Plain English Breakdown
The official text cuts off mid-sentence in Section (5), leaving the specific purpose of the $49.7 million appropriation incomplete.
AB-148: Higher Education Budget and Program Changes
This law allows community college staff to use food pantries, changes how small grants affect scholarship amounts for some students, expands funding uses for free textbooks, identifies budget sources for deferred payments, and appropriates funds from a stabilization account.
What This Bill Does
- Requires California Community College campuses to let classified employees access Basic Needs Center food pantry services during the 2026–27 and 2027–28 fiscal years.
- Removes the requirement to recalculate Middle Class Scholarship awards if a student receives an additional need-based grant or waiver of less than $300 after their award is set.
- Allows colleges receiving Zero-Textbook-Cost grants to use funds for professional development and technical assistance related to creating open educational resources.
- Authorizes the Chancellor's office to allocate unallocated program funds on or after June 30, 2025, to establish statewide infrastructure for open educational resources.
- Identifies specific budget items in the Budget Act of 2025 as the funding source for deferring $243.7 million in payments owed to community college districts from fiscal year 2024–25 to 2025–26.
- Appropriates $49,734,000 from the Public School System Stabilization Account.
Who It Names or Affects
- California Community College campuses and their classified employees regarding food pantry access.
- Undergraduate students at UC, CSU, or community college baccalaureate programs who receive Middle Class Scholarship awards.
- Community college districts developing degrees with no textbook costs using grant funds.
- The Student Aid Commission and the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges.
Terms To Know
- Basic Needs Center
- A place on a community college campus that provides food, housing help, mental health support, and other essential services to students.
- Middle Class Scholarship Program (MCSP)
- A state scholarship for undergraduate students at UC or CSU campuses based on family income and cost of attendance.
- Open Educational Resources
- Instructional materials like textbooks that are free to use, share, and adapt without paying traditional publishing costs.
Limits and Unknowns
- The official text provided is truncated at the end of Section (5), so it does not specify exactly how the $49.7 million from the Public School System Stabilization Account will be used.
- Specific details on data reporting formats for employee food pantry access are referenced but not fully described in this summary.