Student support services: Dreamer Resource Liaisons.

Existing law establishes the segments of the public postsecondary education system in the state, including the University of California administered by the Regents of the University of California, the California State University administered by the Trustees of the California State University, and the California Community Colleges administered by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges. Existing law provides that a student, other than a nonimmigrant alien, as defined, who has attended high school in California for 3 or more years, who has graduated from a California high school or attained the equivalent thereof, who has registered at or attends an accredited institution of higher education in California not earlier than the fall semester or quarter of the 2001–02 academic year, and who, if the student is an alien without lawful immigration status, has filed a specified affidavit, is exempt from paying nonresident tuition at the California Community Colleges and the California State University. This bill, commencing with the 2020–21 academic year, would require the California Community Colleges and the California State University, and request the University of California, to designate a Dreamer Resource Liaison on each of their respective campuses, as specified, to assist students meeting specified requirements, including undocumented students, by streamlining access to all available financial aid, social services, state-funded immigration legal services, internships, externships, and academic opportunities for those students. By requiring community colleges to designate a Dreamer Resource Liaison, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would encourage those institutions to establish Dream Resource Centers, and would authorize those centers to provide specified support services. The bill would authorize the trustees, the board of governors, and the regents to seek and accept on behalf of the state any gift, bequest, devise, or donation for the creation and operation of Dream Resource Centers for their respective systems. 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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.