California bill to fund college for illegal immigrants advances

The legislation would still need to pass the Assembly and be signed by Governor Jerry Brown, a Democrat, to become law.

Proponents acknowledge that illegal immigrants who attend college are still not able to find legal employment after graduation, but they say the bill could eventually help spur the federal government to grant those students citizenship.

"The Senate made history today by voting to pass ... the final portion of the California Dream Act," Assembly member Gil Cedillo, a Democrat from Los Angeles and the author of the bill, said in a statement.

Cedillo said that, if the bill is approved, it would "increase the earning potential of these students, which helps all of us by contributing to our tax base."

Brown in July fulfilled a campaign promise by signing into law a related bill to allow illegal immigrants to receive privately funded college scholarships, but not public funds.

The latest bill would go into effect in 2013 and could cost the California budget about $40 million a year, but not all of that would go to immigrants because some legal residents from other states could qualify for the funds as well, according to an analysis prepared for a state Senate committee.

Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said the bill would hurt California.