The UC Student Association, the Equal Justice Society, Californians for Justice and individual students filed a lawsuit against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Jan. 21. The plaintiffs allege that the governor’s executive order to rescind the vehicle licensing fee violates state laws and oversteps the boundaries of the executive branch by removing decisions regarding budget from the legislature.

“”The lawsuit came from the three organizations coming together on common issues, which were access to higher education and the threats that the cuts produced,”” Matt Kaczmarek, chair of UCSA and UCLA Vice President External, said. “”The availability of pro-bono legal counsel presented a viable option to follow through with the lawsuit.””

The California Revenue and Taxation Code section 10754 states that the fee can be lowered as long as there is sufficient money in the general fund to cover the offset. According to the petition for writ of mandate, the governor violated state law by repealing the fee when there was not enough money in the state’s general fund to compensate for the consequent lack of funding. The petition alleges that the repeal of the fee created a state of emergency, which the governor then used to make cuts he would not ordinarily be able to make, and that it is the job of the legislature to make cuts when necessary.

“”There are two major reasons why these cuts are illegal,”” said A.S. Vice President External Harish Nandagopal, who is a UCSA board member.

The first, he said, was that there was not enough money in the general fund to cover the cuts.

“”The second is that the governor is only allowed to cut line items, such as outreach [at the University of California], if there is a budget issue that cannot be avoided and is unanticipated,”” Nandagopal said. “”By cutting the tax, he created a fiscal crisis, and then cut the line items. The crisis could have been avoided and was anticipated.””

The fee loss left $530 million dollars owed to local governments. These fees are currently being paid by deficiency appropriations and nearly $150 million in cuts, justified at the hand of the governor’s executive office by the immediate deficit to the cities.

As part of the governor’s proposed budget cuts, outreach programs for the University of California would be cut by $33.3 million. The cuts to outreach programs were cited by all three petitioners as the main reason for the lawsuit.

According to Nandagopal, these programs are essential to ensure that underrepresented students become represented and for the population of the universities to more accurately reflect the diverse population of the state.

“”The cuts to outreach have the greatest effects,”” Kaczmarek said. “”They affect the long-term ability of the university to ensure that a diverse group of Californians are eligible and can succeed in the universities.””

Kaczmarek also cited the cuts to the UC’s Institute for Labor and Employment as a concern for UCSA.

“”The zero funding is a political move which is designed to take money away from funding organizations believed to support unions,”” he said. “”These organizations are actually academic and study labor relations. The ability to study labor relations is something which affects a sizable population of workers in California.””

According to both Kaczmarek and Nandagopal, UCSA joined other organizations as a party in the lawsuit to bring attention to the fact that the cutting of a vehicle fee can affect education systems. Both stated that the impact of the cuts is not widely known and the consequences of the cuts even less so.

The petition was filed with the California Supreme Court in hopes that it could be decided in time to be effective, Kaczmarek said. It asks for the court to block the planned cuts of $148 million to the education system, which will also reverse the repeal of the vehicle licensing fee.

“”If we were to win, it would give additional funding resources back to the university by reversing the governor’s cut of the vehicle licensing fee,”” Kaczmarek said. “”Hopefully, it would also help the people of California to understand the connection between issues and support public interest and higher education. Many people didn’t realize the impact of the vehicle licensing tax on education. This lawsuit is an attempt to shed light on it.””