BILL NUMBER: SB 520 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 28, 2013
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 25, 2013
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 17, 2013
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 1, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Senator Steinberg
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Garcia)
FEBRUARY 21, 2013
An act to amend Sections 78910.10 and 78910.30 of, and to add
Section 66409.3 to, the Education Code, relating to student
instruction.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 520, as amended, Steinberg. Student instruction: California
Online Student Access Platform. Incentive
Grant programs.
(1) The Donahoe Higher Education Act authorizes the activities of
the 4 segments of the postsecondary education system in the state.
These segments include the 3 public postsecondary segments: the
University of California, administered by the Regents of the
University of California, the California State University,
administered by the Trustees of the California State University, and
the California Community Colleges, administered by the Board of
Governors of the California Community Colleges. Private and
independent postsecondary educational institutions constitute the
other segment.
Provisions of the Donahoe Higher Education Act apply to the
University of California only to the extent that the regents act, by
resolution, to make them applicable.
This bill would establish the California Online Student Access
Platform Incentive Grant programs as 3
separate programs under the administration of the President of
the University of California, the Chancellor of the California State
University, and the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges,
jointly, with the academic senates of the respective
segments for each segment respectively, in
consultation with their respective statewide academic senates .
The bill would require the platform, among other things, to
provide an efficient statewide mechanism for online course providers
to offer transferable courses for credit and to create a pool of
these online courses. The bill would require the President
of the University of California, the Chancellor of the California
State University, and the Chancellor of the California Community
Colleges, jointly, with the academic senates of the
respective segments in consultation with their
respective statewide academic senates , to each
develop a list of the 50 most impacted 20
high-demand lower division courses , as defined,
at the University of California, the California
State University, and the California Community Colleges
his or her segment that are deemed necessary for program
completion, deemed satisfactory for meeting general education
requirements, or in areas defined as high-demand
transferable lower division courses under the Intersegmental General
Education Transfer Curriculum. For these causes
courses , the bill would require the president,
president and chancellors, and senates
in consultation with their respective academic
senates, to jointly each provide up to
15 incentive grants to faculty and campuses to facilitate
certain intersegmental and intrasegmental
partnerships and partnerships between online course technology
providers and faculty of the University of California, the
California State University, and the California Community Colleges,
as a method to achieve the goal of to
significantly increasing increase
online course options for students and high
school pupils for the fall term of the 2014--15
2014-15 academic year.
The bill would require the online courses approved
through the platform supported by incentive grant
funds to be placed in the California Virtual Campus. The bill
would require that matriculated students of campuses of the
University of California, the California State University,
or the California Community Colleges, and California high
school pupils, who complete online courses developed
through the platform supported by incentive grant
funds and achieve a passing score on corresponding course
examinations, be awarded full academic credit for an
equivalent the course at the University of
California, the California State University, or the California
Community Colleges, as applicable.
The bill would provide that funding for the implementation of this
provision would be provided in the annual Budget Act, and express
the intent of the Legislature that the receipt of funding by the
University of California for the implementation of this provision be
contingent on its compliance with its requirements.
The bill would prohibit public funds from being used to fund any
private aspect of a partnership developed under the bill between
faculty of the University of California, the California
State University, or the California Community Colleges and an online
course technology provider. This bill would provide that the
state would retain all appropriate rights to intellectual
property it creates or develops developed by
a segment in the implementation of the bill would be owned
and managed by that segment according to its existing policies
.
Because this provision would require community colleges to award
academic credit under these circumstances, it would constitute a
state-mandated local program.
(2) Existing law, until January 1, 2014, establishes the
California Virtual Campus to facilitate ongoing collaboration and
joint efforts relating to the use of technology resources and
high-speed Internet connectivity to support teaching, learning,
workforce development, and research. Existing law, until January 1,
2014, authorizes the California Virtual Campus grant recipient to
convene at least 4 leadership stakeholder group meetings annually
comprised of representatives from the State Department of Education,
the California Technology Assistance Project, and other related
programs administered through the department, including adult
education, local education educational
agencies, the California Community Colleges, the California State
University, the University of California, independent colleges and
universities, the California State Library, and representatives from
community-based organizations to ensure the efforts affecting
segments represented are appropriately meeting the needs of those
segments.
