There’s obviously been a lot of discussion about this, but I thought the Senator that wrote the bill would be someone to listen to about this.  From an emailed press release:

Despite stringent cost containment amendments and support from all three segments of California public higher education, Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed Sen. Gilbert Cedillo’s California Dream Act (SB 1) Saturday. The proposal would have enabled qualifying undocumented students to apply for two types of non- competitive state financial aid, the Cal Grant High School Entitlement Grant and community college fee waivers. In his veto message Schwarzenegger indicated extending aid to the students was an imprudent strain on the General Fund although estimates pegged new budget allocations under SB 1 at $1.9 million or .018% of General Fund monies.

“He’s a tough guy to pin down, we addressed every fiscal concern the administration had, but maybe it’s more of a political calculation for him. The need for this bill extends beyond the walls of my office and although the Governor and I may disagree, this is one area where I think business sense should prevail.” […]

“Despite support from the entire public higher education system, some of his own appointees to the Regents, the Governor has vetoed a landmark education bill. In the face of non-partisan research and business community support to secure the workforce of tomorrow, the Governor deems a one hundredth of one percent cost increase more dire than facing a shortage of skilled labor in our state,” said Cedillo.  “While these students work hard to obtain the American dream, to contribute to our state, the Governor seems to look the other way.”

The bill was the result of some serious compromise with the Governor’s office, and he vetoed it anyway.

Leadership.

Esta mañana, escribí un poste en inglés. La traducción de Google es muy mala. Escribo otra vez.

Debajo de AB540, los estudiantes inmigrantes pueden atender a las universidades de California para la misma precio que residentes. Pero el “DREAM Act”  permitiría que los estudiantes recibieran la ayuda financiera.

Actualmente SALEF, conjuntamente con otras organizaciones, está impulsando la propuesta de ley California Dream Act, propuesta por el senador Gilbert Cedillo. Ésta legislación permitiría a estudiantes tener acceso a distintos tipos de ayuda financiera.

“El California Dream Act beneficiaría a estudiantes AB540 porque propone que puedan acceder a Calgrants o poder obtener préstamos.”, comentó Ana Grande, directora del programa de juventud y consejería en SALEF.

Aunque el California Dream Act fue rechazado el año pasado, ha sido reintroducido este año y está siendo actualmente debatido en el senado estatal. Si es que es aprobado por el senado pasaría a la oficina del gobernador Schwarzenegger para su aprobación final.

Es importante resaltar que este año casi tres millones de estudiantes se graduarán de escuelas preparatorias en Estados Unidos, de los cuales 60,000 no tendrán la posibilidad de continuar sus estudios, no por falta de motivación, sino por su estatus migratorio.

“Los estudiantes AB 540 no se deben dar por vencidos”, dijo Grande. “También deben unirse con otros estudiantes aunque no sean AB 540 porque en la unión está la fuerza.”

Aparte de los típicos obstáculos legislativos, uno de los principales problemas que aquejan a los estudiantes AB 540 es que muchos de ellos creen que no tienen la posibilidad de entrar a universidades.

“Una de las principales dificultades que afrontan los estudiantes AB 540 es no saber que hay grupos dentro de la comunidad que prestan ayuda a estudiantes de este tipo”, comentó Grande.

“Muchos no saben que tienen el derecho de entrar a universidades como cualquier otro residente”, agregó.(Cal-State Northridge El Nuevo Sol)

Todos los estudiantes deben recibir la educación de la calidad en los bajos costos. Todos los estudiantes deben saber que pueden atender a las universidades de California. La educación es energía.

( – promoted by Brian Leubitz)

I don’t think that many Californians will disagree with this statement: University Education is Critical to the Future of California and Californians.  And, while many may not like it, this state is a state of immigrants. We are all from somewhere else (well, with the exception of the state’s Native-Americans) and are working to move our state forward.  Put those two statements together, and you’ll see why the California Dream Act is so important.

Please see the extended.

The Dream Act doesn’t do anything revolutionary, it simply allows students who graduated from California high schools receive financial aid. These aren’t people flowing over the border just trying to steal the money of good old boys, these are people that have been in the U.S., many since a very young age.  These are people trying to better themselves for the future.  Or, put more properly, this is the future of our state.

Now, the DREAM Act doesn’t answer every question that should be addressed. Heck, even Texas actively promotes its university system within Mexico.  We are doing something that is vital to both California and Mexico by educating talented individuals.  We promote prosperity on both sides of the border, an economic precursor to the end of our immigration problems.

Let’s face facts people, even Hillary Clinton, whose husband worked to pass NAFTA, admits that it hasn’t “been as successful as we expected”. Um, sure, yeah, we can put it gently if we want, but what NAFTA has done is to allow American companies to exploit the relatively cheaper labor of Mexico.  They want to exploit the fact that their workers work in terrible conditions with few, if any, environmental controls.  And we see the results particularly strong in border states. We see pollutants drifting across in our air and our water. We see people desperate to escape the maquiladores, border factories, where they are abused and exploited in conditions that would make Upton Sinclair cringe.

Yet we do this all in the name of globalization without stopping to think how we can balance the boat. If a rising tide really does lift all boats (right Reagan? right Romney? McCain? Thompson?), shouldn’t we be trying to lift all boats, the most talented boats? On both sides of the border?

We must open our universities, our systems of higher learning to all that would help make this state great. That begins with admissions, but we must also include the ability to pay for the privilege.  This is how we work for the future, by building the fortunes of all involved.

