BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                       



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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                  AB 2385|
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                                 THIRD READING


          Bill No:  AB 2385
          Author:   John A. Perez ()
          Amended:  8/17/10 in Senate
          Vote:     21

           
           SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE  :  7-1, 6/30/10
          AYES:  Romero, Alquist, Emmerson, Hancock, Liu, Price,  
            Simitian
          NOES:  Huff
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Wyland

           SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE  :  10-1, 8/12/10
          AYES:  Kehoe, Ashburn, Alquist, Corbett, Emmerson, Leno,  
            Price, Wolk, Wyland, Yee
          NOES:  Walters

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  62-13, 6/3/10 - See last page for vote


           SUBJECT  :    Pilot Program for Innovative Nursing and Allied  
          Health Care
                      Profession Education at the California  
          Community Colleges

           SOURCE  :     Author


           DIGEST  :    This bill establishes the Pilot Program for  
          Innovative Nursing and Allied Health Care Profession  
          Education at the California Community Colleges (CCC) to be  
          administered by the CCC Chancellor's Office.  Under this  
          program, up to five campuses will be selected by the CCC  
                                                           CONTINUED





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          Chancellor to offer pilot programs that test innovative  
          delivery models and expand student capacity in health care  
          occupations for which there is a substantial labor market  
          demand.  Sunsets on July 1, 2017.

           ANALYSIS  :    The CCCs provide instruction to about 1.5  
          million students at 109 colleges operated by 72 locally  
          governed districts throughout the state.  The system offers  
          academic and occupational programs at the lower division  
          (freshman and sophomore) level, as well as recreational  
          courses and precollegiate basic skills instruction.  The  
          CCCs offer a broad range of degrees, certificates, courses  
          and transfer majors including those in nursing and the  
          allied health professions (e.g. dental hygiene, dental  
          assisting, medical assistant, occupational therapy  
          assistant, physical therapy assistant, pharmacy technical,  
          and sonography).  In addition, many colleges have  
          established programs intended to promote regional economic  
          development.  Current law requires CCCs to charge each  
          student a fee of $26 per unit effective with the fall term  
          of the 2009-10 academic year.

          This bill establishes a seven-year pilot program to be  
          administered by the CCC Chancellor's Office to encourage up  
          to five CCCs to establish innovative programs in areas  
          which prepare students for health occupations for which  
          there is a substantial labor market demand.  Specifically,  
          the bill:

          1.Requires the CCC Chancellor to:

             A.    Develop, contingent upon obtaining resources, a  
                "request for application" (RFA) for CCCs to apply to  
                participate on or after the 2011-12 academic year in  
                this pilot program.  The RFA will be developed in  
                collaboration with representatives from education,  
                labor, health care employers, licensing and  
                credentialing entities, regional occupational centers  
                and programs, hospitals and nursing organizations,  
                and other appropriate entities.

             B.    Select up to five campuses, ideally geographically  
                distributed throughout the state, to participate in  
                the pilot program.  Existing innovative programs  







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                currently underway that require additional resources  
                "to move to scale" would be eligible to apply.

             C.    Pursue funding to help support the development and  
                delivery of the pilot program including but not  
                limited to federal funds, private funds, employer  
                contributions and state and federal workforce funds.

             D.    Collect data, analyze this data, and contract with  
                an external evaluator to conduct an independent  
                evaluation, with findings and recommendations with  
                respect to the pilot program to be reported to the  
                Legislature by January 1, 2017. 

          2.Requires participating campuses to:

             A.    Provide an industry-recognized certificate or  
                degree in health care fields for which there is a  
                demonstrated shortage of workers in the labor market  
                and documented support from employers.

             B.    Demonstrate a capacity to train specified health  
                care workers, or the ability to sustain or expand  
                current innovative health care education and training  
                programs, or both.  Limited capacity may be  
                demonstrated by demonstrated by waiting lists to  
                enter existing community college allied health care  
                or nursing programs.

             C.    Provide evidence of sufficient clinical sites.

             D.    Include high-quality curriculum delivery models.   
                Provide that all courses shall meet the curriculum  
                standards approved by the appropriate state licensing  
                entities that oversee each health occupation, and  
                shall not in any way shorten the clinical units or  
                hours as determined by the appropriate state  
                licensing entities that oversee each health  
                occupation.  Curriculum already approved by the  
                appropriate state licensing entities that oversee  
                each health occupation shall be deemed to satisfy the  
                requirements.

             E.    Have flexible delivery models (e.g. on-line or  







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                distance learning; and intensive week-end, evening,  
                or summer courses.)

             F.    Enhance student success by providing student  
                support services to students in the pilot program  
                including but not limited to advisers, tutors,  
                mentors, financial assistance and internship  
                assistance.

             G.    Demonstrate clear, nonduplicative, and articulated  
                education pathways with local secondary and  
                postsecondary education entities.

             H.    Identify funding resources to support the pilot  
                program, as specified.

          3.Authorizes participating campuses when selecting students  
            for admission to the pilot program to use the diagnostic  
            assessments and multicriteria screening assessments  
            authorized under current law for admission to CCC nursing  
            programs.