This bill would extend the provisions establishing the California
Virtual Campus until January 1, 2017. This bill would require the
representatives in the stakeholder group meetings from the California
Community Colleges, the California State University, and the
University of California to include, but not be limited to, faculty
members from these institutions. This bill would make additional
nonsubstantive changes in these provisions. By requiring faculty
members from community college districts to attend these meetings,
this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
(3) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse
local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these
statutory provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) In recent years, California's public higher education
institutions have faced skyrocketing demand for enrollment at a time
when they lack capacity to provide students with access to courses
necessary for program completion and success.
(b) In the 2012-13 academic year, 85 percent of California
Community Colleges (CCC) reported having waiting lists for their fall
2012 course sections, with a statewide average of more than 7,000
students on waiting lists per college.
(c) Similarly, impacted courses have contributed significantly to
difficulties within the University of California (UC) and California
State University (CSU) systems, with figures indicating that only 60
percent and 16 percent of students, respectively, are able to earn a
degree within four years, with lack of access to key courses a factor
in increased time-to-degree.
(d) With rapidly developing innovation in online course delivery
models, California's public institutions of higher education have a
unique opportunity to meet critical demands for enrollment and reduce
time-to-degree by providing students with access to high-quality,
alternative, online pathways to successfully complete and obtain
credit for the most impacted lower division courses.
(e) California could significantly benefit from a
statutorily enacted, quality-first, faculty-led framework that
increases partnerships between faculty and online course technology
providers aimed at allowing students in strategically selected lower
division areas to take online courses for credit at the UC, CSU, and
CCC systems. While providing easy access to these courses, these
systems could also continually assess the value of the courses and
the rates of student success in utilizing these alternative online
pathways an incentive grant program aimed at assisting
faculty and individual campuses within the UC, CSU, and CCC systems
to provide students increased opportunities to take
strategically selected lower division courses online
.
SEC. 2. Section 66409.3 is added to the
Education Code, to read:
66409.3. (a) The California Online Student Access Platformis
hereby established. The platform shall be developed and administered
by the President of the University of California, the Chancellor of
the California State University, and the Chancellor of the California
Community Colleges, jointly, with the academic senates of the
respective segments. As used in this section, "platform" means the
California Online Student Access Platform established by this
section.
(b) The platform shall facilitate appropriate partnerships
including, but not necessarily limited to, intersegmental and
intrasegmental partnerships developed pursuant to Section 66950 and
partnerships between online course providers and faculty members of
the University of California, California State University, and the
California Community Colleges for the development and deployment of
high-quality online options for strategically selected lower division
courses. The platform shall accomplish all of the following
objectives:
(1) Provide statewide facilitation of intersegmental and
intrasegmental partnerships developed pursuant to Section 66950 and
appropriate partnerships between faculty members of the University of
California, the California State University, and the California
Community Colleges, and online course technology providers to offer
transferable courses for credit.
(2) Create a pool of up to 50 approved and transferable online
courses for credit through which students seeking to enroll may
easily access those courses and related content.
(3) Provide a state-level faculty-led process that places the
highest priority on educational quality through which online courses
can be subjected to high-quality standards and review.
(4) Allow the state, the public, students, faculty, and other
stakeholders to examine student success rates within the platform.
(c) For purposes of accomplishing all of the objectives of the
platform as specified in subdivision (b), the President of the
University of California, the Chancellor of the California State
University, and the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges,
jointly, with the academic senates of the respective segments, shall
do all of the following:
(1) (A) Develop a list of the 50 most impacted lower division
courses at the University of California, the California State
University, and the California Community Colleges that are deemed
necessary for program completion , deemed satisfactory for meeting
general education requirements, or in areas defined as high-demand
transferable lower division courses under the Intersegmental General
Education Transfer Curriculum.
(B) For purposes of this paragraph, "impacted lower division
course" means a course in which, during most academic terms, the
number of students seeking to enroll in the course exceeds the number
of spaces available in the course.
