Blocked oil tax proposal could raise funds for public higher education with more support
By Nicholas Greitzer
Feb. 3, 2010 10:44 p.m.
In an attempt to combat November’s fee increases, the University of California Student Association is throwing its support behind California State Assembly Majority Leader Alberto Torrico’s oil tax bill, which would potentially provide a $400 million influx to the University of California system.
Torrico’s bill, AB 656, would institute a 12.5 percent severance tax on oil produced in California, providing $1.3 to $1.5 billion annually to public higher education.
The proposed bill would allocate 50 percent to California State Universities, 25 percent to California Community Colleges and 25 percent to the UC system.
On Jan. 25, however, the California State Assembly amended the bill by removing the tax in favor of turning AB 656 into a study to learn what the proposed tax would potentially do to the state economy.
In spite of this roadblock, Torrico said he is still hopeful that the bill will be restored to its original form within the next four weeks.
If the tax and funding are to be reinstated, the use of the nearly $400 million annual influx is ultimately up to the Office of the President. UCSA President Victor Sanchez said he hopes the extra funding will be able to help the hardest hit areas of the UC system: student services, shrinking curriculums and academic divisions and programming.
Torrico voiced the same concerns, noting that the bill would mandate an oversight board made up of UC students and administrators who would help decide where the money would go. No matter what, AB 656 does require that funding go toward benefiting student services, especially by stabilizing fees and reducing class sizes.
According to Torrico, California is the only oil-producing state that still does not recognize the need to tax oil companies for extraction.
“Even Sarah Palin realizes that you shouldn’t give oil away for free,” Torrico said, referring to the former Alaskan governor’s 2007 decision to tax oil companies 25 percent for extraction, which secured billions of dollars for Alaska’s economy.
With UCSA and Torrico focusing on potential benefits, the UC Office of the President has voiced concerns over AB 656, and the UC Board of Regents has yet to take action, said UC Office of the President spokesman Steve Montiel.
“The University of California believes that any dedicated funding stream for public higher education must provide ample resources to restore the State’s promise of an affordable and accessible education for all students,” Montiel said.
Montiel also expressed concerns over the potentiality of creating new bureaucratic roadblocks against funding, which he claims would supplant, rather than supplement, the baseline set for higher education.
Even with these concerns, Montiel did express the willingness of the UC system to work alongside the state legislature to create a bill that will help the state’s public higher education meet current economic demands.
“We need to push for change, we need to make an investment in the young people and the future,” Torrico said. “We need education to create the next wave of jobs in innovation, green technology and nanotechnology. If we aren’t educating people, then we lose that next wave of jobs.”
Keeping with the idea of change, Torrico has taken the bill out of Sacramento and is traveling to college campuses, including an upcoming trip to UCLA, to raise awareness and collect signatures in favor of the bill.
Thus far, Torrico has gathered more than 50,000 signatures in support of AB 656.
On Jan. 12, the bill also gained the support of the Courage Campaign, a network of over 700,000 grassroots citizens who partake in offline activism through online means.
It is this activism, according to Sanchez, that is necessary in holding the regents and state legislators more accountable.
In this spirit, the UCSA is kicking off a month of action by sending delegations from every UC campus to Sacramento from Feb. 26 to March 1 to lobby and rally for Torrico’s bill.
“We really need young students to be a part of this movement, to force the politicians in Sacramento to do things differently,” Torrico said.
