A 8504: Directs the state to provide annual base funding to community colleges operating under the university of the state of New York; requires funding to be indexed to inflation; requires annual reporting.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 8504 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY May 20, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. EACHUS -- read once and referred to the Committee on Higher Education AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to enacting the "New York state community college funding stability act" The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as 2 the "New York state community college funding stability act". 3 § 2. The education law is amended by adding a new section 6311 to read 4 as follows: 5 § 6311. State funding floor for SUNY community colleges. 1. The state 6 of New York shall provide each community college operating under the 7 university of the state of New York with annual base funding equal to no 8 less than the highest amount received in any of the previous three 9 fiscal years. 10 2. (a) The funding floor for community colleges under subdivision one 11 of this section shall be automatically indexed to inflation and adjusted 12 annually based on the Commonfund higher education price index, as recog- 13 nized by the federal department of education, to account for rising 14 operational costs, including but not limited to faculty salaries, tech- 15 nology needs, and campus maintenance. 16 (b) The division of the budget, in consultation with the state univer- 17 sity trustees, shall certify the annual inflation-adjusted funding 18 amount under paragraph (a) of this subdivision no later than the 19 fifteenth of January of each fiscal year. 20 3. If a community college's enrollment declines, state aid per full- 21 time equivalent student shall not fall below the prior year's state aid 22 per full-time equivalent student funding level. If a community college's 23 enrollment increases, such community college shall receive additional 24 funding at the prevailing state aid per full-time equivalent student 25 rate. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD10404-01-5 
 A. 8504 2 1 4. In the event of a state fiscal emergency, no deviation from the 2 funding floor or inflation-indexing requirement under this section shall 3 be authorized unless such deviation is approved by a two-thirds vote of 4 the state legislature, with a written justification provided to the 5 public and to the state university trustees. 6 5. The comptroller and the state university trustees shall oversee the 7 implementation and enforcement of this section. 8 6. The chancellor of the university of the state of New York shall 9 submit an annual report to the legislature including, but not limited 10 to, community college funding under this section, community college 11 enrollment trends, compliance with the funding floor under this section, 12 and the impact of inflation adjustments made under this section. 13 7. Any rule or regulation necessary for the enforcement of this 14 section is authorized to be promulgated. 15 8. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, or subdivision of this section 16 shall be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, 17 such judgment shall not affect, impair, or invalidate the remainder 18 thereof, but shall be confined in its operation to the clause, sentence, 19 paragraph, or subdivision thereof directly involved in the controversy 20 in which such judgment shall have been rendered. It is hereby declared 21 to be the intent of the legislature that this section would have been 22 enacted even if such invalid provisions had not been included herein. 23 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.