(2) For any of the courses that meet the criteria identified under
paragraph (1), facilitate partnerships, including, but not
necessarily limited to, intersegmental and intrasegmental
partnerships developed pursuant to Section 66950 and partnerships
between online course technology providers and faculty of the
University of California, the California State University, and the
California Community Colleges with the goal of significantly
increasing online course options for students for the fall term of
the 2014-15 academic year.
(3) Create and administer a standardized review and approval
process for online courses developed pursuant to paragraph (2) for
matriculated students of the University of California, California
State University, and California Community Colleges, and for
California high school pupils. No course shall be approved for
purposes of this section unless the course has associated with it a
faculty sponsor who is a member of the faculty of the University of
California, the California State University, or the California
Community Colleges and is approved by the academic senate of the
appropriate segment. An online course developed pursuant to this
paragraph shall be deemed to meet the lower division transfer and
degree requirements for the University of California, the California
State University, and the California Community Colleges.
(4) When online courses are reviewed pursuant to this section, at
a minimum, the extent to which each course does the following shall
be considered:
(A) Provides students with instructional support and related
services to promote retention and success.
(B) Provides students with interaction with instructors and other
students.
(C) Contains a proctored student assessment and examination
process that ensures academic integrity and satisfactorily measures
student learning.
(D) Provides a student with an opportunity to assess the extent to
which he or she is suited for online learning prior to enrolling.
(E) Utilizes, as the primary course text or as a wholly acceptable
alternative, content, where it exists, from the California Digital
Open Source Library established pursuant to Section 66408.
(F) Includes adaptive learning technology systems or comparable
technologies that can provide significant improvement in the learning
of students.
(5) Regularly solicits from each of the respective statewide
student associations of the University of California, the California
State University, and the California Community Colleges, and
considers, advice and guidance on implementation of the platform.
(6) Collect, review, and make public data and other information
related to student success within the platform by gathering and
reporting data on accepted student success metrics, including, but
not necessarily limited to, student enrollment in approved online
courses through the platform, and student retention and completion
rates.
(7) Utilize the state's current common course numbering system for
approved courses so as to simplify the identification and
articulation of comparable courses.
(d) Online courses approved through the platform pursuant to this
section shall be placed in the California Virtual Campus, through
which students may access the courses. A matriculated student of a
campus of the University of California, California State University,
or California Community Colleges, or a California high school pupil,
who completes an online course developed through the platform and
achieves a passing score on the corresponding course examination
shall be awarded full academic credit for an equivalent course at the
University of California, the California State University, or the
California Community Colleges, as applicable.
(e) Funding for the implementation of this section shall be
provided in the annual Budget Act. It is the intent of the
Legislature that, notwithstanding Section 67400, the receipt of
funding by the University of California for the implementation of
this section be contingent on its compliance with the requirements of
this section.
(f) No public funds shall be used to fund any private aspect of a
partnership developed pursuant to this section between faculty of the
University of California, the California State University, or the
California Community Colleges and an online course technology
provider.
(g) The state shall retain all appropriate rights to intellectual
property it creates or develops in the implementation of this
section.
SEC. 2. Section 66409.3 is added to the
Education Code , to read:
66409.3. (a) The California Online Student Access Incentive Grant
programs are hereby established. The grant programs shall be
developed and administered by the President of the University of
California, the Chancellor of the California State University, and
the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, for each segment
respectively, in consultation with his or her respective statewide
academic senate.
(b) The three grant programs shall provide incentive grants to
faculty and campuses to facilitate appropriate partnerships
including, but not necessarily limited to, intersegmental and
intrasegmental partnerships, and partnerships between online course
providers and faculty members of the University of California, the
California State University, and the California Community Colleges
for the development and deployment of high-quality online options for
strategically selected lower division courses.
(c) For purposes of accomplishing the objectives of the grant
programs as specified in subdivision (b), the President of the
University of California, the Chancellor of the California State
University, and the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges
shall each, in consultation with his or her segment's statewide
academic senate, do both of the following:
(1) Develop a list of 20 high-demand lower division courses at his
or her segment that are deemed necessary for program completion,
deemed satisfactory for meeting general education requirements, or
defined as transferable lower division courses under the
Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum.
