needs to collect about 434,000 valid signatures by April 21, 2008 in order to qualify for the November 2008 ballot.
Financial sponsorship
Seed money for the initiative has been provided by a Berkeley, California-based organization, Greenlining Action. As of early February, the campaign had spent about $200,000.[5]
See also
- Laws governing the initiative process in California
- California 2008 ballot propositions
- Campaign finance requirements for California ballot measures
- California signature requirements
- Petition drive deadlines in 2008
External links
- Tuition Relief Now Official website of supporters
- Ballot language
- California students attempting tuition freeze ballot initiative from the Chronicle of Higher Education, November 14, 2007
- Freeze California's College Fees, a opinion column appearing in the Los Angeles Times, November 15, 2007
- Campaign committee spending and income details
Footnotes