This year marks the fifteenth anniversary of AB 540 — the California assembly bill, proposed by Marco Antonio Firebaugh, that exempts qualifying non-resident students from paying out-of-state tuition even while living in-state.
On Oct. 13, Future Underrepresented Educated Leaders , described on their website as an organization that aims to advocate, educate and empower undocumented students on campus, will host a tribute night to celebrate Firebaugh’s legacy at the University Student Union room 205 from 8 – 10 p.m.
The tribute night, which is taking place on his 50th birthday, will consist of several guest speakers talking about Firebaugh’s work and its impact, as well as an open-mic for attendees to share their opinions and experiences as undocumented students or allies.
Refreshments will be provided and a cake will be cut to celebrate Fireabaugh’s birthday.
Firebaugh died in 2006 from liver failure and influenza. He was 36-years-old.
As a California Assembly member, his most notable accomplishment was writing assembly bill – AB 540. This bill was signed by Governor Gray Davis in October 2001 and added a new section to the California Education Code.
Firebaugh was honored with a high school named after him in 2005 – Marco Antonio Firebaugh High School, located in Lynwood.
FUEL president Luis Flores said there is an assumption that all immigrants are from Mexico and Central America, which is not the case. Many undocumented students come from other countries, such as Asia, and all share similar experiences because of their immigration status.
Undocumented students are required to meet certain requirements to be eligible for AB 540 – attending a California high school for three years or more, graduating with a high school diploma or equivalent and signing the California Nonresident Exemption Request.
In addition to authoring AB 540, Firebaugh was chairman of the California Latino Legislative Caucus and wrote legislation to provide financial help to low-income communities affected by air pollution.
Undocumented senior anthropology major and FUEL Vice President Gaby Hernandez said that AB 540 inspired her to chase after a higher education..
“Honestly, if it wasn’t for AB 540, I would’ve given up on college because out-of-state tuition wouldn’t have been feasible for me,” she said.
Hernandez and Flores are organizing the event in hopes that attendees learn more about Firebaugh’s AB 540 impact in undocumented students’ pursuit of higher education.
FUEL has held this event for the past three years. Unlike the past celebrations, however, this year the Firebaugh family will be in attendance. The family will be recognized in honor of the legislator’s accomplishments.
Other guests expected to be at the event are Hector Preciado, director of Marco Antonio Firebaugh High School’s director, and Jorge Morales, South Gate mayor.
Armando Vazquez-Ramos, president of the California-Mexico Studies Center — a study abroad program that takes DREAMers to Mexico — will also attend.
DREAMers are immigrants under the age of 31 that entered the United States before the age of 16.
This program has worked closely with the community of undocumented students on campus and creates short videos touching on immigration issues.
At the event, a California-Mexico Studies Center’s short documentary titled “Who was Marco Antonio Firebaugh? And why we should honor him? #AB 540” will be showed.
For both Hernandez and Flores, AB 540 helped their pursuit of higher education as undocumented students.
Flores has been working closely with other organizations and communities, such as the Muslim Student Association and Asian American and Pacific Islander community, that face the same issues due to their immigration status.
The event is open to the public regardless of status or cultural background, as Flores’ goal to let students of every ethnicity know of the importance of AB 540.
For Flores, Firebaugh “had that fire, that instinct to want to do more for his community” and wishes to transmit that message through events like this.