(2) (A) For up to 15 of the courses selected under paragraph (1),
provide incentive grants to faculty and campuses of his or her
segment with the goal of facilitating up to 15 appropriate
partnerships, including, but not necessarily limited to,
intersegmental and intrasegmental partnerships, and partnerships
between online course technology providers and faculty of the segment
providing the grant and, if the grantor deems it appropriate,
faculty of one or both of the other segments, to significantly
increase online options for matriculated students and high school
pupils for the fall term of the 2014-15 academic year.
(B) When choosing recipients for incentive grants pursuant to this
paragraph, the president or chancellor of each segment shall give
priority to courses that have also been selected by one or both of
the other segments pursuant to paragraph (1).
(d) Incentive grants shall not be provided to facilitate any
partnership to develop or deploy a course pursuant to this section
unless the course has associated with it a member of the faculty of
the segment providing the grant who serves as the instructor of
record, and the course is approved by the academic senate of that
segment. A course developed or deployed with incentive grant funds
pursuant to this section shall be deemed to meet the lower division
transfer and degree requirements for the University of California,
the California State University, or the California Community
Colleges, as applicable, and shall be made available to students
systemwide, regardless of the campus at which they are enrolled.
(e) When evaluating a potential faculty or campus grantee to
receive an incentive grant pursuant to this section, the President of
the University of California, the Chancellor of the California State
University, and the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges
shall consider the extent to which the developed or deployed course
will do each of the following:
(1) Provide students with instructional support and related
services to promote retention and success.
(2) Provide students with interaction with instructors and other
students.
(3) Contain a proctored student assessment and examination process
that ensures academic integrity and satisfactorily measures student
learning.
(4) Provide a student with an opportunity to assess the extent to
which he or she is suited for online learning before enrolling.
(5) Use, as the primary course text or as a wholly acceptable
alternative, content, where it exists, from the California Digital
Open Source Library established pursuant to Section 66408.
(6) Include adaptive learning technology systems or comparable
technologies that can provide significant improvement in student
learning.
(7) Be made available to students of another system, regardless of
the system at which they are enrolled.
(f) In implementing this section, the President of the University
of California, the Chancellor of the California State University, and
the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges shall do all of
the following:
(1) Regularly solicit and consider from their respective statewide
student associations advice and guidance on the implementation of
the incentive grant program.
(2) Collect, review, and make public data and other information
related to student success in courses supported by the incentive
grant program by gathering and reporting data on accepted student
success metrics, including, but not necessarily limited to, student
enrollment in online courses supported through the incentive grant
program, and student retention and completion rates.
(g) Online courses supported by incentive grants pursuant to this
section shall be placed in the California Virtual Campus, through
which students may access the courses. A matriculated student of a
campus of the University of California, the California State
University, or the California Community Colleges, or a California
high school pupil, who completes an online course developed through
an incentive grant program and achieves a passing score on the
corresponding course examination shall be awarded full academic
credit for the course at the University of California, the California
State University, or the California Community Colleges, as
applicable.
(h) Funding for the implementation of this section shall be
provided in the annual Budget Act. It is the intent of the
Legislature that, notwithstanding Section 67400, the receipt of
funding by the University of California for the implementation of
this section be contingent on its compliance with the requirements of
this section.
(i) Public funds shall not be used to fund any private aspect of a
partnership developed pursuant to this section between faculty of
the University of California, the California State University, or the
California Community Colleges and an online course technology
provider.
(j) Intellectual property created or developed by a segment in the
implementation of this act shall be owned and managed by that
segment according to its existing policies pursuant to applicable
provisions of this code.
SEC. 3. Section 78910.10 of the Education Code is amended to read:
78910.10. (a) (1) The California Virtual Campus, pursuant to
funding provided to the Board of Governors of the California
Community Colleges for this purpose in the annual Budget Act, may
pursue all of the following purposes, to the extent funding is
available:
(A) To enrich formal and informal educational experiences and
improve students' academic performance by supporting the development
of highly engaging, research-based innovations in teaching and
learning in K-12 public schools and the California Community
Colleges, the California State University, and the University of
California.
