We developed our 2024 legislative priorities under our Affirming Equity, Ensuring Inclusion, and Empowering Action initiative to proactively combat the chilling effects in higher education enrollment and persistence stemming from the Supreme Court’s decision on race conscious admissions. Comprised of high-impact budget and legislative priorities based on key findings and recommendations from our Affirming Equity, Ensuring Inclusion, and Empowering Action research brief series, statewide policymakers have before them a clear roadmap that, if enacted, will uplift California as a national exemplar in affirming racial equity, ensuring inclusion, and empowering action in higher education.
Affirming Equity, Ensuring Inclusion, Empowering Action Initiative
Higher Education Legislation
Students are our north star. We push for bold policies that advance college access, student success, and racial equity.
2024 Legislative Priorities
Affirming Equity
This year, we are working to affirm equity in college access by banning discriminatory legacy admissions practices, strengthening student-centered transfer pathways, and bolstering equitable dual enrollment programs proven to improve student access and success.
College Admissions
AB 1780: Student financial aid: Cal Grants: qualifying institutions: legacy admissions
Author: Assemblymember Phil Ting
Status: Awaiting Governor’s signature
Campaign Position: Sponsor
Bans legacy and donor preferential admissions at private colleges and universities.
Strengthening Transfer
AB 2057: Associate Degree for Transfer
Author: Assemblymember Marc Berman
Status: Awaiting Governor’s signature
Campaign Position: Sponsor
Strengthens the Associate Degree for Transfer (ADT) by increasing access to STEM ADT pathways and setting statewide goals to close racial equity gaps in transfer attainment, as recommended by the AB 928 ADT Intersegmental Implementation Committee.
Dual Enrollment Access
AB 359: Pupil instruction: dual enrollment: College and Career Access Pathways partnerships
Author: Assemblymember Chris Holden
Status: Awaiting Governor’s signature
Campaign Position: Support
Expands dual enrollment opportunities for all students, and requires that enrollment and outreach efforts prioritize underrepresented students.
SB 1244: Pupil instruction: dual enrollment: College and Career Access Pathways partnerships
Author: Senator Josh Newman
Status: Awaiting Governor’s signature
Campaign Position: Support
Allows dual enrollment partnerships between community college districts and K-12 districts to expand outside of a community college district’s service area, if a neighboring community college district is unable to enter into a partnership to offer dual enrollment courses.
Ensuring Inclusion
The Campaign is ensuring inclusion in higher education at the state level by advocating for policy that expands financial aid access and strengthens support for historically minoritized students.
Financial Aid
AB 3240: California Ban on Scholarship Displacement Act of 2021: Cal Grant awards
Author: Assemblymember Lisa Calderon
Status: Awaiting Governor’s signature
Campaign Position: Support
Extends the Ban on Scholarship Displacement Act (AB 288 – Calderon, 2021) to Cal Grant recipient students, preventing students who earn private scholarships from seeing a decrease in their Cal Grant awards.
AB 1887: Student financial aid: application deadlines: extension
Author: Assemblymember Sabrina Cervantes
Status: Chaptered
Campaign Position: Support
Extends the application deadline for state financial aid programs from April 2 to May 2, in response to the delayed federal updates to the FAFSA.
Historically Minoritized Students
SB 1348: Postsecondary education: California Seal of Excellence in Serving Black and African American Postsecondary Students
Author: Senator Steven Bradford
Status: Awaiting Governor’s signature
Campaign Position: Support
Establishes a Black-Serving Institution designation, recognizing colleges and universities that excel in enrollment, transfer, and graduation rates for Black students, and that provide substantial support through student success programs, robust African American studies programs, dedicated co-curricular activities, and outreach services.
Empowering Action
The Campaign calls for the Governor and Legislature to empower action in college opportunity through enacting the following policy to leverage transfer, higher education coordination, data collection and disaggregation, and goal setting as key strategies that support the state in meeting college attainment while closing racial equity gaps.
Strong Disaggregated Data
AB 2458: Public postsecondary education: student parents
Author: Assemblymember Marc Berman
Status: Awaiting Governor’s signature
Campaign Position: Support
Ensures disaggregated data is collected for college-level student parents, allowing for cost projections for financial aid packages to include childcare costs and to integrate data on student parents into the Cradle to Career Statewide Longitudinal Data System.
SB 782: Gubernatorial appointments: report
Author: Senator Monique Limón
Status: Awaiting Governor’s signature
Campaign Position: Support
Ensures that disaggregated data on racial, ethnic, gender, and geographical diversity of gubernatorial appointments is collected and reported.
AB 2723: The California Cradle-to-Career Data System Act
Author: Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin
Status: Awaiting Governor’s signature
Campaign Position: Support
Ensures that the Cradle to Career Statewide Longitudinal Data System governance structure and data dashboard tools are seamlessly operationalized.