BILL NUMBER: AB 834 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JANUARY 6, 2014
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 94910 of, and to add
Section 94910.5 to, to the Education
Code, relating to private postsecondary education.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 834, as amended, Williams. 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
institutions, including certain law schools,
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 The act 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.
The act authorizes an institution exempt from all or part of the
act pursuant to specified provisions to apply to the bureau for an
approval to operate subject to the act, as specified. The act
requires these institutions to provide to prospective students the
School Performance Fact Sheet, file that fact sheet with the bureau,
and post it on the institution's Internet Web site no later than the
first August 1 after the institution is approved to operate and no
later than August 1 of each year thereafter.
This bill would provide that a law school
otherwise exempt from the act that applies to the bureau for an
approval to operate subject to the act and that meets
other specified criteria shall be deemed
with an alternate way to satisfy the requirements of the
California Private Postsecondary Education Act of 2009
act regarding a School Performance Fact
Sheet Sheet. Specifically, by complying with a
specified standard of the American Bar Association relating to the
disclosure of consumer information and
information, by providing completion,
completion rates of students and placement rates ,
bar passage rates , 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. Council, and by providing to
prospective students, at a minimum on its Internet Web site, any
additional information required to be reported on a School
Performance Fact Sheet, such a law school would satisfy those
requirements.
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:
(1) Completion rates, as calculated pursuant to Article 16
(commencing with Section 94928).
(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.
(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).
(4) Salary or wage information, as calculated pursuant to Article
16 (commencing with Section 94928).
(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."
(6) All of the following:
(A) A description of the manner in which the figures described in
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 paragraphs (1) to (4),
inclusive, are calculated.
(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
paragraph (2).
(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 paragraph
(4).
(7) The following statements:
(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."
(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)."
(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 1. 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 all 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, completion rates
of students and placement rates , bar passage
rates , 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.
(3) (A) Providing to prospective students any additional
information required to be reported on a School Performance Fact
Sheet that is not reported pursuant to paragraphs (1) and (2),
including, but not limited to, the most recent three-year cohort
default rate reported by the United States Department of Education
for the law school and the percentage of enrolled students receiving
federal student loans.
(B) If the law school's three-year cohort default rate reported by
the United States Department of Education is aggregated with the
three-year cohort default rate of an institution to which the law
school belongs, then the law school shall provide to prospective
students the law school's three-year cohort default rate
disaggregated from the institution's three-year cohort default rate.
(C) The law school shall, at a minimum, provide the information
described in this paragraph to prospective students by reporting the
information on the law school's Internet Web site.
(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.
(4) The law school is approved to operate by the bureau pursuant
to Section 94874.8.