BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1056
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1056 (Fong)
As Introduced May 27, 2011
Majority vote
HIGHER EDUCATION 9-0 APPROPRIATIONS 17-0
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|Ayes:|Block, Donnelly, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Harkey, |
| |Achadjian, Brownley, | |Blumenfield, Bradford, |
| |Fong, Galgiani, Lara, | |Charles Calderon, Campos, |
| |Miller, Portantino | |Davis, Donnelly, Gatto, |
| | | |Hall, Hill, Lara, |
| | | |Mitchell, Nielsen, Norby, |
| | | |Solorio, Wagner |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Requires the California Community Colleges (CCC)
Chancellor's Office (CCCCO) to implement a procedure to
facilitate the electronic transmission of student transcripts.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Establishes legislative intent that CCC students have their
educational records transferred between higher education
segments and colleges electronically using a system that
satisfies specified criteria including record security,
expeditious transfer, reduced operational costs, minimized
delays, compatibility with other technological infrastructure,
and compatibility with systems developed by other CCC
districts, the State Department of Education (CDE), the
California State University (CSU), and the University of
California (UC).
2)Requires, by January 1, 2012, the CCCCO to implement a
procedure that complies with all of the aforementioned
criteria to facilitate the electronic receipt and transmission
of student transcripts by districts.
3)Requires, contingent upon CCCCO receipt of sufficient funding
by state, federal, or philanthropic sources for this purpose,
all CCC districts to implement a process, consistent with the
aforementioned criteria, for the receipt and transmission of
electronic student transcripts.
AB 1056
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4)Requires CCCCO to determine the requirements and procedures
for dispersing funds received to participating CCC districts.
5)Sunsets the aforementioned provisions on January 1, 2015.
6)Provides that if the Commission on State Mandates determines
this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement
to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall
be made.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, currently about 67 CCC districts are not
electronically transmitting student transcripts. Assuming
one-time technology costs of about $5,000 for programming,
statewide reimbursable costs to implement the system at these
districts would be $335,000. As with districts currently using
the statewide system described below, the above districts would
pay an annual fee of about $5,000 per college. These costs are
more than offset by transcript processing fees and by savings in
current paper-based operations at these colleges.
COMMENTS :
Background : Since July 2007, the Statewide Electronic
Transcript Exchange Program (eTranscript CA) has offered an
Internet-based tool for requesting, viewing and transmitting
academic transcripts. The project was developed and sponsored
by the CCC Technology Center and offers services to CCC, CSU,
UC, and California's independent and private colleges. As of
September 2010, 57 institutions were participating in the
program. Quantifiable benefits of the program include a savings
of $4 to $10 per transcript by reducing paper, postage, and
labor costs, easier access to student records, reduced mistakes
and fraud.
Purpose of this bill : According to the author, the process of
mailing thousands of paper-based student transcripts from one
institution of higher education to another is neither timely nor
cost-effective. The paper-based transcripts can take two to
three weeks to be delivered, which can delay a student's
enrollment in classes and/or hinder their ability to transfer.
Further compounding the problems are budget cuts forcing
colleges to reduce the number of staff that process transcripts.
The author notes that with the passage of the Student Transfer
AB 1056
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Achievement Reform Act ÝSB 1440 (Padilla), Chapter 428, Statutes
of 2010], CCC anticipates transfer rates to significantly
increase, necessitating a more efficient manner of transferring
credits to be applied at CSU. This bill is intended to further
the efforts of eTranscript CA for an easily accessible and
cost-effective process for electronically delivering CCC student
transcripts between institutions.
Analysis Prepared by : Laura Metune / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960
FN: 0000869