Wilson fee increases opposed by Senate
By Doug Willis
The Associated Press
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Pete Wilson’s proposal to increase student
fees by up to 15 percent at California’s public colleges was
opposed Tuesday by a majority of the state Senate.
Twenty-three of the Senate’s 39 members signed letters to the
Republican governor opposing the fee increases. Senators at a
Capitol news conference called the proposed increases a tax hike on
the middle class.
"There will be no budget passed this year with fee increases,"
said Democratic Sen. Alfred Alquist of San Jose, chairman of the
Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee.
‘"This is a substantial tax increase on the middle class, and we
are going to stop it," Senate President Pro Tem Bill Lockyer, also
a Democrat, added.
Assistant State Finance Director H.D. Palmer said the senators
were ignoring student aid increases which are linked to the fee
hikes and how California fees compare to other states.
"We hope they will take a step back and look at the entire
higher education funding picture and the budget priorities," Palmer
said. "We have the lowest fees in the nation.
"Higher education in one of only two areas, along with public
schools, getting cost-of-living increases in this budget."
The proposed annual fee increases are from $3,799 to $4,179 for
full-time students in the University of California system; from
$1,584 to $1,740 for California State University system students;
and from $390 to $450 for full-time community college students. The
increases are 10 percent, 10 percent and 15.3 percent
respectively.
Lockyer distributed charts showing student fees increasing in
the past five years by 123 percent at the CSU system, 157 percent
at the UC system, and 350 percent at community colleges.
Palmer responded with charts showing student aid rising by 128
percent, from $280 million to a proposed $639 million, in the same
period.
Lockyer said the proposed fee increases total $90 million, which
he described as "not an unimaginable, impossible amount to find" in
a $56 billion state budget.
He said one possible place to find that money would be in the
$3.7 billion state prisons budget, but he didn’t limit it to
prisons.
The dispute over college funds is just the first of what is
expected to be dozens of clashes between Wilson and the Legislature
over the state budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1.
It takes a two-thirds majority in both the Senate and Assembly
to pass the budget. Neither party has anything near that two-thirds
majority, so the outcome of the battles is uncertain.