Student tuition, fees, certain; collection method, "optional fee" defined

1. The governing body of any public institution of higher education shall not allow funds for legislative agents or organizations as defined in chapter 13C of Title 52 of the New Jersey Statutes which attempt to influence legislation to be assessed on student tuition bills, except that optional fees for non-partisan organizations which employ legislative agents or attempt to influence legislation shall be collected by the governing body whenever students at the institution have authorized an optional fee for such organizations by a majority vote of those students voting in an official student referendum. For the purposes of this section "optional fee" shall mean any amount payable on a student tuition bill, appearing as a separately assessed item, but not a mandatory charge or a waivable fee. Optional fees shall be accompanied by a statement as to the nature of the item, and that the item is not a charge required to be paid by the student but rather the student may add the charge to the total amount due, and that the item appears on the bill at the request of the student body, and does not necessarily reflect the endorsement of the governing body.