Brown Signs Una Parte of Dream Act

Ali Meyer:

This afternoon Gov. Jerry Brown signed the “Dream Act” bill AB 130. By Assemblyman Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, the bill will “allow undocumented immigrants who live in California to apply for scholarships funded with private donations,” according to the Sacramento Bee.

This bill is one part of the Dream Act initiative.  Part two, AB 131, would allow these students to be available for public financial aid, paid for by state taxpayers. Brown also is expected to sign it.

This isn’t the first time the Dream Act was introduced.  Cedillo has been attempting to pass the bill since 2006.  Introduced as SB 1460 in 2010, the bill passed both houses of the state Legislature but was vetoed by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on September 30, 2010.  Now that Schwarzenegger is gone, Cedillo has found luck with Gov. Jerry Brown.

The Dream Act, Cedillo said, is a “bill that recognizes that in the year 2025, this economy of the eighth largest economy of the world is going to be missing one million people with bachelor of arts and bachelor of science degrees. And the question is, where will these people come from?”

Where will they come from? Isn’t there already a surplus of college students with degrees attempting to find jobs? Not to mention adding undocumented immigrants to the list?

“I suggest to you part of where they come from is from this group, this community of students, that are called dream students,” he continued.

The opposition mentioned the state’s endemic budget problems.  “The problem we have right now with the state of California’s budget is that we don’t even have enough money to provide financial aid for students that are here legally, let alone ones that are here illegally,” said state Senator Bob Dutton, R-Riverside.

July 25, 2011