For more than sixty years, California's community colleges have operated under the 50% Law, a statutory requirement that districts spend at least half of their unrestricted general funds on instructional costs — the faculty salaries and classroom resources that are the core of what our colleges do. AB 2121 (Berman) would put the first meaningful crack in that protection.
The bill would allow districts to exclude certain local unrestricted funds used to replace lost Minority-Serving Institution (MSI), Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI), TRIO, and other federal discretionary grants from the 50% Law calculation. The intent, its author argues, is to shield equity-serving programs from federal funding disruptions. The mechanism, its opponents warn, is a statutory carve-out that once created will not be the last.
FACCC, the California Federation of Teachers, and the California Teachers Association have all opposed AB 2121. The bill has already passed out of the Senate Education Committee despite that opposition; its next stop is the Senate Floor. The concern is precedent: once the Legislature begins carving out exceptions to the 50% Law in response to fiscal pressures, future exemptions become far easier to justify. Over time, those exceptions can steadily erode a safeguard that has protected investment in instruction for generations.
For faculty in the North Orange County Community College District, this matters concretely. The 50% Law is the statutory floor that anchors district spending to classroom instruction. Weakening it — even for a sympathetic purpose — loosens the one structural constraint that keeps district dollars flowing to the faculty, class sections, and instructional support that students actually need.
Take action. Contact your state Assemblymember and state Senator and urge a NO vote on AB 2121. FACCC has hosted a member campaign portal that pre-drafts a message you can send: win.newmode.net/faccc/urgelegislatorstoprotectthe50law. To find your legislators directly, use findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov.
United Faculty NOCCCD does not lobby the Legislature directly — that work is coordinated statewide through CCA, CTA, and coalition partners including FACCC. Individual members are free to contact their own legislators as constituents, and the fastest, most effective way to do that this week is through the FACCC portal above.
Have a question or concern? Bring it through your Rep Council member — that is the formal channel for accurate, timely response. See Leadership & Reps for your campus and division contacts. Official UF updates are distributed only by email from UF role-based accounts and posted to UnitedFacultyNOCCCD.org.
