California Legislature Bails Out UC Berkeley
Josh Moody
March 15, 2022
An enrollment cap brought by an environmental lawsuit put UC Berkeley at risk of losing 400 students. Lawmakers provided a solution Monday that Gov. Newsom quickly signed into law.
After a judge imposed an enrollment cap, the University of California, Berkeley, needed a minor miracle to avoid having to cut its fall 2022 enrollment by 400 students. On Monday it got just that: an immediate reprieve courtesy of the California State Legislature.
Senate Bill 118, which changes how a California environmental law applies to colleges, was passed unanimously Monday by both houses of California’s Legislature—69 to 0 by the Assembly and 33 to 0 by the Senate—despite a handful of objections during public hearings. Governor Gavin Newsom signed the bill into law on Monday night. In passing SB 118, lawmakers emphasized the importance of supporting higher education in the state and rebuked a community group whose lawsuit forced an enrollment cap.
