Legislative Issues

Sacramento Update

Interested in a particular bill? Check the Latest Reports and Positions on this page, or try State Legislature Bill Search and State Senate Bill Information.

What To Know About CCA and Legislation

Processing CCA Legislation

Members are often interested in the processing of CCA legislation. Ideas for legislation come from members, committees or Board members. In June or October, those ideas, with their rationales, are presented to the CTA State Legislation Committee on behalf of CCA by the CCA Vice President and the members of CCA sitting on the CTA State Legislation Committee.

These ideas are then sent to various departments of CTA for evaluation. At the October or February CTA State Council following the introduction of the initial ideas, the bills are presented to the CTA State Legislation Committee. Our Legislative Advocate then finds an author to carry the bill and follows the bill as it makes its way through the state legislature.

Taking Positions On Legislation

CCA is a policy-driven organization. Therefore, positions on legislation must be supported by policy. For this reason, it is not always possible for a CCA officer or Board member to declare support for a particular bill or concept without going through existing policy. The CCA President is the official spokesperson for our organization.

At every CTA State Council, the CCA Legislation and Political Action Committee reviews all bills which refer to community colleges or higher education. It is our task to take positions on these bills which are then approved by both CTA State Council and CCA Council. Once these positions are taken, the CCA Legislative Advocate lobbies for our positions in the legislature.

state capitol

Latest Reports and Positions

Current CCA Legislation Matrix (MS Word document)
Current CCA Bill Positions (Adobe PDF document)

An important reminder about the California State Legislature website.

At http://www.legislature.ca.gov, you will find a variety of crucial information about your state legislators and the legislative process, including:

A lookup to find your legislator (both Assembly and Senate)
Information on current bills
Budget information
Committee membership and scheduled hearings
Leadership and Caucuses

State Budget Information

Everyone is of course waiting for Governor Brown's May revise budget proposal, but in the meantime, straight from his 2011 CCA Winter Conference presentation, here is CCA Budget Analyst Alan Frey's latest informational presentations:

Budget Update Presentation (PDF document)
Briefing on Layoffs and RIFs (PDF document)

Federal Issues

Here are additional links on several key issues:

NEA: Higher Education Issues
NEA: Social Security Offsets (WEP and GPO)
NEA: Congressional Report Card

CCA Legislator of The Year

Assemblymember Paul Fong (D Cupertino) worked into the wee hours of this morning to secure for us a long overdue State Budget. Mr. Fong grew up in Sunnyvale and was elected as the representative of the 22nd Assembly district in 2008. Assemblymember Fong is the Chair of the elections and Redistricting Committee, which oversees all issues that relate to voting districts elections. He also serves as a voting member of the Banking and Finance, Higher Education, and Utilities and Commerce Committees.

In addition, Assemblymember Fong serves on the Select Committees on Aerospace, Biotechnology, Community Colleges, Domestic Violence, and Innovation and Bay Area Economy. Assemblymember Fong is a member of the Asian and Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus, the Community College Caucus, and the Environmental Caucus. Prior to being elected to the State Assembly, Assemblymember Fong served on the Foothill-DeAnza Community College District Board of Trustees. He was also a political science professor at Evergreen Valley College.