Latest news with #AssemblyBill540
Los Angeles Times
23-06-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Trump sues to end college tuition benefits for undocumented students. Could California be next?
For 24 years, immigrants lacking documentation who graduated from high school in California have received in-state tuition benefits at public colleges and universities under a law that's given tens of thousands access to higher education that many couldn't otherwise afford. When the California Legislature passed Assembly Bill 540 in 2001, it was the second state in the nation — after Texas — to embrace such tuition policies. Bipartisan efforts quickly grew across the country, with more than 20 states adopting similar policies. But recent court actions by the Trump administration are causing alarm among immigrant students and casting a shadow over the tuition benefit in California, the state with the largest population of people living in the U.S. without legal authorization. On June 4, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Texas over its tuition statute for immigrants without authorization, alleging it violated a federal law that prevents people who do not have legal status from receiving public benefits. Texas did not defend its law and instead put its support behind the Trump administration, leaving 57,000 undocumented college students in the state in educational limbo after a federal judge blocked the statute. Last week, the DOJ launched a similar suit in Kentucky, asking a federal judge to strike down a state practice that it says unlawfully gives undocumented immigrants access to in-state college tuition while American citizens from other states pay higher tuition to attend the same schools. 'Under federal law, schools cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens,' Atty. Gen. Bondi said of the Texas lawsuit in a statement that signaled a broader fight. 'The Justice Department will relentlessly fight to vindicate federal law and ensure that U.S. citizens are not treated like second-class citizens anywhere in the country.' Legal experts say that it's not a matter of 'if' but when and how the Trump administration will come for California's law. The White House is already battling the state over liberal policies, including support of transgender students in school sports; sanctuary cities opposing ongoing federal immigration raids; and diversity, equity and inclusion programs in education. 'We are just waiting to see when it's California's turn,' said Kevin R. Johnson, the dean of the UC Davis law school, who specializes in immigration. Johnson predicted the White House was going after 'lower-hanging fruit' in more conservative states before California, where Trump will face 'firm resistance.' The potential threat has shaken California's undocumented students. 'If I no longer qualify for lower tuition, I really don't know what I would do,' said Osmar Enríquez, who graduated last month with an associate's degree from Santa Rosa Junior College and will enroll at UC Berkeley in August to embark on an undergraduate degree in media studies. The difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition for people like Enríquez can be thousands of dollars at a community college and tens of thousands at CSU and UC campuses. International students pay out-of-state rates. At Santa Rosa Junior College, the average tuition for two semesters for an in-state student is $621. For an out-of-state student, it's $5,427. 'What I see the Trump administration doing is trying to exclude us,' said Enríquez, who aspires to one day operate a public relations company. 'They don't want us to get educated or to reach positions of power. And with everything going on now, they are just trying to dehumanize us any way they can.' Campus and university-level data on undocumented student populations can be difficult to estimate. Although universities and colleges keep track of how many students without documentation receive tuition exemptions under AB 540, the data also include citizens who qualify for in-state tuition. These students grew up in the state and graduated from a California high school before their families moved elsewhere. Numbers are also complicated by changes in the California Dream Act Application, which was established for students lacking documentation to apply for state aid but has expanded to allow students who are citizens and have an undocumented parent. Out of the University of California system's nearly 296,000 students, it estimates that between 2,000 and 4,000 are undocumented. Across California State University campuses, there are about 9,500 immigrants without documentation enrolled out of 461,000 total students. The state's biggest undocumented group, estimated to be 70,000, comprises community college students and recent graduates such as Enríquez. Born in Mexico and brought by his family to the U.S. when he was a 1-year-old, Enríquez said in-state tuition has made his education monumentally more affordable. At his next stop, UC Berkeley, in-state tuition and fees last year amounted to $16,980. Out-of-state and international students had to pay a total of $54,582. Several undocumented students from UCLA, Cal State Los Angeles and other schools declined interviews with The Times or requested to be cited without their names, saying they were fearful of identifying themselves publicly as the federal government undertakes a third week of immigration raids across Southern California. 'I just want to go to school. What is wrong with that?' said an undocumented graduate student at Cal State Los Angeles who received his undergraduate degree at a UC campus. The Latin American studies student asked for his name to be withheld because of concern over immigration enforcement agents targeting him. 'I don't only want to go a school, I want to go to a public university. I want to contribute to my university. I want to become a professor and teach others and support the state of California,' he said. 