Both houses of the California Legislature passed the state’s main budget bill for the 2014-2015 fiscal year on Sunday afternoon, increasing financial aid for California students and requiring the UC to submit its revenue and expense projections.
Under the budget bill, SB 852, the University of California may receive $50 million more than the governor previously promised to pay for deferred maintenance projects, which are building repairs or upgrades that have been delayed. In April, UCLA said it alone has $770 million worth in deferred maintenance projects.
Whether the UC will get this funding in full depends on how much property tax revenue California received for the 2013-2014 fiscal year. If the state gets $200 million or more in property taxes than what is expected under the May Revise budget, the UC will receive the extra funding in full.
The budget also increases financial aid for students receiving Cal Grant B, which gives low-income students aid for living expenses and tuition. They will receive $1,648, an almost 12 percent increase from the $1,473 they received this year.
UCLA and UC Berkeley labor centers will also receive $4 million from the state for labor research and education. There will also be $2 million for the California Blueprint for Research to Advance Innovations in Neuroscience Act, which aids universities, including the UC, in mapping neurons in the human brain.
Under the budget, the UC will also be required to submit its funding and performance projection for the next three years to the state by Nov. 30 of this year. The plan would include the UC’s projections of enrollments, expenditures and available revenues, as well as its goals for performance measures such as graduation rates, for the 2015-2016 through 2017-2018 fiscal years.
As listed in Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed budget, there will also be $50 million specifically allocated to public universities to improve performance measures such as graduation rates. Any UC campus, California community college or California State University campus may submit its application for the funding by January. The committee in charge of allocating the money, which will include a UC regent, will judge applications based on cost as well as whether changes listed can feasibly be implemented and replicated at other campuses.
The $108 billion budget approved Sunday for the state’s general fund includes expenses for Brown’s controversial high-speed rail project, increased spending for welfare programs and funding for a “rainy-day” fund, a reserve that the state will draw from when it is going through a fiscal downturn.
On Sunday, Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), chair of the Assembly Committee on Budget, called the state budget responsible and balanced, but said the state can do more to invest in the future and that state funding for higher education is still at a historically low level.
Senate Minority Leader Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar) said in his speech on the Senate floor that the budget provides “not a bad … framework” for the state, but he thinks a Republican budget would have done better in addressing long-term liabilities and putting California in a more financially stable state. Huff said the party’s ideal budget would have prioritized a full enrollment growth for UC and CSU campuses.
“(Our budget) would be more fiscally responsible and we would make sure California does not return to budget deficits and fiscal crisis,” Huff said.
The state Senate approved the budget with a 25-11 vote and the Assembly with a 55-24 vote.
Brown may still veto any spending measure he does not want. He has until July 1 to pass or veto the budget.
Compiled by Jeong Park, Bruin senior staff.