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California Dream Act Signed Into Law
DREAM Act Protest Shuts down Wilshire Blvd., 9 Plan to be Arrested (Reader submitted cellphone photo)
The California Dream Act was one of a flurry of laws signed over the weekend by Governor Jerry Brown.
Brown had signed part A earlier this year, which grants students who meet the in-state tuition requirements permission to apply for and receive specified financial aid programs administered by California's public colleges and universities. The second part signed this weekend by Brown will allow students that meet the in-state tuition requirements to apply for and receive Cal Grants by California's public colleges and universities.
"After having invested 12 years in the high school education of these young men and women, who are here through no fault of their own, it's the smartest thing for us to do to permit these students to get scholarships and be treated like every other student," said Assemblyman Gil Cedillo, who sponsored the bill. "We need an educated workforce. This is good for California's economy and California's future.'"
The California Dream Act could require $14.5 million a year in state grants to immigrants who entered the country illegally to help them pay for college, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The bill had many vocal critics, including many listeners of the John & Ken show. One critic of the law assemblyman Cameron Smyth from Santa Clarita said he was worried that the law's passage would take away waning state resources from legal citizens. Brown brushed that off, saying the bill would potentially affect only about 1 percent of the $1.4 billion in annual Cal-Grant funding.
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