"California higher education officials have watched with mixed feelings as a potential oil severance tax -- which may in the end provide funding for state colleges -- has made its way through the Legislature.
Assembly Bill 656 was originally designed to impose a 9.9 percent natural gas and oil severance tax, with the proceeds going to the California Higher Education Endowment Corporation to allocate the revenue to state schools, according to documents from the office of Assemblyman Alberto Torrico. The bill was later amended to instead monitor how much revenue a 12.5 percent tax would generate for education, and it is now in the Senate.
”It will serve as a reminder of how much money higher education is missing as a result of not having a severance tax,” according to a statement from Torrico's office."