Los Angeles Community College District: California Center for Climate Change Education., the official text

An act to add Article 7.5 (commencing with Section 78085) to Chapter 1 of Part 48 of Division 7 of Title 3 of the Education Code, relating to public postsecondary education.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the 3 segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Existing law establishes community college districts throughout the state, and authorizes them to provide instruction to students at community college campuses. One of these districts is the Los Angeles Community College District.
Existing law appropriates $5,000,000 to the Los Angeles Community College District for the development and initial operations of the California Center for Climate Change Education at the West Los Angeles College with the mission to promote climate change education at the California Community Colleges and establish opportunities for students to engage in hands-on internships and other learning opportunities.
This bill would codify the establishment of the center.
This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Los Angeles Community College District.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.
(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1) Global climate change is an immediate threat to the United States’ national security, public health, and national economy, and to the legacy we will leave to our children.
(2) These environmental and health burdens fall disproportionately on communities of color, women, children, the elderly, persons with disabilities, low-income communities, individuals with underlying health conditions, and indigenous communities in California, who are more likely to live, work, and attend school near oil operations and who are among the populations most vulnerable to the escalating impacts of climate change.
(3) Domestic clean energy jobs continue to be among the fastest growing occupations. The United States can lead the world in innovating and manufacturing clean energy technologies, creating good-paying jobs, modernizing the energy grid, and growing new companies that will be the titans of a new clean energy economy.
(4) On July 8, 2020, the Board of Trustees of the Los Angeles Community College District adopted a Clean Energy and Sustainability Resolution, which directs the district’s staff to develop and implement a Sustainability Vision 2040 Plan for the district that establishes a pathway to achieving a goal of 100 percent carbon-free energy by 2040.
(5) The people of the state, and people across the United States, overwhelmingly support teaching students about the causes, consequences, and potential solutions to global climate change.
(6) The Los Angeles Community College District’s West Los Angeles College currently offers the only climate change and environmental studies associate of arts degree in the state, providing students with the educational preparation to understand the impact of climate change on their lives and local communities, and our global society.
(7) West Los Angeles College’s climate change and environmental studies associate of arts degree is designed as a pathway for students to transfer to environmental studies programs at four-year postsecondary educational institutions or to pursue environmentally related careers.
(b) It is the intent of this measure to establish the California Center for Climate Change Education at the Los Angeles Community College District’s West Los Angeles College campus.

SEC. 2.
Article 7.5 (commencing with Section 78085) is added to Chapter 1 of Part 48 of Division 7 of Title 3 of the Education Code, to read:
7.5.
The California Center for Climate Change Education78085.
This article shall be known, and may be cited, as the California Center for Climate Change Education.

78086.
(a) The California Center for Climate Change Education is hereby established in the Los Angeles Community College District. The center shall be located at the West Los Angeles College.
(b) The mission of the center is to promote climate change education at the California Community Colleges and establish opportunities for students to engage in hands-on internships and other learning opportunities. The center shall do all of the following:
(1) Serve as a resource for community colleges on climate change education with the understanding that at its core, climate change is a global issue of equity and social justice.
(2) Build a clear climate change pathway that leads to appropriate certificates, degrees, and employment opportunities.
(3) Enhance partnerships with nonprofit organizations that encourage the development of student internships and work-based learning opportunities.
(4) Explore and expand internships, preapprenticeships, apprenticeships, and other work-based learning opportunities in the equity, environmental justice, and green jobs sectors.
(5) Partner with local and regional entities to support the workforce training needed in the greening of the energy grid and other industries.
(6) Develop and sustain an annual urban climate change and sustainability conference.
(c) When developing a clear climate change pathway as required by paragraph (2) of subdivision (b), the center shall consult with relevant faculty and administrative groups of the California Community Colleges, the California State University, and the University of California, including, but not limited to, the Academic Senates of the California Community Colleges, the California State University, and the University of California, and the Intersegmental Committee of the Academic Senates.

SEC. 3.
The Legislature finds and declares that a special statute is necessary and that a general statute cannot be made applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution because of the unique circumstances regarding the Los Angeles Community College District.