'Why are we so bent on keeping students from getting an education and giving back?' Sandra, a Cal State Northridge student who asked to be only identified by her first name, had a similar view. An undocumented immigrant whose parents brought her from Mexico to Los Angeles at age two, she said she would not be in college without the in-state tuition law. 'I was not eligible for DACA, so money is thin,' Sandra said, referencing the Obama-era program that gave work authorization to undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children but hasn't taken new applications since 2021. 'We save and we squeeze all we can out of fellowships and scholarships to pay in hopes that we use our education to make a difference and make an income later.' The Trump administration's challenge to the tuition rules rest on a 1996 federal law that says people in the U.S. without legal permission should 'not be eligible on the basis of residence within a state ... for any post-secondary education benefit unless a citizen or national of the United States is eligible for such a benefit ... without regard to whether the citizen or national is such a resident.' 'There are questions about exactly what that means,' said Ahilan Arulanantham, co-director of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at UCLA Law School. 'Does that apply to universities that do not use residency as a requirement for the tuition rate but instead use high school graduation in the state?' he said, explaining that state practices differ. In California, an undocumented immigrant who did not graduate from a high school in the state would typically not qualify for reduced tuition. The Justice Department has argued in court that giving in-state tuition to immigrants without proper authorization violates the federal law. Some Trump opponents point out that the law does not speak specifically to tuition rates, although courts have interpreted the word 'benefit' to include cheaper tuition. In the recent Texas case, undocumented students, represented by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, have filed a motion in court, asking the judge to allow them to argue in support of upholding reduced tuition rates. The tuition policies have survived other legal challenges. Before Trump administration intervened, the Texas law appeared to be legally sound after a federal appeals court ruled in 2023 that the University of North Texas could charge out-of-state students more than it charges in-state undocumented immigrants. In that case, the court said the plaintiffs did not make good case that out-of state students were illegally treated differently than noncitizens. But the court suggested there could be other legal challenges to tuition rates for immigrants lacking documentation. The California law has also withstood challenges. The state Supreme Court upheld its legality in 2010 after out-of-state students sued. The next year, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of the case. The California court concluded that undocumented immigrants were not receiving preferential treatment because of their immigration status but because they attended and graduated from California schools. Justices said U.S. citizens who attended and graduated from the state's schools had the same opportunity. Still, momentum has built to abolish in-state tuition rates for immigrants without legal documentation. This year, lawmakers in Florida — which had a rule on the books for more than a decade allowing tuition waivers for undocumented students — eliminated the option. Prior to the federal action against Texas, legislators in the state also tried and failed to follow Florida's lead. During this year's legislative sessions, bills were also introduced in Kansas and Minnesota, although they have not passed.
Yahoo
31-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Lombardo's housing attainability plan shrinks, now expected to help 5,000 households
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A scaled-back version of Gov. Joe Lombardo's Nevada Housing Access and Attainability Act will help fewer people, according to state officials. The ambitious plan to use state funds to encourage housing construction and other help for Nevadans who need affordable housing solutions has shrunk. When Lombardo presented the plan in April, it was described as a $250 million plan that would provide homes for 16,000 households. Pressure on state budgets has forced adjustments as spending plans move through the Nevada Legislature. Funding for the affordable housing plan is now set at $133 million, and it's expected to reach about 5,000 households, according to Christine Hess, chief financial officer for the Nevada Housing Division. The lower spending levels didn't seem to dampen support for affordable housing. Kathi Thomas, chief housing officer of the Southern Nevada Regional Housing Authority, called in to support Lombardo's plan. 'We are in the midst of a housing crisis, and we understand that this legislative body has a number of competing priorities and challenges with the budget. But we are all committed to building a strong economy, and there is no economic model that does not have housing at its core,' Thomas said. Hess outlined the new spending levels during a Friday hearing before the Senate Government Affairs Committee. The $133 million will fund programs in three ways: $83 million to support the development of attainable housing to serve those at or below 150% of area median income. The help will come in the form of loans, grants or rebates. This category will also support the development of low-income tax credit properties and land acquisition for attainable housing. $25 million for home ownership opportunities in the form of down payment assistance and interest rate buydowns. $25 million for incentives to develop attainable housing, expected to be in the form of matching grants Hess said previous plans to fund supportive housing development, rental assistance and eviction diversion programs will not be implemented initially as Assembly Bill 540 — the Nevada Housing Access and Attainability Act — ramps up. Those will still be eligible uses, but are not expected to be funded initially because they are available elsewhere. The bill didn't receive an immediate vote after it was heard Friday. 