Update: Oct. 18 at 10:46 a.m. — The initial headline of this story falsely reported that Speaker Rendon and Assemblyman Cooley discussed college debt reduction during their lecture. In fact, Cooley discussed debt reduction after the lecture.

Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Paramount, and Assemblyman Ken Cooley, D-Rancho Cordova, spoke about issues related to California’s universities after a dialogue about the Assembly in Sacramento State’s Hinde Auditorium on Thursday.

Cooley, who is running for re-election, said that while he is not on the budget committee he does speak with his colleagues about student debt reduction.

“In the old days, they’d print a person’s college degree on a sheepskin because it’s virtually indestructible. That was the most important document you had,” Cooley said. “We’ve actually ended up in a situation where the most important document is not the sheepskin; it’s the loan papers.

“(College is) a public investment. It’s not a give away. Your education will improve society in various ways.”

Rendon said he was “a little disappointed” that Gov. Brown vetoed a bill that would have banned tobacco use on public college campuses.

“I was supportive of the bill when we took up the vote,” Rendon said. “He had sent smoke signals so I wasn’t sure. I was surprised.”

The dialogue, hosted by the Center for California Studies and moderated by Los Angeles Times Sacramento Bureau Chief John Myers, touched upon how divisions within the Democratic Party, money in politics and term limits have impacted the State Assembly.

Democrats outnumber Republicans in the Assembly more than two-to-one, which Myers said leads to ideological conflict within the caucus.

“There’s more of us. We consider ourselves a big tent party. It’s natural that there would be various factions within our party,” Rendon responded. “Americans tend to agree with the economic positions of Republicans, for the most part, and disagree with them on social issues. There’s a lot of folks in California who feel the same way, and the reverse is true as well.”

However, Rendon stated that the big tent sometimes sets him apart from his own district.

“I have a district that’s exceptionally Latino, overwhelmingly Catholic. My positions on gay rights are significantly different than a lot of folks in my district,” Rendon said. “Two-thirds of my district voted for Proposition 8. I’m not there, that’s not something I’m ever going to do.”

Myers said that changes in state and federal law have increased private spending in Assembly elections, saying that “an interest group universe” is taking advantage of laws.

Rendon said that there was too much money in politics, but added that solutions are hard to come by considering federal court rulings.

“I realize the irony of saying money is a problem given that it’s my job to raise a lot of money. Pretty good year, too,” Rendon said. “In our caucus people have talked about various ways of dealing with it. … It’s exceedingly complicated in terms of drafting and formulating but carrying it out as well would be exceedingly tough.”

Cooley said that increased money in politics could be an opportunity for aspiring public servants.

“You’ve got to jump in, keep growing your voice, growing your reputation, be seen as a problem-solver and all of this money will pivot to people who distinguish themselves in their community,” Cooley said. “If you distinguish yourself, the world will start to turn in your direction.”

In 2012, term limits changed allowing for Assembly and Senate members to serve a total number of 12 years in the legislature.

“You wouldn’t want to be told you’re going to be an optometrist for only six years and then you have to go on to be a mechanic,” Rendon said.

Cooley said that after term limits were passed, the legislature did less oversight over agencies in the executive branch.

“We’d ask some very important questions and they’ll say ‘we’ll get back to you’ and assume the member’s attention will shift,” Cooley said.

Additional reporting by John Ferrannini