Amended in Senate June 25, 2013

Amended in Assembly April 22, 2013

Amended in Assembly April 10, 2013

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 834

Introduced by Assembly Member Williams

February 21, 2013

An act to amend Section begin delete 25402.11 end delete begin insert 94910 end insert of begin insert , and to add Section 94910.5 to, end insert the begin delete Public Resources end delete begin insert Education end insert Code, relating to begin delete energy efficiency standards end delete begin insert private postsecondary education end insert .

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 834, as amended, Williams. begin delete Energy efficiency standards: administrative enforcement. end delete begin insert Private postsecondary education: School Performance Fact Sheets. end insert

begin insert

Existing law, the California Private Postsecondary Education Act of 2009, provides, among other things, for regulatory oversight of private postsecondary schools in the state. The act is enforced by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education within the Department of Consumer Affairs. The act exempts specified institutions from all, or a portion, of its provisions. The act requires an institution to provide a prospective student prior to enrollment with a School Performance Fact Sheet, which is required to contain specified information relating to the educational program. Existing law requires an institution that maintains an Internet Web site to provide, on that Internet Web site, specified information, including a School Performance Fact Sheet for each educational program offered by the institution.

end insert begin insert

This bill would provide that a law school that meets specified criteria shall be deemed to satisfy the requirements of the California Private Postsecondary Education Act of 2009 regarding a School Performance Fact Sheet by complying with a specified standard of the American Bar Association relating to the disclosure of consumer information and by providing completion, placement, bar passage, and salary and wage information of graduates to prospective students prior to enrollment through the law school application process administered by the Law School Admission Council.

end insert begin delete

Existing law authorizes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to establish an administrative enforcement process to enforce regulations establishing appliance efficiency standards. Existing law requires the commission to establish, by regulations, building construction and design standards and energy and water efficiency standards for new residential and new nonresidential buildings to increase the efficient use of energy and water.

end delete begin delete

This bill would additionally authorize the commission to establish an administrative enforcement process to enforce regulations establishing the building construction and design standards and energy and water efficiency standards.

end delete

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

begin insert

begin insert SECTION 1. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Section 94910 of the end insert begin insert Education Code end insert begin insert is amended
to read: end insert

94910.  

begin insert (a) end insert begin insert   end insert Prior to enrollment, an institution shall provide a
prospective student with a School Performance Fact Sheet
containing, at a minimum, the following information, as it relates
to the educational program:

begin delete

(a)

end delete

begin insert (1) end insert  Completion rates, as calculated pursuant to Article 16
(commencing with Section 94928).

begin delete

(b)

end delete

begin insert (2) end insert  Placement rates for each educational program, as calculated
pursuant to Article 16 (commencing with Section 94928), if the
educational program is designed to lead to, or the institution makes
any express or implied claim related to preparing students for, a
recognized career, occupation, vocation, job, or job title.

begin delete

(c)

end delete

begin insert (3) end insert  License examination passage rates for programs leading to
employment for which passage of a state licensing examination is
required, as calculated pursuant to Article 16 (commencing with
Section 94928).

begin delete

(d)

end delete

begin insert (4) end insert  Salary or wage information, as calculated pursuant to Article
16 (commencing with Section 94928).

begin delete

(e)

end delete

begin insert (5) end insert  If a program is too new to provide data for any of the
categories listed in this subdivision, the institution shall state on
its fact sheet: “This program is new. Therefore, the number of
students who graduate, the number of students who are placed, or
the starting salary you can earn after finishing the educational
program are unknown at this time. Information regarding general
salary and placement statistics may be available from government
sources or from the institution, but is not equivalent to actual
performance data.”

begin delete

(f)

end delete

begin insert (6) end insert  All of the following:

begin delete

(1)

end delete

begin insert (A) end insert  A description of the manner in which the figures described
in begin delete subdivisions (a) to (d) end delete begin insert paragraphs (1) to (4) end insert , inclusive, are
calculated or a statement informing the reader of where he or she
may obtain a description of the manner in which the figures
described in begin delete subdivisions (a) to (d) end delete begin insert paragraphs (1) to (4) end insert , inclusive,
are calculated.

begin delete

(2)

end delete

begin insert (B) end insert  A statement informing the reader of where he or she may
obtain from the institution a list of the employment positions
determined to be within the field for which a student received
education and training for the calculation of job placement rates
as required by begin delete subdivision (b) end delete begin insert paragraph (2) end insert .

begin delete

(3)

end delete

begin insert (C) end insert  A statement informing the reader of where he or she may
obtain from the institution a list of the objective sources of
information used to substantiate the salary disclosure as required
by begin delete subdivision (d) end delete begin insert paragraph (4) end insert .

