BILL ANALYSIS AB 2086 Page 1 Date of Hearing: May 12, 2010 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Felipe Fuentes, Chair AB 2086 (Coto) - As Amended: May 6, 2010 Policy Committee: Higher EducationVote:9-0 Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable: SUMMARY This bill requires postsecondary education institutions that participate in the Cal-Grant program to provide information on accessing licensing examination rates for the most recent graduates of programs leading to employment for which passing a state licensing examination is required, if such data is available through the internet from the licensing or regulatory agency. This bill also: 1)Stipulates that "provides" may include placement of a website address, labeled as an access point to the required data, on the institution's website where enrollment data is also located, or on enrollment applications or other program materials provided to prospective students. 2)Requires each postsecondary educational institution to certify compliance with the above to the California Student Aid Commission (CSAC). FISCAL EFFECT 1)Minor one-time costs for University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) campuses offering programs leading to state licensure to provide the required website addresses to licensing agency examination results, and minor ongoing costs for the campuses to certify compliance with these requirements to CSAC. 2)Community college districts offering programs leading to state licensure would incur minor non-reimbursable costs similar to those for UC and CSU. AB 2086 Page 2 COMMENTS 1)Purpose . According to the author, students, parents, taxpayers, policymakers, and employers should know if the higher education institutions and programs they attend, support, and/or finance are effective in terms of student learning and imparting the skills necessary to be successful in the workplace. This bill, which is sponsored by Ed Voice, is intended to ensure that one measure of the effectiveness of postsecondary programs-the passage rates for professional licensure examinations-is made publicly available by the institutions. 2)Licensing entities that publish data : This bill provides that the data disclosure requirement is contingent upon the licensing entity publishing that data. It is unclear the degree to which this requirement would ensure data is made available to students and the public, as it does not appear that many licensing entities currently disclose licensure examination passage rates based on school of graduation. The Board of Registered Nursing (BRN), however, publishes a table, categorizing by academic year and school of graduation, the results of graduates who have taken the National Council Licensure Examination. Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081