Budgets at public colleges and universities in California are being slashed to the bone. Tuition fees are climbing at astronomical rates, faculty are being laid off and furloughed, and classes and programs are being eliminated. California State Assembly member and majority leader Alberto Torrico (D-Fremont) has proposed Assembly Bill 656, which will leverage a 12.5 percent tax on oil extraction in the state of California, and put that money directly into the California Higher Education Fund (CHEF). It's estimated that that will add $2 billion a year to financially-strapped public higher education institutions.

California is the ONLY oil-producing state in the nation that doesn't tax big oil! It's time we joined Texas, Alaska, and other oil-producing states and brought some of that money back where it belongs -- our kids' future.