'This is not a fund for 3,000-square-foot homes. This is a fund to really catalyze and get the housing built,' Hess said. 'More housing to have people that are living in RV parks not have to live in RV parks.' Democratic Sen. Edgar Flores said he was concerned that the plan didn't specify goals to help people buy a starter home. He said that's the problem that's happening right now. Ryan Cherry, chief of staff for Lombardo, said that was discussed but not written into the language of the housing act because goals will change over time. He said the governor wants the agency to have the ability to adjust its goals to meet current needs. 'For-sale homes was really the impetus of this initiative,' Hess said. She said that will influence the amount of funding that goes toward helping families who can't qualify. The initial plan included $50 million for home ownership initiatives. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Things Trump's tariffs could sink: Stock market, global economy, and…Lombardo's housing bill
Nevada Housing Division Adminisrator Steve Aichroth and Gov. Joe Lombardo describing Lombardo's housing legislation in Las Vegas Tuesday. (Photo: April Corbin Girnus/Nevada Current) State lawmakers question if President Donald Trump's world-roiling tariffs will undercut Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo housing bill, which allocates $250 million in funding to build more housing and expands the definition of affordable housing to include higher incomes. Lombardo has previously focused his attention on addressing the state's housing crisis by calling on the federal government to release more federal land he argues is needed to build more housing – even as housing groups warn against urban sprawl and a local analysis shows significant infill land available. Assembly Bill 540, heard Wednesday night by the Assembly Commerce and Labor Committee, seeks to use state general funds to help finance the development of housing. The bill also expands the threshold of affordable housing to include households making 150% of area median income and allows out-of-state contractors to develop in rural areas, which is currently prohibited by state law. Lombardo, appearing briefly before the panel Wednesday to introduce the bill, said the legislation 'expedites permanent housing solutions' and described his bill as the 'action plan to get this done so that significant progress is already underway in Nevada before land is even released.' Democratic Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager, citing the tariffs Trump announced on all imports from all countries Wednesday that sent financial markets into a severe tailspin Thursday, said Lombardo's bill doesn't match the times. The National Association of Homebuilders, Yeager added, anticipates tariffs will drive up the cost of all housing and construction costs. 'I do think there is a twinge of irony that we as a state are asking the federal government to give us land to be able to build but at the same time we are seeing federal policies that maybe prevent us from building on that land that's being released,' Yeager said. 'I don't know if this is the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.' Yeager asked if Lombardo's office had talked with Trump about the newly announced sweeping tariffs, and how their economic fallout could impede the state from building more housing. Ryan Cherry, the governor's chief of staff, said while the office has talked with the Trump administration about housing costs, 'as far as tariffs, we have not had direct conversations as of this time.' Asked earlier in the week, before the scope and scale of Trump's tariff proposals announced Wednesday were known, about the impacts of tariffs and Trump's other economic policies, Lombardo said Nevada will 'make adjustments on the fly.' Nevada Housing Division Administrator Steve Aichroth, who helped present the bill on Wednesday, noted the state has already had to weather high interest rights and supply chain issues in the last few years. Despite how Covid exacerbated the housing crisis, the state still tried to find a way to build, Aichroth said. While everyone would prefer to 'build in a perfect environment,' Aichroth said, 'we haven't seen a perfect environment in a long time. But we have to build. We have to get projects built and on the ground.' The American Rescue Plan Act, passed and signed into law in 2021 by President Joe Biden, allocated billions of dollars of relief funds to the state. The state directed $500 million of that assistance to the Home Means Nevada fund, which offered financing for housing projects throughout the state and helped prevent building from being stalled, Aichroth said. 'Whether it's tariffs or higher interest rates, any of those challenges we hear from builders and laborers, all of those factor into the current housing eco-system,' he said. 'There is never a perfect time to do this. We have to play the cards we are dealt.' AB 540 would change the definition of affordable housing to 'attainable housing,' creating the Nevada Attainable Housing Fund and Council, which will oversee the allocation of $250 million in funding for housing projects. Christine Hess, the chief financial officer of the Nevada Housing Division, said that $50 million of the funds will be directed toward 'loans and will remain assets of the division's trust so that we can continue to issue the hundreds of millions of bonds annually for home ownership and multi-family rental housing.' Hess said while financing building for buyers with more than 150% of area household median income — more than $120,000 a year in Nevada — 'sounds like a lot,' it was designed to meet the changing landscape of the cost of housing. 