BILL NUMBER: AB 1280 CHAPTERED 10/04/05 CHAPTER 515 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE OCTOBER 4, 2005 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR OCTOBER 4, 2005 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 30, 2005 PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 25, 2005 AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 23, 2005 AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 15, 2005 AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 11, 2005 AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 23, 2005 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 13, 2005 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Maze and Liu (Coauthors: Assembly Members Bass and Parra) FEBRUARY 22, 2005 An act to add and repeal Section 78016.5 of the Education Code, relating to public postsecondary education. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1280, Maze Public postsecondary education: California Community College Baccalaureate Partnership Program. Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. This bill would enact the California Community College Baccalaureate Partnership Act, and establish the California Community College Baccalaureate Partnership Program. Under the program, the Office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges would be authorized to annually award 2 grants, not to exceed $50,000 each, to a collaborative, composed of at least one community college and at least one baccalaureate degree-granting institution, formed for the purpose of offering baccalaureate degree programs on the participating community college campus or campuses. The bill would provide that these 2 grants may be awarded under its provisions in any fiscal year only to the extent that funding for this program is appropriated in the annual Budget Act. The bill would require that, as a condition of an agreement for the receipt of a grant under this provision, a collaborative shall ensure that every student who enrolls in the baccalaureate degree program offered by the collaborative prior to an announcement of the termination of the collaborative has an opportunity to complete the coursework necessary to obtain a baccalaureate degree. The bill would require that, on or before April 1, 2012, the Office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges submit a report to the Legislature and the Department of Finance on the efficacy of the program established by this bill. The bill would provide that its provisions would become inoperative on July 1, 2014, and that its provisions would be repealed on January 1, 2015. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 78016.5 is added to the Education Code, to read: 78016.5. (a) This section shall be known, and may be cited, as the California Community College Baccalaureate Partnership Act. The California Community College Baccalaureate Partnership Program is hereby established for the following purposes: (1) To encourage baccalaureate degree-granting institutions to partner with community colleges to offer baccalaureate degree programs that will offer instruction entirely on the participating community college campus. (2) To bring opportunities to earn baccalaureate degrees to areas with low college-going rates or limited access to baccalaureate degree-granting institutions. (b) (1) The Office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges is authorized to annually award up to two grants, not to exceed fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) each, to collaboratives formed for the purpose of offering baccalaureate degree programs on the participating community college campus or campuses. For the purposes of this section, a collaborative is composed of at least one community college and at least one baccalaureate degree-granting institution. Pursuant to this section, the institutions participating in a collaborative may share in a grant of up to fifty thousand dollars ($50,000). (2) (A) Priority for the receipt of grant funds under this subdivision shall be given to applicant institutions that: (i) Are located in areas of the state with the lowest college-going rates and the lowest rates of earning baccalaureate degrees. (ii) Demonstrate that the baccalaureate degree programs offered by the applicant meet a documented labor market demand. (iii) Identify the resources necessary to offer those programs. (B) The funds granted under this subdivision are for one-time startup costs of the collaborative. (3) The two grants authorized under this section may be awarded under this section in any fiscal year only to the extent that funding for this program is provided in the annual Budget Act. It is the intent of the Legislature to encourage community colleges and baccalaureate degree-granting institutions to use existing resources to establish degree-granting collaboratives within the meaning of this section even during fiscal years when this program is not funded. (4) It is the intent of the Legislature that no collaborative effort funded under this section may be terminated abruptly, thus leaving its enrolled students without a way to earn a baccalaureate degree. As a condition of an agreement for the receipt of a grant under this section, a collaborative shall ensure that every student who enrolls in the baccalaureate degree program offered by the collaborative prior to an announcement of the termination of the collaborative has an opportunity to complete the coursework necessary to obtain a baccalaureate degree. (c) On or before April 1, 2012, the Office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges shall submit a report to the Legislature and the Department of Finance on the efficacy of the program established by this section. (d) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2014, and, as of January 1, 2015, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that becomes operative on or before July 1, 2014, deletes or extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.