BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 1029
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 4, 2011

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                     AB 1029 (Lara) - As Amended:  April 6, 2011 

          Policy Committee:                              Higher 
          EducationVote:9-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program: 
          No     Reimbursable:               

           SUMMARY  

          This bill:

          1)Extends, from January 1, 2013, to January 1, 2014, the sunset 
            date for California Community College (CCC) districts' 
            authority to approve stand-alone courses without the approval 
            of the CCC Board of Governors (BOG).

          2)Extends, from January 1, 2012, to January 1, 2013, the date by 
            which the CCC Chancellor's Office must report to the 
            Legislature the extent to which districts, when approving 
            stand-alone courses, have complied with applicable BOG 
            regulations.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Minor absorbable costs for the Chancellor's Office to collect 
          and analyze one-year's additional data prior to submitting the 
          required report to the Legislature and an one additional year of 
          minor savings to the Chancellor's Office for not having to 
          review certain district courses.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Background  .  AB 1943 (Nava)/Chapter 817 of 2006, removed the 
            requirement for the CCC BOG to pre-approve districts' 
            stand-alone credit courses credit courses that are not part of 
            an educational program.  CCC districts argued that this would 
            enable them to respond more quickly to community demand for 
            stand-alone courses. To ensure the rigor of stand-alone credit 
            courses, AB 1943 required the Chancellor's Office to monitor 








                                                                  AB 1029
                                                                  Page  2

            these courses approved by districts to ensure compliance with 
            academic standards and regulations. The Chancellor is required 
            to report the extent of this compliance to the Legislature by 
            January 1, 2012.

           2)Purpose  .  The Chancellor's Office discovered in 2009 that 
            stand-alone credit course were often approved by districts, 
            but enrollment data was never submitted to the Chancellor's 
            Office because the courses were not offered or were canceled 
            due to low enrollment.  Such courses were never entered into 
            the Chancellor's Office database and thus were not tracked. 
            The Chancellor's Office is requesting a one-year extension of 
            the AB 1143 authority to gather more accurate information.  

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081