As a UC Berkeley graduate, I know personally how life changing it can be to attend the most prestigious public university in the country. That's why, as Assembly Budget Chair, I've made it a priority to ensure other Californians are granted that same opportunity. With increases in state funding, I have successfully pushed for additional slots at UCs and CSUs.

So when a court-ordered enrollment freeze threatened to derail enrollment growth at UC Berkeley and deny admission to thousands of students who have worked so hard to get in, the state Legislature took swift action. A neighborhood group shouldn't be allowed to use the California Environmental Quality Act to dictate a school's growth simply because the effects of traffic, noise, housing and other environmental impacts were inadequately analyzed.

State Senate Budget Chair Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) and I championed SB 118, which ultimately paved the way for the additional students to be admitted this fall, as originally planned. Just hours after unanimous, bi-partisan approval in both houses, the Governor signed the bill.

Under this legislation, an environmental analysis of campus development plans will continue to consider population impacts, but higher education leaders are given 18 months to fix any problems before enrollment mandates are issued. 

We are two million college degrees short, and in order for California's economy to thrive, we must continue to educate deserving students and not consider them "pollutants."