{"id":239705,"date":"2026-03-27T20:04:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T20:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/239705\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T20:04:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T20:04:08","slug":"does-lobbying-at-the-capitol-work-these-uc-students-say-yes-and-theyve-got-receipts-santa-cruz-sentinel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/239705\/","title":{"rendered":"Does lobbying at the Capitol work? These UC students say yes, and they\u2019ve got receipts \u2013 Santa Cruz Sentinel"},"content":{"rendered":"

UC students have been waiting years for this moment \u2014 another chance at a bill to add a second student seat with voting power to the UC Board of Regents. Earlier this month, the bill was reintroduced<\/a> as over 250 college students spent a day lobbying at the California Capitol, holding over 100 meetings with state leaders and their staff on various issues across all UC campuses.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time to put students first,\u201d said Assemblymember Jessica Caloza, a Los Angeles Democrat who authored the bill. \u201cOn this 26-member body, the UC Board of Regents, the student voice and the student experience cannot be an afterthought.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bill, ACA 18<\/a> or the Student Regent Empowerment Amendment, was introduced on the Assembly floor during the UC Student Association\u2019s annual lobbying day on March 9, which brought together UC students across all nine undergraduate campuses to engage with elected officials on issues affecting students across the system. Students pushed for key bills to boost basic needs access, including streamlining CalFresh applications and reforming the California Environmental Quality Act to make it easier to build student housing.<\/p>\n

For years, UC students have been advocating for the addition of a second voting student regent <\/a>to the UC Board of Regents, the system\u2019s governing body that sets policy and votes on issues like tuition. Currently only one student regent can cast a vote.<\/p>\n

Now, students have found a champion in Caloza \u2014 someone who herself once lobbied on the Capitol\u2019s steps, just like them, as part of the student association 16 years ago as an undergrad at UC San Diego.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels at first scary to step into the spotlight as a student who was, at the time, broke, burdened, tired, hungry \u2014 to think that I had a voice at the table, that my voice mattered,\u201d Caloza said. \u201cIt was UCSA who empowered me, who educated me to say that not only are students powerful, but together, students are unstoppable.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Caloza introduced the amendment on the Assembly floor, Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal, a Democrat from Long Beach, asked students to remain standing in the gallery if they planned to run for the Legislature one day. Over half of the students remained standing.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s go,\u201d Lowenthal said. \u201cThe leaders of tomorrow, we are counting on you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Caloza\u2019s bill proposes an amendment to the California Constitution that would add voting power for a second student regent, with one student representing undergraduates and the other representing graduate students. California voters would still have to OK the amendment if the Legislature passes it.<\/p>\n

\"AUC Student Association Government Relations Committee Chair Candice Phan speaks during the UC Student Association Lobby Day press conference on the west steps of the state Capitol in Sacramento on March 9, 2026. (Photo by Fred Greaves for CalMatters)<\/p>\n

Samantha Zavala, a third-year public policy major at UC Riverside and vice chair of the UCweVote campaign, has been leading the effort this academic year to make the change.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce we connected with (Caloza\u2019s) office, it was like an immediate click,\u201d Zavala said. \u201cIt\u2019s just like a full-circle moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Multiple students advocated for the amendment during their lobby sessions, including UC Santa Cruz student Evelin Chavez. She noted that the Cal State and California Community College systems already have two voting student seats on their governing boards.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always ponder the question, \u2018Why can\u2019t we have, like, an undergrad?\u2019\u201d Chavez said. \u201cGraduate student issues are very different from undergraduate student issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

While both undergraduate and graduate students can apply to the position, there has been a greater number of graduate students who have served on the board. Since the student regent position was first added in 1975, 29 have been graduate students. The last time an undergraduate student served on the board was during the 2021-22 academic year.<\/p>\n

The work doesn\u2019t stop now that the association has found a legislator to author the amendment, Zavala said. Student leaders will mobilize students across each campus to support the amendment and educate them about regents\u2019 roles.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt affects everyone, including students who are incoming and want to go to a UC,\u201d said Zavala. \u201cTheir voices deserve to be represented.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"The Regents of the University of California and its committees meet on the second day of a two-day session at the UC San Francisco Mission Bay Conference Center in San Francisco on Sept. 17, 2025. Photo by Florence Middleton for CalMatters<\/p>\n

Student leaders said that their past lobbying days helped get key bills passed, including SB 98,<\/a> also known as the Sending Alerts to Families in Education (SAFE) Act. The bill requires K-12 schools and higher education institutions to notify students, parents, faculty and staff if immigration enforcement authorities are present on campus. Students lobbied for its passage last year and it was approved in September.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf students are worried about ICE coming on the campus, or ICE coming into their hometowns, where their family lives, that hurts them mentally and academically,\u201d said Candice Phan, a third-year student at UC Davis and the student association\u2019s government relations chair.<\/p>\n

