BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 595
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 595 (Gomez)
As Amended April 15, 2013
Majority vote
HIGHER EDUCATION 12-0 APPROPRIATIONS 17-0
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Ayes:|Williams, Chávez, Bloom, |Ayes:|Gatto, Harkey, Bigelow, |
| |Fong, Jones-Sawyer, | |Bocanegra, Bradford, Ian |
| |Levine, Waldron, Medina, | |Calderon, Campos, |
| |Olsen, Quirk-Silva, | |Donnelly, Eggman, Gomez, |
| |Weber, Wilk | |Hall, Holden, Linder, |
| | | |Pan, Quirk, Wagner, Weber |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY : Requires California Community College (CCC) districts
to grant priority registration to students in the Community
College Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS) and to
disabled students, as specified. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires CCC districts to grant priority registration for
enrollment to the following:
a) Students in EOPS; and
b) Disabled students within the meaning of the federal
Americans with Disabilities Act.
2)Determines that the Commission on State Mandates may determine
this provision contains reimbursable state mandated costs.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires the California State University, and CCC, and
requests the University of California (UC), to grant priority
registration for enrollment to a member or former member of
the Armed Forces, as defined and who meets specified
requirements, for any academic term within 15 years of leaving
state or federal active duty and to current and former foster
youth, provided the campus administers priority enrollment.
(Education Code (EC) Sections 66025.8 and 66025.9)
AB 595
Page 2
2)Governs the establishment and operation of CCC EOPS programs.
(EC Section 69640 et seq.)
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, because districts are already providing registration
priority to EOPS and disabled students pursuant to CCC
regulations, costs should be negligible.
COMMENTS : Priority registration enrollment decisions are made
at the campus level at each segment. This process allows
specified students access to classes ahead of the general
student population. As state support for higher education has
decreased while enrollments have increased at the three
segments, classes have become increasingly impacted-unable to
accommodate all students who enroll in the course. Thus,
students who have priority registration enrollment status have a
significant advantage over other students, particularly at CCC.
Who currently receives priority enrollment? Existing law grants
priority enrollment to current or former member of the Armed
Forces and foster youth (see previous legislation below). In
addition, the public higher education segments have
traditionally provided priority enrollment for students with
disabilities, participants in EOPS, and continuing students
nearing their education goals. While veterans and foster youth
have had statutory priority, the implementing regulations placed
these students in the same tier as EOPS and disabled students
for the purposes of granting priority enrollment.
Change in priority enrollment implementation: As a result of SB
1143 (Liu), Chapter 409, Statutes of 2010, the CCC Chancellor's
Office convened a Student Success Task Force that made 22
recommendations to increase student completion, including better
use of priority enrollment. Regulations adopted to implement
this recommendation. The regulations specify the following
priority enrollment tiers:
Tier 1 Active duty military and veteran students and current
and former foster youth who are new and fully
matriculated or in good standing
Tier 2 New and continuing fully matriculated EOPS and
Disabled Student Program Services (DSPS) students in
AB 595
Page 3
good standing
Tier 3 Students in good standing and new, fully matriculated
students
Districts would have the flexibility to set priorities and
categories for other students.
According to the author, "Until 2013, participants of EOPS and
DSPS, along with veterans and foster youth, shared priority
enrollment in community colleges without impacting enrollment
access for any of these populations through long standing
regulations as these programs were created before the term
"priority enrollment" had been established in the Ed code.
Existing law now codifies priority enrollment for veterans and
foster youth, but needs to be updated to include EOPS and DSPS."
Previous legislation: AB 2133 (Blumenfield), Chapter 400,
Statutes of 2012, extended priority enrollment for current and
former members of the military from four to 15 years. AB 194
(Beall), Chapter, 458, Statutes of 2011, granted priority
enrollment to foster youth. AB 272 (Runner), Chapter 356,
Statutes of 2007, granted priority enrollment to current and
former members of the military, as specified.
Analysis Prepared by : Jeanice Warden / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960
FN: 0000473