'The median home price up and up in Reno is $600,000,' she said. 'The idea was that up to 150% gives the division with input from the communities and stakeholders, to be flexible, and the amount of public funding.' Aichroth added the state has 'programs that basically focus on 60% and 80% and below.' Though there are other resources for lower income earners, the need is far greater. There are only 17 available homes for every 100 extremely low income households making less than 30% of AMI compared to 94 available homes per 100 renter households making 100% of AMI, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. Democratic Assemblymember Brittney Miller asked how projects would be prioritized. Aichroth said it would be a combination of community need and financial feasibility. He added the feasibility piece was extremely important 'to ensure that the projects can get built, built to fruition, and house people for a good length of time.' Real estate interests and homebuilding firms supported the bill, saying it would alleviate issues faced when it comes to developing more housing. Val Thomason, with the Democratic Socialists of America, said the bill 'seems like a giveaway to property developers.' Lawmakers asked little about expanding households to include 150% AMI and changing the definition of affordable housing to attainable, and how that portion of the measure might come at the expense of lower income households. Instead they directed much of their focus on the section of the bill that exempts projects from paying prevailing wages to construction workers that state law typically requires of publicly financed projects. Under Lombardo's bill, builders needn't pay prevailing wage if 'the qualified borrower demonstrates that the qualified project addresses a need for critical infrastructure in an area with a shortage of attainable housing.' Tina Frias, the CEO of the Southern Nevada Homebuilders Association argued that state prevailing wage requirements 'make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for home builders to construct attainable homes.' 'We're willing to sacrifice construction workers,' said Las Vegas Democratic Assemblymember Max Carter, admonishing the provision. The state is 'willing to let them work for substandard wages. In fact, incentivize them working for substandard wages.' Reno Democratic Assemblymember Erica Roth pointed to two housing projects that received funding from the Nevada Infrastructure Bank. 'Both of those projects use prevailing wages and both of those projects didn't have trouble securing financing or penciling out,' she said. Despite the bill's language exempting the prevailing wage, Cherry said it was not the intent 'to be presented this way.' 'I will be clear and on the record for this committee that Governor Lombardo does support the use of prevailing wage on projects across the board,' he said. Labor groups, including the AFL-CIO, and progressive groups, including Battle Born Progress, also opposed the bill's provisions prevailing wage exemption. The committee took no action on the bill.
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Lombardo downplays concerns about impact of Trump tariffs
Gov. Joe Lombardo speaking in Las Vegas Tuesday. (Photo: April Corbin Girnus/Nevada Current) Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo on Tuesday downplayed concerns about the potential consequences of tariffs and other economic policies imposed by the Trump administration, saying Nevada will 'make adjustments on the fly.' Lombardo made his comments in Las Vegas at a press conference at a soon-to-open affordable housing complex for seniors, where he was highlighting his housing bill. The Nevada Housing Access and Attainability Act, as Assembly Bill 540 has been named, will be heard by the Nevada State Legislature's Assembly Commerce and Labor Committee on Wednesday night. It promises to leverage $250 million in state funds to support more than $1 billion of new housing projects. When asked about Trump tariffs driving up the cost of constructing new homes, Lombardo acknowledged that 'tariffs are the great unknown,' before pivoting to saying his housing legislation is designed to be flexible enough to react to the needs of developers. 'We'll make adjustments on the fly,' he said. Housing groups have warned that Trump tariffs on lumber, steel, aluminium and other key goods will increase the cost of constructing homes. The National Association of Home Builders, whose Southern Nevada affiliate participated in Lombardo's press event Tuesday, have estimated that 7% of all goods used in new residential construction are imported. When asked about Trump's broader economic policies and their potential negative impact on Nevada's economy, Lombardo responded that it is the obligation of the governor and the Legislature to identify the state's needs and prioritize. 'You have to triage what your priorities are,' he said. 'You have to identify what the problems are, what the priorities are, and housing is a priority. Housing is a priority and we'll make adjustments within the state budget's services.' Lombardo in his response also alluded to recent conversations about potential cuts to Medicaid and Medicare. Those concerns, which were raised via letters and legislative hearings, are still pending as the federal budgeting process continues. Legislative Republicans have suggested they'd be more open to cutting services than raising revenue to backfill federal cuts. Early data suggests international visitation to the United States is rapidly declining due to concerns about Trump's trade wars, immigration enforcement without due process, and outlandish proposals to buy or take over other countries. Lombardo, who was endorsed by Trump, has previously said that 'Trump will bring down the rising costs of housing, groceries, and gas' and 'oversee a new era of American prosperity.' He expressed none of that enthusiasm Tuesday.
