BILL NUMBER: AB 1559 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 712
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE OCTOBER 14, 2007
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR OCTOBER 14, 2007
PASSED THE SENATE SEPTEMBER 7, 2007
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 11, 2007
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 29, 2007
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 18, 2007
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 20, 2007
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 25, 2007
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 10, 2007
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Berryhill
(Principal coauthor: Senator Scott)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Adams, Anderson, Benoit, Blakeslee,
DeVore, Gaines, Galgiani, Houston, Maze, Nakanishi, Silva, Smyth,
Strickland, Tran, and Villines)
FEBRUARY 23, 2007
An act to add and repeal Section 78261.5 of the Education Code,
relating to public postsecondary education.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1559, Berryhill. Public postsecondary education: community
college registered nursing programs.
Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges under
the administration of the Board of Governors of the California
Community Colleges. Existing law establishes community college
districts throughout the state, under the administration of community
college district governing boards, and authorizes these districts to
provide instruction at the community college campuses they operate.
This bill would require a community college registered nursing
program that elects to use a multicriteria screening process on or
after January 1, 2008, to evaluate applicants for admission to
nursing programs to include specified criteria relating to the
academic performance, work or volunteer experience, foreign language
skills, life experiences, and special circumstances of the applicant.
The bill would authorize a community college registered nursing
program using a multicriteria screening process to use an approved
diagnostic assessment tool before, during, or after the multicriteria
screening process. The bill would require a district that uses
multicriteria screening measures to report its nursing program
admissions policies to the chancellor annually, in writing.
The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2016.
The bill would require the Legislative Analyst's Office to
evaluate the use and efficacy of the admissions process for community
college registered nursing programs, and to report its findings and
any related recommendations to the Legislature as part of its annual
analysis of the Budget Bill, commencing with its analysis of the
Budget Bill for the 2009-10 fiscal year.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 78261.5 is added to the Education Code, to
read:
78261.5. (a) A community college registered nursing program that
determines that the number of applicants to that program exceeds its
capacity may admit students in accordance with any of the following
procedures:
(1) Administration of a multicriteria screening process, as
authorized by Section 78261.3, in a manner that is consistent with
the standards set forth in subdivision (b).
(2) A random selection process.
(3) A blended combination of random selection and a multicriteria
screening process.
(b) A community college registered nursing program that elects, on
or after January 1, 2008, to use a multicriteria screening process
to evaluate applicants pursuant to this article shall apply those
measures in accordance with all of the following:
(1) The criteria applied in a multicriteria screening process
under this article shall include, but shall not necessarily be
limited to, all of the following:
(A) Academic degrees or diplomas, or relevant certificates, held
by an applicant.
(B) Grade-point average in relevant coursework.
(C) Any relevant work or volunteer experience.
(D) Life experiences or special circumstances of an applicant,
including, but not necessarily limited to, the following experiences
or circumstances:
(i) Disabilities.
(ii) Low family income.
(iii) First generation of family to attend college.
(iv) Need to work.
(v) Disadvantaged social or educational environment.
(vi) Difficult personal and family situations or circumstances.
(vii) Refugee or veteran status.
(E) Proficiency or advanced level coursework in languages other
than English. Credit for languages other than English shall be
received for languages that are identified by the chancellor as
high-frequency languages, as based on census data. These languages
may include, but are not necessarily limited to, any of the
following:
(i) American Sign Language.
(ii) Arabic.
(iii) Chinese, including its various dialects.
(iv) Farsi.
(v) Russian.
(vi) Spanish.
(vii) Tagalog.
(viii) The various languages of the Indian subcontinent and
Southeast Asia.
(2) Additional criteria, such as a personal interview, a personal
statement, letter of recommendation, or the number of repetitions of
prerequisite classes, or other criteria, as approved by the
chancellor, may be used, but are not required.
(3) A community college registered nursing program using a
multicriteria screening process under this article may use an
approved diagnostic assessment tool, in accordance with Section
78261.3, before, during, or after the multicriteria screening
process.
(4) As used in this section:
(A) "Disabilities" has the same meaning as used in Section 2626 of
the Unemployment Insurance Code.
(B) "Disadvantaged social or educational environment" includes,
but is not necessarily limited to, the status of a student who has
participated in Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS).
(C) "Grade-point average" refers to the same fixed set of required
prerequisite courses that all applicants to the nursing program
administering the multicriteria screening process are required to
complete.
(D) "Low family income" shall be measured by a community college
registered nursing program in terms of a student's eligibility for,
or receipt of, financial aid under a program that may include, but is
not necessarily limited to, a fee waiver from the board of governors
under Section 76300, the Cal Grant Program under Chapter 1.7
(commencing with Section 69430) of Part 42 of Division 5, the federal
Pell Grant program, or CalWORKs.
(E) "Need to work" means that the student is working at least part
time while completing academic work that is a prerequisite for
admission to the nursing program.
(5) A community college registered nursing program that uses a
multicriteria screening process pursuant to this article shall report
its nursing program admissions policies to the chancellor annually,
in writing. The admissions policies reported under this paragraph
shall include the weight given to any criteria used by the program,
and shall include demographic information relating to both the
persons admitted to the program and the persons of that group who
successfully completed that program.
(c) The chancellor is encouraged to develop, and make available to
community college registered nursing programs by July 1, 2008, a
model admissions process based on this section.
(d) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2016, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2016, deletes or extends
that date.
SEC. 2. The Legislative Analyst's Office shall evaluate the use
and efficacy of the admissions process for community college
registered nursing programs. The Legislative Analyst's Office shall
report its findings and any related recommendations to the
Legislature as part of its annual analysis of the Budget Bill,
commencing with its analysis of the Budget Bill for the 2009-10
fiscal year.