HB2954

THE CONTEXT: The Arizona Legislature adopts a budget for each fiscal year (FY) that contains general appropriations. Article IV, Section 20, Part 2 of the Constitution of Arizona requires the General Appropriations Act (feed bill) to contain only appropriations for the different state departments, state institutions, public schools and interest on public debt.

WHAT THE BILL DID: The final vetoed version would mandate the Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) prohibit the public universities from using public or private monies to subsidize, offset, reduce or mitigate the tuition or fees charged to any student who is not lawfully present in the U.S, specifies a student is not lawfully present in the U.S; if the student is: a) present without authorization under federal law; b) a foreign national who has been paroled into the U.S; by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security; or c) a foreign national who has applied or intends to apply for asylum in the U.S; if the application for asylum has not yet been approved. Resident Undergraduate Tuition Rate Reduction (Session Law), and direct ABOR, for FYs 2026, 2027 and 2028, to fix the tuition to be charged at each public university for resident undergraduate students at a tuition rate that is 2.5% lower than the FY 2025 tuition rate for each public university.

WHY IT MATTERED: The practical reason for this bill was to set a clear legal boundary for higher education instead of leaving the conduct unaddressed. It would mandate the Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) prohibit the public universities from using public or private monies to subsidize, offset, reduce or mitigate the tuition or fees charged to any student who is not lawfully present in the U.S, and would also specifies a student is not lawfully present in the U.S. if the student is: a) present without authorization under federal law; b) a foreign national who has been paroled into the U.S. by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security; or c) a foreign national who has applied or intends to apply for asylum in the U.S. if the application for asylum has not yet been approved. Resident Undergraduate Tuition Rate Reduction (Session Law), rather than leave the current rule unchanged.