Health Center fears new bill

Brent Spector bspector.roundupnews@gmail.com

Pierce College may lose the Student Health Center due to a trailer bill within the California State Budget Bill.

Approval of this bill would allow students to vote on removing the health center’s fee.

Beth Benne, director of the Student Health Center, made this announcement during an Academic Senate meeting March 26.

“Students who don’t know [what the bill means] may say ‘Oh ya, I can save money on fees,’ but it goes beyond that,” Benne said.

The center provides services that are the cheapest in the country.

“It will limit the services we provide for students if the health fee changes,” Student Health Center

Assistant Loralyn Frederick said.

“It’s already difficult to run on the [funds from the] fee.”

A trailer bill is a bill that is attached to the state’s budget, and is not held to the same legislative processes as regular bills, allowing it to pass much quicker than usual.

California students pay the health fee due to a bill passed as part of the 1986/87 budget, all of which supports the operating costs of the Student Health Center, Benne said.

The 1986/87 bill did not affect Pierce College, which at the time did not have a health center, but in 1992 when the Los Angeles Community College District allowed students across all nine campuses to vote on the matter, the students chose to erect the fee to establish a health center.

The bill is believed to have originated in the governor’s office, but the sponsors, California Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield and California Senator Mark Leno, are most only on it because they are a part of the Budget Committee, according to Benne.

If the bill is passed, and students do vote to remove the fee, the Board of Trustees may shut down the Health Center.