Students push for more housing and food access<\/p>\n

During the lobbying day, Chavez, the UC Santa Cruz student, mentioned how some of her peers live in their cars, with some even parking overnight in San Jose and commuting to Santa Cruz for school.<\/p>\n

\u201cHousing is a basic need and a human right,\u201d said Chavez, who serves on the student association\u2019s board. \u201cThat affects your education at the end of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

With 1 in 20<\/a> UC students facing homelessness, the group pressed for leaders to pass multiple bills related to student housing.<\/p>\n

One of those bills is AB 1732,<\/a> which would expand the CEQA exemption to include student, staff and faculty housing projects at UC, Cal State, and community college campuses. Democratic Assemblymembers David Alvarez of Chula Vista and Buffy Wicks of Oakland authored the bill.<\/p>\n

Local opponents weaponize CEQA to keep students away from certain communities and hinder desperately needed housing, said Kate Rodgers, executive director of the Student Homes Coalition, at the student association\u2019s lobby day press conference. \u201cIt is the students that pay the price,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

For first-time student lobbyist Emily Giron, a third-year sociology major at UC Santa Barbara, lobbying seemed like a way to advocate for her peers facing housing insecurity. She felt that legislative staffers were empathetic to the stories she shared.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen (my friend) struggle through what it\u2019s like to be unhoused for a long period of time,\u201d Giron said. \u201c\u2026 At the same time, I know that his story is only one.\u201d<\/p>\n

To address student food insecurity, students lobbied for SB 961<\/a>, authored by state Sen. Angelique Ashby, a Democrat from Sacramento, which aims to increase student access to CalFresh, the state\u2019s federally funded food assistance program.<\/p>\n

Between 400,000 and 750,000 college students are eligible for CalFresh<\/a>, but only about one-fifth receive federal food assistance. The bill <\/a>aims to make the CalFresh application process more accessible by increasing information sharing between campuses and state agencies and increasing targeted outreach to students. The bill will also ensure that any degree or certificate program at a college or university is eligible for approval as a Local Program that Increases Employability, which counts for the work requirement for CalFresh eligibility.<\/p>\n

\u201c(SB 961) really resonated with me a lot because I personally didn\u2019t think I was eligible for CalFresh,\u201d said Andrew Yanez, a fourth-year computer engineering student at UC Santa Barbara, who later learned he could apply. \u201c\u2026 People aren\u2019t getting the resources that they deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Student calls for help \u2018overflowing\u2019<\/p>\n

To identify priority issues, association leaders reached out last semester to students and staff at each campus, and basic needs staff spoke about being overworked. Student housing case management was overflowing, recalled Phan, the UC Davis student and association leader.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a very clear trend,\u201d Phan said, \u201c\u2026 that showed that basic needs centers across the UC are not funded properly and that they\u2019re not being prioritized.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JuniorJunior Dominique Martinez shops for pantry staples at the UC Berkeley campus food pantry on Oct. 25, 2019. Photo by Anne Wernikoff for CalMatters<\/p>\n

Mayra Bahena, a third-year education and social transformation major at UCLA, advocated for the CalFresh for Students Act so the program more easily reaches first-generation students.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a student who\u2019s going to be living off campus next year, it\u2019s really important that I have access to CalFresh and EBT,\u201d Bahena said. \u201cI\u2019ve heard from my fellow peers that it\u2019s a lengthy application process and sometimes difficult to understand as first-generation students. We don\u2019t know how to navigate these systems.\u201d<\/p>\n

For students like Zavala, lobbying has been transformative. She used to major in psychology, but found her passion for lobbying with the association and changed her major to public policy. She encourages students in all fields to make their voices heard on the issues that matter to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat privilege of coming to the Capitol and lobbying for myself really changed and really impacted the trajectory of my career,\u201d Zavala said. \u201cPersonally, it\u2019s so nice to feel represented and to be able to talk to your representative who\u2019s actively advocating for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Khadeejah Khan is a contributor with the College Journalism Network, a collaboration between CalMatters and student journalists from across California. CalMatters higher education coverage is supported by a grant from the College Futures Foundation.<\/p>\n

\"AA lobbyist talks on his phone at the state Capitol in Sacramento on Sept. 12, 2025. (Fred Greaves\/CalMatters via AP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UC students have been waiting years for this moment \u2014 another chance at a bill to add a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239706,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[7,8,15,181,100,180,143,145,144,13,1498,3234],"class_list":{"0":"post-239705","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oakland","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-california-news","10":"tag-education","11":"tag-latest-headlines","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-newsletter","14":"tag-oakland","15":"tag-oakland-headlines","16":"tag-oakland-news","17":"tag-politics","18":"tag-santa-cruz","19":"tag-santa-cruz-county"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}