AB 656: Proposed Funding for Higher Education

From the California Faculty Association (CFA), via this week's CFA Headlines:

AB 656 GOES TO COMMITTEE NEXT WEEK

As California continues to slash the budgets of its public higher education institutions, new legislation will go before committee next week in a historic first step towards creating a dedicated funding source for the state’s public colleges and universities.

Assembly Bill 656 – sponsored by CFA and authored by Assembly Majority Leader Alberto Torrico – would generate funding for all three segments of public higher education in California by enacting a new tax on oil and natural gas severed from California land or water.

California, the third-largest oil producing state in the country, is the only such state where oil is extracted without a tax. A similar fund in Texas has successfully endowed public colleges and universities in that state since the 1800s.

This new funding would supplement – and not replace – existing state funding.

The bill will go before the Assembly higher education committee next Tuesday, June 23.

For those interested in attending, the hearing will take place in the State Capitol room 437 at 1:30 p.m.

You can also support AB 656 by joining the Facebook cause at: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/250878/35918066?m=8267094b

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As far as we know, CSUEU has not taken a position on AB 656.

Links

• CFA Headlines June 16, 2009 [PDF]
• CFA Headlines
• AB 656
• LegInfo bill lookup
• CSUEU Legislative Committee