Student body association: student representation fee.

Existing law authorizes the governing board of a community college district to authorize the students of a college to organize a student body association to encourage students to participate in the governance of the college and conduct any activities, including fundraising activities. Existing law authorizes the governing body of a student body association to order an election be held to establish a student representation fee of $1 per semester, collected by officials of the community college at or before registration, and requires an affirmative vote of 23 of the students voting in the election to establish the fee. This bill would instead authorize the election to establish the student representation fee in the amount of $2, and would require an affirmative vote of a majority of the students voting in the election to establish the student representation fee. The bill would, for a student representation fee adopted on or after January 1, 2014, require $1 of the $2 student representation fee to be expended to establish and support the operations of a statewide community college student organization, recognized by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, with effective student representation and participation in state-level community college shared governance and with governmental affairs representatives to advocate before the Legislature and other state and local governmental entities. The bill would specify the underlying goals of a statewide community college student organization and would require the organization to comply with specified open records and open meetings laws. The bill would require the fees expended to establish and support the operations of the statewide community college organization to be distributed to the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges for further distribution to the recognized statewide community college student organization if the organization satisfies certain conditions. The bill would, for a student representation fee adopted before January 1, 2014, provide that the student body association shall retain the authority to continue to receive the $1 student representation fee, and authorize the student body association to conduct an election to instead adopt a $2 student representation fee, as described above. The bill would require the statewide community college student organization to reimburse the Office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges for any costs incurred to implement these provisions. The bill would also require a community college district to annually prepare a summary of the amount of student representation fees collected, the expenditures of the proceeds of the student representation fee, and the amount distributed to the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges. The bill would require the summary to be presented at the community college district board meeting each year and posted to the community college district Internet Web site. To the extent that this additional requirement would impose new collection duties on the community colleges, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.