FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 11, 2008

BILL REPEALS $117 MILLION ANNUAL ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT TUITION BENEFIT WHILE PROVIDING FREE COLLEGE FOR CALIFORNIA NATIONAL GUARD MEMBERS

California Significantly Lags Nation in Benefits Provided To National Guard

Irvine, Calif. – In an effort to bolster membership and retention in the California National Guard, Assemblyman Chuck DeVore (R-Irvine) is proposing an education assistance program that would provide members of the Guard free tuition at state colleges and universities. Assembly Bill 1758: the California National Guard Tuition Assistance Bill was submitted to the Assembly this week.

Despite being the most called upon, California ranks last in the nation in education assistance for National Guard members. California is also the only state that does not provide free tuition to its Guard. In recent years, the Guard has been faced with retention and recruitment declines that experts blame on California’s lack of available benefits.

“California is way behind the ball on this issue,” said Assemblyman DeVore. “Whether it is being called up to serve in Iraq, Afghanistan, or called to protect citizens from raging wildfires, California consistently depends on its citizen soldiers for national security and community assistance.”

This legislation would also repeal AB 540 (Firebaugh), a law passed in 2001 that allowed undocumented immigrant students an exemption from nonresident tuition fees. Texas granted illegal immigrants in-state tuition benefits the same year, seeing a 433 percent increase in illegal immigrants using the college subsidy, going from 1,500 students in 2001 to 8,000 in 2004. This cost the Texans millions of tax dollars.

In comparison, California likely has more than double the number of illegal immigrants enrolled in state colleges and universities than Texas. According to a recent Legislative Analysis Office report, there are up to 20,000 immigrant students in California receiving waivers from the state for tuition, both legal and illegal. The report said that about 90 percent of the immigrant students in California’s Community College system alone are undocumented. This means that there could be as many as 18,000 illegal immigrants enrolled in California State University, University of California and community colleges receiving heavily subsidized in-state tuition rates at the cost to the taxpayer of about $117 million per year.

Since the cost to provide free college tuition for California’s Guard members would be no more than $3 million per year, AB 1758 has the potential to save taxpayers up to $114 million per year – a substantial sum of money in a state with a $14.5 billion deficit.

“We have got to reverse the trend in California that rewards illegal immigrants and ignores our own citizen’s needs,” said Assemblyman DeVore. “Repealing taxpayer funded benefits to illegal immigrants frees up millions of dollars to provide much needed benefits to our men and women in uniform, and at the same reduces the size of government.”

AB 1758 will first be heard in the Assembly Higher Education Committee.

Assemblyman Chuck DeVore represents the 70th Assembly District in Orange County. He is an Assembly Republican Whip and is Vice Chairman of the Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee. He is also a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the California National Guard. The Assemblyman’s web site can be found at www.assembly.ca.gov.

-30-