ASSEMBLYWOMAN QUIRK-SILVAâS LEGISLATION TO STOP COLLEGE CHEATS ADVANCES TO THE GOVERNORâS DESK
SACRAMENTO, CA â Assembly Bill 136 (AB 136) authored by Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva (D-Fullerton), in response to the College Admissions Scandal, passed the State Legislature and is headed to the Governorâs Desk.
âAdmissions to colleges and universities have become increasingly competitive. To make matters worse, a study found that at thirty-eight colleges in the United States, including Ivy League Schools; that more students came from the top one percent of the income scale than from the entire bottom 60 percent,â said Quirk-Silva. âThe study underlines that students from low to middle income families have even less of a chance of being admitted to these top colleges.â
In March 2019, more than fifty people, many from California, were indicted by federal prosecutors with charges ranging from alleged bribes paid to college coaches, standardized college testing administrators paid for illegal activity, and parents who paid contributions used for bribes so that their children can secure admissions to the best universities that the United States has to offer.
âThe criminal actions have victimized hard working and low-income students who were denied admissions because of the actions of those involved â and they were able to do so at the expense of the California taxpayers,â said Assemblywoman Quirk-Silva. âWe must protect students, for California to lead the nation in tackling homelessness and housing shortages, we must use all possible resources at our disposal to combat this crisis on all fronts,â said Quirk-Silva.
AB 136 prohibits those California taxpayers who are named in the federal indictment and found guilty, from benefiting from illegal income tax charitable contributions or fraudulent business expense deductions. The intention of the bill is to prevent scandals of this magnitude from being replicated.
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