BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2736
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Date of Hearing: April 1, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Das Williams, Chair
AB 2736 (Committee on Higher Education) - As Introduced:
February 26, 2014
SUBJECT : Postsecondary education: California State University.
SUMMARY : Would provide for technical changes to existing
California State University (CSU) reporting requirements.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) to report to
the Legislature regarding the CSU Early Start Program by July
1, rather than January 1, of each even-numbered year.
2)Provides for technical changes to the CSU Doctor of Nursing
Practice (DNP) degree pilot program reporting, and provides
for repeal of the reporting requirements on January 1, 2021.
3)Extends the date by which CSU Trustees are required to report
gifts to the Legislature and the Department of Finance from
January 5 to January 31 of each year.
EXISTING LAW establishes the CSU and confers upon the CSU
Trustees the powers, duties, and functions with respect to the
management, administration, and control of the CSU system.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : This bill provides for three changes to CSU
reporting requirements.
Early Start Program . To address concerns regarding the large
number of incoming freshmen at the CSU requiring remediation,
Executive Order 1048 was issued in 2010, creating the Early
Start Program. Entering freshmen not proficient in math or "at
risk" in English are required to start the remediation process
before their first term at CSU. Students are given a menu of
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options to determine the best approach to start their remedial
instruction, including senior year high school courses, courses
offered in the summer at any one of their local California
Community College (CCC) or CSU campuses and online courses, to
name a few. Legislation enacted in 2012 (AB 2497, Solorio),
required the CSU to work with the LAO on an ongoing series of
reports showing the impact of CSU's Early Start Program on
students needing remediation. Currently, the law requires a
report be submitted on January 1, 2014 and then subsequently
every two years after that. This bill will move the reporting
deadline to July 1, beginning in 2016, to ensure LAO can include
information on the most recent program data in the report. It
should be noted that in January 2014, the LAO recommended
eliminating the remaining Early Start reporting requirements.
Doctor of Nursing Practice . CSU was provided authority to
establish a DNP degree pilot program at three campuses in 2010
(AB 867). A report is required in collaboration with LAO and
the Department Of Finance, due January 1, 2017. Compromise on
the bill came together in the final hours of session and the
reporting language was essentially taken from prior legislation
dealing with the EdD degree. As a result, some of the language
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in the DNP report is unrelated to the pilot program. This bill
modifies the reporting language to look at the appropriate
policy issues for the DNP and establishes a sunset date for the
reporting requirements of January 1, 2021.
Trustee Gift Reporting . Currently CSU Trustees are required to
report to the Legislature and the Department of Finance annually
on January 5. The CSU has been consistently late in reporting
this information due to the Trustees approval being required
prior to the release of the report. The Trustees meeting
schedule does not permit the report to be released by the
January 5th deadline. This bill would move the due date for
this report to the end of January (25 day difference) to ensure
the CSU submits the report on time.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California State University
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Laura Metune / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960
AB 2736
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