Tomorrow, the assembly’s Public Safety Cmte. will be holding hearings on Sen. Cedillo’s Hospital Dumping Bill, now with 300% more chances for hospitals to dump patients, thanks to a hostile amendment.  At any rate, something needs to get passed this session.  Sen. Cedillo wil be at the hearing and will provide his opinion on the subject.

UPDATE: There is the possibility of further pro-hospital association amendments in this hearing. Here’s a list of the Committee Members (with emails):

Jose Solorio, (D-AD69)
Greg Aghazarian, (R-AD26)
Joel Anderson, (R-AD77)
Hector De La Torre, (D-AD50)
Fiona Ma, (D-AD12)
Anthony Portantino, (D-AD44)

UPDATE II: Some really disturbing news from LA this weekend, Kaiser apparently dumped two more people at the Union Rescue Mission on Skid Row.  So, Kaiser’s previous position was that the threat of fines would be sufficient to deter them from dumping, but can we really trust that this is true given their repeated dumping of real human beings?

The funny thing is that you can go to jail for dumping a dog or a cat on the side of the road, yet it’s totally legal to dump human beings.  Where is the logic in this?

No politician is perfect. Of that much I am painfully aware. But I like to think that Democrats will stand up for those who cannot speak for themselves.  Well, I was proved wrong about that when Lou Correa and Ron Calderon blocked committee approval of SB 275, the ban on hospital dumping.  Eventually, it was passed by removing the two Senators, who apparently value and/or fear the AHA (the American Hospitals Association-a corporate lobby group) more than they care about the true toll this takes on real human beings.

You know hospital dumping as the practice featured in SiCKO.  Michael Moore talks about it in this video clip from his premiere for SiCKO at Skid Row.

So, SB 275 attempts to deal with this problem.  Under the bill, as passed by the Senate, the transportation of patients against their will was a crime, not just a finable offense, but a real misdemeanor.  Real people could get real convictions for this deplorable practice.  The prospect of criminal charges meant that this law would have teeth.  Well, the AHA decided that they totally didn’t dig on the idea of having their staff arrested for doing what the CEO demanded. So, the Assembly accepted a hostile amendment to neuter the law by removing criminal penalties until the third offense, as if the first two homeless people don’t matter.  Flip…

The author, proud progressive, and my personal-favorite senator, Gilbert Cedillo spoke against the hostile amendment.

” Our offices have been committed to a thoughtful process on this issue.  We do not want to do something that is not significant,” said Cedillo.

How many times must a corporation determine that it is worthwhile to dump somebody before they actually get caught by the authorities?  And now they think they need to freebies?  Is anybody else disgusted by this?

Unfortunately the hostile amendment was agreed to by the Democratic Assemblymen on the Assembly Health Cmte. Here’s the [vote record and full bill record. The votes went like this:

AYES
  ****

Dymally	Price	Berg	De La Torre
De Leon	Hancock	Hernandez	Jones
Lieber	Ma	Salas

  NOES
  ****

Nakanishi Emmerson Gaines Huff
Strickland

  ABSENT, ABSTAINING, OR NOT VOTING
  *********************************

Hayashi

I really don’t like calling some of these members out at all. Like Lori Hancock, a statewide leader on clean money, or Fiona Ma, a leader on high speed rail issues.  But just the facts, here.  This committee bent to the will of the AHA.  If any of these Assemblyman represent you, let them hear it. This bill needs to be stronger.

After all, what is more important than the sanctity of human dignity? The practice of hospitals dumping patients on Skid Row must stop, not eventually, but now.  And Senator Cedillo’s bill, without these very hostile amendments, is the best way to end this affront to human dignity.

(Nice to have the Senator here. Now go do as he says! – promoted by Brian Leubitz)

Recently the Los Angeles Times ran an editorial, “For Citizens Only,” on the California Dream Act (SB 160) which misrepresented facts and promoted a policy position out of step with reality and mainstream opinion in California. 

Just one week after the LA Times declared their objection to increasing access to higher education for all Californians, the California Public Policy Institute (PPIC) issued a definitive analysis citing a critical gap in the number of college grads the state will produce.  PPIC warned that California will not meet the economic demand for highly skilled workers with current immigration and graduation rates; they recommended swift action on the state’s behalf to intervene. Additionally, a Field Poll in April 2007 noted that 83% of Californians support creating programs to legalize the status of undocumented immigrants indicating a far more open attitude toward immigrants than the LA Times expressed in their editorial.

The California Dream Act is an appropriate step to address our state’s workforce needs and is in alignment with voter sentiments toward immigrants. As the paper of note in California’s largest immigrant city, we expect more from the Los Angeles Times. 

Please help us express our dissatisfaction with the paper’s position and presentation of facts. It is critical that we set the record straight on SB 160 and make the paper aware of our concerns.

We are asking you to take three simple steps: 

–  Read our response to The Times editorial here:  “Let All Students Dream”  We are trying to earn a spot in the “Most Viewed” stories on the website, so be sure to use the link provided to view the response. 

–  Write a letter to the editor at The Times, expressing your concerns with their position or support for the bill 

–  Forward this to your network of friends, and ask them to do the same. 

As the focus on the topic of immigration intensifies in the coming weeks – both at the federal level and in our own state as the Legislature takes up our three immigrant related bills – we must not let misrepresentations or narrow perspectives cloud common consensus.

If you need additional information on SB 160 contact Eric Guerra (SAC) or Marvin Pineda (LA).  If you would like to help respond to the LA Times editorial or get the word out in support of SB 160 contact Christy Wolfe. 

Please take action today, and thank you for your support.