Legislative Update

View the legislative bills report here. (updated April 25, 2025)

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May 2, 2025

CFLA Takes Bill Positions 

On Tuesday, April 29, 2025, the Commission for Finance, Legislation and Advocacy (CFLA) took bill positions for ACCCA. The commission took a support position on four bills and an oppose position on four measures. 

Support Positions

AB 335—Designation of California Black-Serving Institutions Grant Program

Assembly Bill (AB) 335 (Gipson, D-Carson) would establish a $75 million competitive grant program for postsecondary institutions designated as Black-Serving Institutions under Senate Bill (SB) 1348 (Bradford, Statutes of 2024). Community colleges would receive $50 million (non-Proposition 98) from the grant. 

The CFLA took a support position because Black students are historically underrepresented on college campuses and this funding would provide academic resources to support Black and underserved students. It is important to note that the funding for the grant program would not come from Proposition 98. 

AB 363—CalWORKs Recipients Education Program

AB 363 (Bryan, D-Los Angeles) would expand who can participate in the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program to include students who have exceeded the 60-month limit on CalWORKs cash aid and have one or more dependents who are recipients of aid under CalWORKs. The bill would also add direct aid designed to meet ongoing basic needs and services as a special service for which program funds may be used. The bill would authorize programs to waive the requirement that an employer pay at least 25% of the wage for work-study positions if the number of work-study positions will not decrease. The bill would delete the limit on the provision of subsidized campus childcare for program participants.

The CFLA took a support position on this California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO) sponsored bill because it expands eligibility for California Community Colleges (CCC) students for a program that helps community college students enrolled in CalWORKs to prepare for employment by providing vital services such as work-study, job placement, childcare, skills training, and case management support. 

AB 648—CCC Housing 

AB 648 (Zbur, D-Los Angeles) would exempt the construction of faculty and staff housing projects, student housing projects, and university housing development projects from local zoning regulations of any city and county when constructed on property owned or leased by a community college district (CCD). 

The CFLA took a support position on this bill because it streamlines the construction of student housing at the CCC by exempting new student and staff housing projects from local zoning regulations if the project is constructed on property owned or leased by a CCD, the same exemption CCDs already have for classroom facilities. 

AB 1400—Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing Pilot Program

AB 1400 (Soria, D-Fresno) would require the CCCCO to develop a Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing Pilot Program that authorizes up to 15 CCDs to offer a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. The bill would require equitable access between the north, central, and southern parts of the state and give priority to CCDs in underserved nursing areas and CCDs where the service area includes persistent poverty. 

The CFLA took a support position because it is consistent with previous positions to support measures that expand baccalaureate degrees to CCC students. ACCCA supported a similar measure last year that was vetoed by the Governor. 

Oppose Positions

AB 850—Institutional Debt 

AB 850 (Pacheco, D-Downey) would prohibit an institution of higher education (IHE) from charging a higher tuition or fee on the grounds that a student owes an institutional debt. The bill would also prohibit an IHE from preventing a current or former student from reenrolling or registering at the institution on those grounds unless the institution complies with specified conditions, including that the institution grants a one-time exemption from the enrollment or registration hold and a specified opportunity for payment or entry into a payment plan. 

The CFLA took an oppose position because the bill is nearly identical to a bill that ACCCA opposed last year, AB 1160 (Pacheco), which was held in the Senate Appropriations Committee. ACCCA opposes the bill because it would remove a key tool for recapturing debts owed and could result only in additional debts owed to colleges should the student reenroll and incur more costs they cannot pay. Colleges would also have to establish a new expensive tracking system in order to meet the requirement to grant a one-time exemption to students. 

AB 1078—Temporary Employees

AB 1078 (Fong, D-Alhambra) would permit a community college part-time faculty member to ask for a written explanation for why they were terminated by the governing board of the CCD and clarify the procedure for how community college part-time faculty are terminated may be subject to the local collective bargaining agreement. 

The CFLA took an oppose position because the bill would restrict CCDs from locally managing their employment process. The bill would also significantly impact district operations and adds confusion about when a CCD board must meet to respond to a termination in writing.

AB 1247—Contracting Positions 

AB 1247 (Garcia, D- Rancho Cucamonga) would require, for schools and CCDs that contract services traditionally performed by classified employees to achieve cost savings, that the contracts must ensure that contractors provide health care or retirement benefits to their employees equivalent to those offered to direct hires. 

The CFLA took an oppose position because the bill would create additional administrative and financial challenges that could disrupt essential services. Many districts rely on contractors to support urgent or temporary staffing needs, yet AB 1247 would significantly limit their ability to do so. 

SB 494—Disciplinary Hearings

SB 494 (Cortese, D-San Jose) would authorize a permanent classified employee of a CCD or K-12 school district to appeal disciplinary action to a contracted administrative law judge, paid by the district and jointly selected by the district and the employee or their employee organization unless the employee organization and the school district have agreed to an alternative method of appealing disciplinary action. The bill would require this alternative method of appealing a disciplinary action to be subject to judicial review pursuant to specified standards of review of arbitration awards. 

The CFLA took an oppose position because the bill is nearly identical to SB 433 (Cortese) from last year, which was opposed by ACCCA and vetoed by Governor Gavin Newsom. ACCCA opposes the bill because it would encroach upon the local autonomy of CCDs by removing districts’ abilities to set their own parameters for disciplinary action of a permanent employee and instead placing that duty in the hands of a third-party hearing officer. 

Next Steps

ACCCA’s legislative advocates will communicate ACCCA’s positions on these eight bills and send them to author offices and relevant policy and fiscal committees. We will continue to provide periodic updates on these bills as they move through the legislative process.