Lawmakers pass UC Berkeley fix, block gas tax bill
A California gas tax bill dies, but state lawmakers pass another to allow UC Berkeley to avoid a court order to slash its fall enrollment.
This article, written by CalMatters journalist, Emily Hoeven, is available for republication. Donate to CalMatters here.
Monday was a day of stark contrasts in the California Legislature.
State lawmakers unanimously sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk a bill they say will allow UC Berkeley to avoid a court order to slash its in-person fall enrollment by 2,600 students — while also making it impossible to use student population as the sole basis for challenging a public college’s growth plans under California’s landmark environmental protection law.
Hours later, Newsom signed the bill into law.
But, as CalMatters’ Mikhail Zinshteyn reports, the UC Berkeley saga likely won’t end with Newsom’s signature: The university is still facing a host of possible headwinds, including forthcoming legal challenges from the Berkeley neighborhood group that secured the court-ordered enrollment cap.
And despite overwhelming support for the bill, some lawmakers noted that it had been introduced just three days prior — cutting short the Legislature’s typical deliberative process and limiting public input.
Assemblymember Luz Rivas, a San Fernando Democrat: “Mistakes were made by UC Berkeley, and that’s why … we’re rushing this through, because we don’t want to affect students. But unfortunately, we’re not going through the full policy process and public review that something like this should.”
Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers slammed Democrats for fast-tracking certain bills while blocking proposals deemed critical by the GOP. On Monday, the Assembly declined to consider a bill from Republican Assemblymember Kevin Kiley of Rocklin that would have suspended California’s gas excise tax for six months.
At a press conference at a Sacramento gas station held hours before the vote, Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher of Yuba City accused Democrats of hypocrisy.
Gallagher: “Today the Legislature is fast-tracking … a fix for the UC Berkeley housing problem. … We’re fast-tracking that bill, as we should, because that’s an urgent issue. But this is an urgent issue also, to make sure that every Californian gets 50 cents a gallon off of their gas right now.”
With the average price of a gallon of gas reaching $5.74 in California on Monday, the Senate Republican Caucus also sent Newsom a letter imploring him to work with lawmakers to institute a “full moratorium” on the gas excise tax — a proposal that doesn’t seem likely to go very far in the supermajority-Democratic Legislature.
Another measure that will likely be dead on arrival: A Republican-led resolution to end California’s pandemic state of emergency — and terminate Newsom’s emergency powers — which a Senate committee is set to consider today.