On January 27, the CSU Board of Trustees approved the system’s federal agenda for 2010. The agenda includes a range of policy priorities focused on student financial aid, pipeline programs that help prepare California students for college, and federal support for applied research and workforce preparation. The agenda also includes funding requests for six multi-campus initiatives related to strategic languages training, biofuel production, college success for low-income and first generation students, and applied agricultural, coastal, and water research. At the same Board meeting, the CSU announced that it will lead a national effort to increase student graduation rates by 8% in the next 6 years, and significantly reduce the gap in degree completion between underrepresented students and their peers. System leaders will convene in Washington on March 3 to advance CSU priorities with the California congressional delegation and Obama administration officials.

As the calendar year wound down, Congress wrapped up work on the final seven of twelve spending bills for the fiscal year that began on October 1. On December 16 President Obama signed HR 3288, a massive “omnibus” bill that rolled together six measures, including: Commerce-Justice-Science, Financial Services, Labor-HHS-Education, Military Construction-VA, State-Foreign Operations, and Transportation-HUD. Three days later, he approved HR 3326, the defense appropriations bill. 

As detailed by Inside Higher Ed, HR 3288 contained some relatively good news for the higher education community, including increased funding for Pell Grants (the new maximum is $5,550), the TRIO and GEAR UP outreach programs, and Hispanic Serving Institutions, all CSU priorities.  The bill also sets aside $6 million for a new program championed by the CSU that would provide competitive grants (through FIPSE) to universities piloting innovative means of serving students who are veterans. The defense spending bill included $2,880,000 for the CSU’s Strategic Language Initiative, a top system priority, thanks to Reps. Richardson, Royce and Watson, plus Senator Boxer.

The House of Representatives has adjourned until January 12. Before leaving town, the House narrowly passed HR 2847, the Jobs for Main Street Act of 2010. Billed by some as a “second stimulus,” the legislation would use $154 billion that had been designated for the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) for an array of job creation and infrastructure investments. $23 billion would go to an Education Jobs Fund similar to the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund included in the first stimulus bill, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (HR 1). HR 2847 also includes an extra $300 million in Work Study funds and a plus up of $200 million for AmeriCorps. Prospects are unclear in the Senate, which has been tied up with health care reform this month.

Heading into the 2009 legislative stretch run, only five of the twelve annual measures that fund federal programs have been signed into law.  Because the current fiscal year (FY 2010) began on October 1, much of the government has continued to operate under a “steady state” continuing resolution (CR) since then.  The current CR expires December 18, 2009.  While the House has passed all twelve appropriations bills, the Senate has labored mightily to complete eight, with one more on deck for next week.  Given the need to find common ground on the unfinished measures via the conference process, the Senate’s heavy docket (which includes health care), and the shrinking calendar, observers expect most if not all of the remaining funding measures to be rolled into an omnibus package before Congress goes home for the holidays in mid-December. 

One candidate for an omnibus is the Labor, HHS, Education measure, which funds many of the programs of greatest interest to the CSU.  The House version, HR 3293, is relatively generous in proposing increased funding for CSU priorities including Pell Grants; early intervention programs like GEAR UP and TRIO; initiatives that support Hispanic-serving institutions; and a new program championed by the CSU that would provide competitive grants to universities piloting innovative means of serving students who are veterans.  The Senate’s committee draft would generally flat fund these accounts, though it would provide greater resources than the House to national and community service programs.

One bill that has been finalized is HR 2997, which covers FY 10 agricultural appropriations.  HR 2997 included $693,000 for the CSU’s Agricultural Research Initiative (ARI), a top system priority.  This continued ARI funding will be leveraged by state and industry resources to deliver cutting-edge applied agricultural and environmental research and workforce development in areas such as food science and food safety, water use efficiency, protecting natural resources and the environment, developing and adapting new technologies, improving agricultural products, and agricultural industry sustainability.  HR 2997 did not provide funding for new programs authorized by last year’s Farm Bill that would support non-land grant colleges of agriculture and Hispanic-serving agricultural colleges and universities.  Funding for these new initiatives will remain CSU priorities in the year ahead.

Newly elected Democrat John Garamendi was sworn in as a member of the House of Representatives today.  The former Deputy Interior Secretary and longtime California politico now represents California’s 10th Congressional district, with district offices in Walnut Creek and Antioch.  On Tuesday Garamendi, who most recently served as the state’s Lieutenant Governor, won a special election to succeed Ellen Tauscher, now Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security in the Obama administration.  Garamendi’s swearing in returns the California House delegation to its full complement of 53 members, with 34 Democrats and 19 Republicans.

On September 23^rd, the California State Society held its sixth annual “Back to College Night” in Washington, DC.  All twenty-three California State University (CSU) campuses had a presence at this fun, casual event on Capitol Hill that celebrates California’s colleges and universities.  Back to College Night was widely attended by CSU alumni in the DC area, including Rep. Ed Royce (CSU Fullerton ‘77) and Rep. Diane Watson (CSU Los Angeles ‘68).  The event gave DC-area alumni a chance to connect with their alma maters, network and show a little school spirit!