BILL NUMBER: AB 2302	CHAPTERED  06/30/08

	CHAPTER  41
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  JUNE 30, 2008
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR  JUNE 30, 2008
	PASSED THE SENATE  JUNE 19, 2008
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  MAY 1, 2008
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 22, 2008
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 28, 2008

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Members Bass and Feuer
   (Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Lieu)
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Brownley, DeVore, Evans, Horton,
Maze, Nava, and Salas)

                        FEBRUARY 21, 2008

   An act to amend and repeal Section 44265.1 of the Education Code,
relating to teacher credentialing, and declaring the urgency thereof,
to take effect immediately.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2302, Bass. Teacher credentialing: specialist credential:
pupils with autism.
   (1) Existing law requires the Commission on Teacher Credentialing,
by December 1, 2007, to report to the Legislature and the Governor
on the current existing process and requirements for obtaining a
specialist credential in special education and recommend
modifications to enhance and expedite those procedures.
   This bill would authorize a local educational agency or school to
assign a teacher who holds a level 1 education specialist credential,
or a previously issued credential, that authorizes him or her to
provide instruction to individuals with mild and moderate
disabilities to provide instruction to pupils with autism, as
defined, if the teacher consents to the assignment and satisfies
certain criteria, as determined by the local educational agency or
school. Local educational agencies and schools that assign teachers
to provide instruction to pupils with autism pursuant to the bill
would be required to report teacher assignments made pursuant to that
authority as part of their annual assignment monitoring pursuant to
a specified statutory provision. These provisions would become
inoperative 2 years after the commission adopts regulations to
implement the recommended modifications regarding specialist
credentials, or on August 31, 2011, whichever occurs first, and would
be repealed on January 1, 2012.
   (2) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately
as an urgency statute.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 44265.1 of the Education Code is amended to
read:
   44265.1.  (a) By December 1, 2007, the commission shall report to
the Legislature and the Governor on the current existing process and
requirements for obtaining a specialist credential in special
education and recommend modifications to enhance and expedite these
procedures.
   (b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a local
educational agency or school may assign a teacher who holds a level 1
education specialist credential, or a previously issued credential,
that authorizes him or her to provide instruction to individuals with
mild and moderate disabilities to provide instruction to pupils with
autism, as defined by Section 300.8(c)(1) of Title 34 of the Code of
Federal Regulations if the teacher consents to the assignment and
satisfies the criteria described in subdivision (c).
   (c) The local educational agency or school shall determine that a
teacher described in subdivision (b) has satisfied either of the
following prior to allowing the teacher to provide instruction to
pupils with autism:
   (1) He or she has provided full-time instruction for at least one
year prior to September 1, 2007, in a special education program that
serves pupils with autism pursuant to their individualized education
programs and received a favorable evaluation or recommendation to
teach pupils with autism from the local educational agency or school.

   (2) He or she has completed a minimum of three semester units of
coursework in the subject of autism offered by a regionally
accredited institution of higher education. The local educational
agency or school shall maintain the certificate or other verification
of completion of the coursework on file in its office.
   (d) Local educational agencies and schools shall report teacher
assignments made pursuant to this section as part of their annual
assignment monitoring pursuant to Section 44258.9.
   (e) This section shall become inoperative two years after the
commission adopts regulations to implement the recommended
modifications described in subdivision (a), or on August 31, 2011,
whichever occurs first, and is repealed on January 1, 2012, unless a
later enacted statute that is enacted before January 1, 2012, deletes
or extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is
repealed.
  SEC. 2.  This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
   In order to allow local educational agencies and public and
nonpublic, nonsectarian schools to hire and retain more credentialed
special education teachers to provide instruction to pupils with
autism at the earliest possible time, it is necessary that this act
take effect immediately.