          4.Authorizes participating campuses to collect supplemental  
            student fees from students in the program to support the  
            program.  Such fees would have to be based on a fee  
            schedule approved by the CCC Chancellor at the time the  
            campus applies to participate in the pilot program.  The  
            bill specifies that any such fees could not offset state  
            apportionment funding, and part or all of any CCC  
            supplemental fee may be covered by student financial aid  
            for eligible students.

          5.States legislative intent that the pilot program be  
            funded with a combination of state apportionment funding,  
            employer-based partnerships, federal grants, and private  
            philanthropic resources.

          6.Includes a variety of findings and declarations.

          7.Provides that the provisions of this bill shall be  
            implemented in any fiscal year only to the extent that  
            the Chancellor's Office determines that sufficient monies  
            are available to administer the program.








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          7.Becomes inoperative on July 1, 2017, and sunsets on  
            January 1, 2018.

           Comments

          Need for the Bill  .  According to the author, the CCC system  
          offers educational programs in a variety of allied health  
          care professions and prepares approximately 70 percent of  
          California's registered nurses.  These are among the most  
          costly CCC programs, which, in recent years have been  
          subjected to budget cuts.  Colleges have thus been forced  
          to limit enrollment and are struggling to keep pace with  
          program demand.

           Supplemental Fee Authority  .  Perhaps the most significant  
          feature of this bill is that it allows up to five CCCs for  
          a limited period of time to charge higher student fees for  
          enrollment in certain programs.  There currently exist a  
          wide variety of differential fees within California's  
          public and private higher education institutions.

          For example, a student admitted in 2009-10 to a California  
          State University (CSU) School of Nursing to pursue a  
          Bachelor's of Science Degree in Nursing (BSN) would pay  
          student fees of approximately $5,000 per year for each of  
          two years whereas this same student pursuing a BSN at the  
          University of California (UC) would pay an estimated  
          $10,000. An identical student pursing a BSN at Samuel  
          Merritt University in Oakland would pay approximately  
          $35,000 per year.  A student pursuing an Associate Degree  
          of Nursing at a CCC in 2010-11 is expected to pay $26 per  
          unit.  Part-time nursing students at Samuel Merritt  
          University pay $1,504 per unit.

          UC currently charges special fee rates for 12 professional  
          programs including nursing, medicine and pharmacy.  These  
          special fees are substantially higher that the fees paid by  
          students in other programs.

          In addition, both UC and CSU have accredited extension  
          programs through which students (matriculated and  
          nonmatriculated) may take credit courses; extension course  
          fees are substantially higher than university fees as there  
          is no state subsidy and students must pay the full cost of  







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          delivering the course.  In one advanced degree nursing  
          program offered by UC, students pay a higher fee for a  
          portion of the program offered through extension, and then  
          have their fees reduced when they transition to the portion  
          of the program offered through the campus (and which is  
          state subsidized.)  Students in a nearly identical program  
          at a different UC campus pay the state-subsidized fee level  
          throughout the entire program.  
           
           FISCAL EFFECT  :    Appropriation:  No   Fiscal Com.:  Yes    
          Local:  No

                          Fiscal Impact (in thousands)

           Major Provisions             2010-11             2011-12          
              2012-13            Fund

           Pilot project                                            
          $500 to $1,000 annually       General*
                                                                       
             for five years

          Evaluation                                                  
          $85                                     General

          *Counts toward meeting the Proposition 98 minimum funding  
          guarantee

           SUPPORT  :   (Verified  8/17/10)

          American Federation of State, County and Municipal  
          Employees, AFL-CIO
          Association of California Healthcare Districts
          California Community Colleges Board of Governors
          California Hospital Association
          California Postsecondary Education Commission
          Faculty Association of the California Community Colleges
          Latino Coalition for a Healthy California
          School Innovations & Advocacy
          United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health  
            Care Professionals

           ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT  :    Proponents argue that the  
          community colleges educate the majority of nurses in the  







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          state and are well positioned to implement changes to  
          attract a diverse pool of candidates and address the  
          state's pressing workforce shortages with a pilot program  
          that could be a cost-effective model for other healthcare  
          education programs.


           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  : 
          AYES:  Ammiano, Arambula, Bass, Beall, Bill Berryhill,  
            Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield, Bradford, Brownley,  
            Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter, Chesbro,  
            Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, Eng, Evans, Feuer,  
            Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Galgiani,  
            Garrick, Gilmore, Hall, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber,  
            Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Lieu, Bonnie Lowenthal,  
            Ma, Mendoza, Monning, Nava, Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, V.  
            Manuel Perez, Portantino, Ruskin, Saldana, Silva,  
            Skinner, Solorio, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico,  
            Villines, Yamada, John A. Perez
          NOES:  Adams, Anderson, Conway, Cook, DeVore, Emmerson,  
            Gaines, Hagman, Harkey, Logue, Miller, Smyth, Tran
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Tom Berryhill, Norby, Salas, Audra  
            Strickland, Vacancy


          CPM:cm  8/17/10   Senate Floor Analyses 

                         SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  SEE ABOVE

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