begin delete

(g)

end delete

begin insert (7) end insert  The following statements:

begin delete

(1)

end delete

begin insert (A) end insert  “This fact sheet is filed with the Bureau for Private
Postsecondary Education. Regardless of any information you may
have relating to completion rates, placement rates, starting salaries,
or license exam passage rates, this fact sheet contains the
information as calculated pursuant to state law.”

begin delete

(2)

end delete

begin insert (B) end insert  “Any questions a student may have regarding this fact sheet
that have not been satisfactorily answered by the institution may
be directed to the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education at
(address), Sacramento, CA (ZIP Code), (Internet Web site address),
(telephone and fax numbers).”

begin delete

(h)

end delete

begin insert (8) end insert  If the institution participates in federal financial aid
programs, the most recent three-year cohort default rate reported
by the United States Department of Education for the institution
and the percentage of enrolled students receiving federal student
loans.

begin insert

(b) This section shall not apply to institutions governed by
Section 94910.5.

end insert

begin insert

begin insert SEC. 2. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Section 94910.5 is added to the end insert begin insert Education Code end insert begin insert , to
read: end insert

begin insert

begin insert 94910.5. end insert   

(a) Notwithstanding any other law, a law school that
meets the criteria of subdivision (b) shall be deemed to satisfy the
requirements of this chapter regarding a School Performance Fact
Sheet by doing both of the following:

(1) Complying with Standard 509 of the 2012-13 American Bar
Association’s Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of
Law Schools.

(2) Providing completion, placement, bar passage, and salary
and wage information of graduates to prospective students prior
to enrollment through the law school application process
administered by the Law School Admission Council.

(b) Subdivision (a) shall apply to a law school that meets the
following criteria:

(1) The law school is accredited by the Council of the Section
of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar of the American
Bar Association.

(2) The law school is owned by an institution authorized to
operate by the bureau.

(3) The law school reports graduate salary information and
other information to the National Association for Law Placement.

end insert

begin delete

SECTION 1.  

Section 25402.11 of the Public Resources Code
is amended to read:

25402.11.  

(a) (1) The commission may adopt regulations
establishing an administrative enforcement process for a violation
of a regulation adopted pursuant to Section 25402 and for the
assessment of an administrative civil penalty not to exceed two
thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) for each violation. The
process shall comply with the requirements of Chapter 4.5
(commencing with Section 11400) and Chapter 5 (commencing
with Section 11500) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the
Government Code.

(2) In assessing the amount of an administrative penalty, the
commission shall consider all of the following factors:

(A) The nature and seriousness of the violation.

(B) The number of violations.

(C) The persistence of the violation.

(D) The length of time over which the violation occurred.

(E) The willfulness of the violation.

(F) The violator’s assets, liabilities, and net worth.

(G) The harm to consumers and to the state that resulted from
the amount of energy wasted due to the violation.

(b) If the commission finds that a violation of the regulations
adopted pursuant to Section 25402 has occurred or is threatening
to occur, the commission may refer the matter to the Attorney
General to petition a court to enjoin the violation. The court may
grant prohibitory or mandatory injunctive relief as warranted by
issuing a temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction, or
permanent injunction, and may assess a civil penalty not to exceed
two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) for each violation,
considering the factors specified in paragraph (2) of subdivision
(a).

(c) Penalties collected pursuant to this section shall be deposited
into the Efficiency Enforcement Subaccount, which is hereby
established in the Energy Resources Program Account. The moneys
in the Efficiency Enforcement Subaccount may be expended by
the commission, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the
education of the public regarding energy efficiency and for the
enforcement of the regulations adopted pursuant to Section 25402.

(d) An order imposing an administrative civil penalty shall be
subject to judicial review pursuant to subdivisions (a) and (b) of
Section 25534.2.

(e) A person shall not be liable for a civil penalty pursuant to
subdivision (b) if that person is subject to an administrative civil
penalty pursuant to subdivision (a).

(f) In a civil action brought on behalf of the commission
pursuant to this section, upon granting relief, the court shall award
to the commission the reasonable costs incurred by the commission
in investigating and prosecuting the action.

(g) The commission shall not initiate an administrative
enforcement process pursuant to the regulations adopted pursuant
to this section against an entity for the unlawful sale or the unlawful
offer for sale of an appliance if both of the following apply:

(1) The appliance fully complies with all of the requirements
of the regulations adopted pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section
25402.

(2) The only basis for the commission’s potential enforcement
action is that the appliance is not considered to be in compliance
because of the commission’s delay in reviewing and processing
information submitted to it that demonstrates full compliance.

(h) In addition to the prohibitions specified in subdivision (g),
the commission shall not initiate an administrative enforcement
process pursuant to the regulations adopted pursuant to this section
for a violation of a regulation adopted pursuant to Section 25402
until both of the following occur:

(1) No fewer than 60 days have elapsed since the date when the
regulation was published in the California Register.

(2) No fewer than 30 days have elapsed since the date when the
alleged violator received written notice of the alleged violation
and date when the commission provided public notice of the
standard.

end delete