Assembly committee advances bill letting community college chancellor's office charge fees for data requests

The California State Assembly Appropriations Committee advanced SB 391 on July 2, 2025, a bill that would give the California Community College Chancellor's Office authority to charge reasonable fees to external research partners requesting data.

Sen. Bill Laird, the bill's presenter, told the committee the chancellor's office currently spends between "7 50 and 12 60 hours per year" handling data requests and that fulfilling some requests can take from a few weeks to multiple years. Laird said giving the office fee authority would produce "significant cost savings" and align the chancellor's office with other state entities that already charge for data, such as the Department of Education and Cradle to Career programs.

Laird said his office worked with opponents on amendments he described as technical; Dr. Linda Vasquez, assistant vice chancellor for state and federal relations at the California Community College Chancellor's Office, was available to answer technical questions. Tony Chiquera, speaking for the California Teachers Association, told the committee the association had worked with the author and removed its opposition after the latest amendments.

Committee members moved and seconded the bill. After closing remarks from Laird, the committee took the measure on a roll call; the chair reported the bill "is out on a roll call" with two members not voting. The transcript records that Assemblymember Dixon and Assemblymember Ta did not cast votes on the measure.

The measure now moves on per Assembly procedures for bills cleared by the Appropriations Committee.