BILL NUMBER: AB 834 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 25, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 22, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 10, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Williams
FEBRUARY 21, 2013
An act to amend Section 25402.11 94910
of , and to add Section 94910.5 to, the
Public Resources Education Code, relating to
energy efficiency standards private
postsecondary education .
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 834, as amended, Williams. Energy efficiency
standards: administrative enforcement. Private
postsecondary education: School Performance Fact Sheets.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 94910 of the
Education Code is amended to read:
94910. (a) 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:
(a)
(1) Completion rates, as calculated pursuant to Article
16 (commencing with Section 94928).
(b)
(2) 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.
(c)
(3) 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).
(d)
(4) Salary or wage information, as calculated pursuant
to Article 16 (commencing with Section 94928).
(e)
(5) 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."
(f)
(6) All of the following:
(1)
(A) A description of the manner in which the figures
described in subdivisions (a) to (d)
paragraphs (1) to (4) , 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
subdivisions (a) to (d) paragraphs (1) to (4) ,
inclusive, are calculated.
(2)
(B) 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 subdivision (b) paragraph (2)
.
(3)
(C) 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
subdivision (d) paragraph (4) .
(g)
(7) The following statements:
(1)
(A) "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."
(2)
(B) "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)."
(h)
(8) 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.
(b) This section shall not apply to institutions governed by
Section 94910.5.
SEC. 2. Section 94910.5 is added to the
Education Code , to read:
94910.5. (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.
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.