BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1056
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 1056 (Fong)
As Amended August 30, 2011
Majority vote
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|ASSEMBLY: |77-1 |(June 2, 2011) |SENATE: |40-0 |(September 6, |
| | | | | |2011) |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Original Committee Reference: HIGHER ED.
SUMMARY : Requires the California Community Colleges (CCC)
Chancellor's Office to, contingent upon funding provided for
this purpose, implement a procedure to facilitate the electronic
transmission of student transcripts.
The Senate amendments :
1)Clarify that eTranscripts must be secure and not susceptible
to fraud, and protect student privacy in a manner that
complies with federal and state privacy laws, including, but
not limited to, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
of 2001 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 1232g).
2)Require the CCC Chancellor's Office to report to the
appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature, a
year after funds are dispersed pursuant to this bill, a list
of CCCs that have adopted electronic transcripts and the
remaining CCCs that have yet to adopt the electronic
transcript delivery system.
3)Stipulate that CCC districts are not required to continue the
program after initial funding is no longer available.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill was substantially similar
to the version passed by the Senate.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, ongoing General Fund costs to the CCC of $168,000
annually; however, savings will likely offset ongoing out-year
costs. This bill creates a potentially significant reimbursable
mandate.
COMMENTS : Since July 2007, the Statewide Electronic Transcript
AB 1056
Page 2
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, the California
State University (CSU), the University of California, 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.
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 2-3 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 Achievement Reform Act (SB 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: 0002486