BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
AB 1056 (Fong)
Hearing Date: 08/25/2011 Amended: 07/06/2011
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-HernandezPolicy Vote: Education 8-0
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BILL SUMMARY: AB 1056 requires the California Community Colleges
(CCC) Chancellor's Office to implement a process to facilitate
the electronic receipt and transmission of student transcripts.
This bill would also require all CCC districts, contingent upon
the Chancellor's Office receiving new, one-time state, federal,
or philanthropic funding sufficient for this purpose and as a
condition for receiving funding, to implement the process, as
specified. This bill requires the Chancellor's Office to report
to appropriate legislative committees, as specified.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13
2013-14 Fund
Electronic transcript procedure Likely minor costs to
Chancellor's Office General
CCC implementation $167 $168
General/Federal
Savings will likely
offset ongoing, out-year costs; Local
Potentially significant
reimbursable mandate General
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STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE.
This bill requires the CCC Chancellor's Office, by January 1,
2012, to implement a process to facilitate the electronic
receipt and transmission of student transcripts. Currently, 43
CCCs use electronic transcripts through e-Transcript, and the
Chancellor's office intends to expand its use to meet the bill's
requirements. E-Transcript is a statewide Internet-based system
AB 1056 (Fong)
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called e-Transcript California. By connecting to this system,
colleges are able to convert from paper-based transcripts to
electronic transcripts. The program allows for requesting,
transmitting, tracking, downloading, and viewing academic
transcripts. The cost to convert the remaining campuses to
e-Transcript would be $335,000 ($5,000 per campus).
Implementation of this bill is contingent upon the Chancellor's
Office receiving one-time state, federal, or philanthropic funds
for this purpose. The bill specifies that as a condition of
receiving this funding, CCCs must implement the electronic
transcript process; it also provides that the Chancellor's
Office shall determine how to disperse those funds to
participating CCCs. It appears that the author's intent is to
make funding available to CCCs for the express purpose of
converting to electronic transcripts. The author may wish to
clarify whether this bill is a requirement for all CCCs, or if
it is only a requirement for accessing specified funding. Even
if the bill mandates compliance by all CCCs, it is unlikely to
result in reimbursement though the mandate claims process for
converting to e-Transcript, since funding will be provided for
the mandated activities. Should the Chancellor's Office create a
procedure that is not fully funded (e.g. requires additional
training or unanticipated workload), the state could be forced
to reimburse CCCs' additional costs.
E-Transcript also costs $5,500 annually per campus to continue
the system. According to the Chancellor's Office, based upon
data from campuses that already participate, this cost is more
than offset by savings achieved through a reduction in paper
transcripts and related workload. However, if Chancellor's
Office develops a process or regulations that require ongoing
participation in e-Transcript, the required ongoing costs could
constitute a state reimbursable mandate, even if the actual CCC
seeking reimbursement experiences a net savings from the
program.
This bill requires the Chancellor's Office to report to the
Legislature on the progress of implementing electronic
transcripts, a year after the funds are dispersed. The
Chancellor's Office has indicated that this task would be minor
and could be absorbed within existing resources.
AB 1056 (Fong)
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