Thursday, May 22, 2014
9:00 am - 1:00 pm
California State Capitol, Assembly Room # 437
1315 10th St,
Sacramento, Califonia
95814
Legislative Alert
California Association for Post sScondary Education and Disability
As you may know by now, the Governor released the May Revise of the state budget yesterday. Although state revenues were somewhat higher than projected in January, the Governor is intently focused on controlling spending and paying down debt, so he offered little additional funding for community colleges and none whatsoever for Disabled Student Programs and Services (DSPS). Thus, we must now ask the Legislature to re-work the Governor’s budget and provide an augmentation for DSPS.
Our final opportunity to advocate for such an augmentation will be during the last round of hearings which will occur next week. Although plans for the hearings may still change, the best information we have at this point is as follows:
- Assembly Budget Subcommittee 2 will begin its hearing on Thursday, May 22nd, at 9:00 a.m. in Room 437.
We realize this is short notice and that many of you have already attended multiple herings. Nevertheless, we must ask one more time that all CAPED members, students with disabilities, and disability advocates try to attend these hearings. Getting DSPS funding restored is going to be an uphill battle, but it certainly won’t happen unless the Legislature hears from many individuals and organizations who can speak to the need for such funding.
We expect that public testimony will be allowed at the Senate Subcommittee hearing on May 20th, but we do not know for sure whether the Assembly Subcommittee will accept testimony. However, you should make your plans now to come to Sacramento next week and we will provide further updates as definitive information becomes available.
If you have any questions or if you are able to attend one or both of the hearings, please contact CAPED Legislative Consultant, Ralph Black at ralphdblack@att.net or (916) 531-6460. He will provide you with talking points and information updates should the timing or location of the hearings change at the last minute.