Assembly subcommittee presses UC on deferred compact payments, enrollment funding and nonresident replacement plan

Chair Alvarez convened the Assembly Budget Committee's education finance subcommittee and said the hearing would focus on the final year of Governor Newsom's compact with the University of California and how the Legislature should support the system going forward. The chair asked witnesses to focus on how funding decisions will affect California students and long‑term affordability.

Florence Bouvet of the Legislative Analyst's Office recommended several alternatives to the governor's proposed base funding increase, including aligning any base increase with inflation, earmarking a share of increases for capital renewal (the LAO cited an estimated $9 billion backlog), retiring payment deferrals as one‑time funds become available, and avoiding new multiyear compacts in favor of annual appropriations for transparency and accountability. "Although compacts are intended to provide predictable funding to UC, actual appropriations are ultimately determined by budget conditions," Bouvet said.

Alex Velasquez of the Department of Finance outlined the governor's 2026‑27 budget provisions that affect UC: a proposed delay of a one‑time 3% payback from 2026‑27 to…