BILL NUMBER: AB 834 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 3, 2014
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 add Section 94910.5 to the Education Code, relating to
private postsecondary education , and declaring the urgency
thereof, to take effect immediately .
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,
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. 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, to file that fact sheet
with the bureau, and to 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 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 with an alternate way to
satisfy the requirements of the act regarding a School Performance
Fact Sheet. Specifically, by complying with a specified standard of
the American Bar Association relating to the disclosure of consumer
information, by providing 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, 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.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.
Vote: majority 2/3 . Appropriation:
no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 94910.5 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 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. Schools, as that
standard may be amended.
(2) Providing 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
all of 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.
SEC. 2. This act is an urgency statute necessary
for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety
within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go
into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order to provide a law school with an alternate way to satisfy
the requirements of the California Private Postsecondary Act of 2009
regarding a School Performance Fact Sheet as soon as possible, it is
necessary that this act take immediate effect.