Contact: Jeff Barbosa
(916) 319-2723

SACRAMENTO – Assembly Majority Leader Alberto Torrico’s bill to help fund state universities and community colleges with a tax on oil companies will go before the Assembly Higher Education Committee at 1:30 p.m., Tuesday, June 23, in Room 437 of the state Capitol.

As deep budget cuts continue to erode public funding for California higher education, Torrico’s bill, AB 656, would place a tax on oil and natural gas within California and direct the roughly $1 billion in revenue to the California State University, University of California and California Community College systems.

“Our higher education system fuels our economy, but it is now in urgent need of funding,” Torrico said.  “My bill will bring California in line with more than 20 other oil-producing states.  Other states are charging over 12 percent and we are charging nothing.  When oil companies are experiencing record profits while we are making severe budget cuts, we should get a public benefit out of this public resource.”

California’s widely accessible and affordable higher education system has enabled the state to become a global economic powerhouse.  The CSU alone graduates 90,000 students with bachelor’s degrees, the largest number in the nation.  The universities and colleges supply California with a well-trained and educated workforce.

“All of that is rapidly being torn down,” said John Travis, a professor of political science at Humboldt State University, and Political Action/Legislative Chair of the California Faculty Association.  “This is shaping up to be a disaster not only for our students, faculty and staff who are bearing the brunt of budget cuts, but for every segment of business and economic life in the state.

“Every sector of life in California benefits from a strong public university system,” Travis said.  “We all need to invest our fair share in the state’s future, and that includes businesses, particularly those that directly hire our graduates.”

A recent study by the Public Policy Institute of California states that California’s need for college educated workers is rapidly outpacing the state’s ability to produce them, and that gap is expected to widen as our state universities make further cutbacks.

Student fees have increased in seven of the past eight years, including 2009. 

What:   Public hearing on AB 656: Oil tax for higher education
Where: Assembly Higher Education Committee, State Capitol, Room 437
When:  June 23, 2009, at 1:30 p.m.
Who:    Assembly Majority Leader Alberto Torrico, Humboldt State Professor John Travis, and others will testify.