(B) To enhance the awareness of, and access to, highly engaging
online courses of study, emphasizing courses of study that support a
diverse and highly skilled science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics workforce.
(C) To support education research, the implementation of
research-based practices, and promote economic development through
the use of next generation advanced network infrastructure, services,
and network technologies that enable collaboration and resource
sharing between formal and informal educators in K-12 public schools,
the California Community Colleges, the California State University,
the University of California, independent colleges and universities,
public libraries, and community-based organizations at locations
across the state.
(D) To increase access to next generation Internet services, 21st
century workforce development programs, and e-government services for
students and staff served or employed by education entities and
students served primarily online through partnerships with public
libraries and community-based organizations.
(E) To enhance access to health care education and training
programs to current or future health care workers.
(F) To manage digital assets and develop contracts for services
necessary to provide the technical and management support needed to
maximize the benefits of the high-speed, high-bandwidth network
infrastructure available to public higher education entities in
California.
(G) Through the aggregation of demand for network enabled
technologies and related services from public education entities, and
through partnerships with the private sector, to provide education
entities with access to technical support and staff who can
facilitate statewide efforts that support innovations in teaching and
learning that are necessary to provide for a well-educated
citizenry, and economic and 21st century workforce development.
(2) To accomplish the purposes of paragraph (1), the California
Virtual Campus may partner with local educational agencies, the State
Department of Education, the 11 regional California Technology
Assistance Projects, the California Community Colleges, the
California State University, the University of California,
independent colleges and universities, public libraries, and
community-based organizations to facilitate ongoing collaboration and
joint efforts relating to the use of technology resources and
high-speed Internet connectivity to support teaching, learning,
workforce development, and research.
(3) Efforts conducted as a result of this chapter shall not
prohibit or otherwise exclude the ability of existing or new
educational technology programs from being developed, expanded, or
enhanced.
(b) For purposes of this article, the following terms have the
following meanings:
(1) "Online courses of study" means any of the following:
(A) Online teaching, learning, and research resources, including,
but not necessarily limited to, books, course materials, video
materials, interactive lessons, tests, or software, the copyrights of
which have expired, or have been released with an intellectual
property license that permits their free use or repurposing by others
without the permission of the original authors or creators of the
learning materials or resources.
(B) Professional development opportunities for formal and informal
educators who desire to use the resources in subparagraph (A).
(C) Online instruction.
(2) "Online instruction" means technology enabled online real time
(synchronous) interaction between the instructor and the student,
near time (asynchronous) interaction between the instructor and the
student, or any combination thereof.
(c) The California Virtual Campus grant recipient may accomplish
all of the following:
(1) Convene at least four leadership stakeholder group meetings
annually composed of representatives from the State Department of
Education, the California Technology Assistance Project, and other
related programs administered through the department, including adult
education, local education educational
agencies, the California Community Colleges, the California State
University, the University of California, independent colleges and
universities, the California State Library, and representatives from
community-based organizations to ensure the efforts affecting
segments represented are appropriately meeting the needs of those
segments. The leadership stakeholder group shall also coordinate and
obtain assistance with the implementation of efforts delineated in
this article, to identify and maintain an up-to-date list of the
technology resources and tools that are necessary to support
innovation in teaching and learning, and to identify opportunities
for leveraging resources and expertise for meeting those needs in an
efficient and cost-effective manner. For purposes of this paragraph,
the representatives from the California Community Colleges, the
California State University, and the University of California shall
include, but not be limited to, faculty members from these
institutions.
(2) Lead efforts to make online courses of study available across
the state that include, but are not limited to, the following:
(A) Developing online courses of study that are pedagogically
sound and fully accessible, in compliance with the federal Americans
with Disabilities Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-336), by
students with varying learning styles and disabilities.
(i) The development of K-12 online courses pursuant to this
subparagraph shall be achieved in partnership with local
education educational agencies and the
California Technology Assistance Project.
(ii) Online courses developed for grades K-12 pursuant to this
subparagraph shall be aligned to the California academic content
standards and guidelines for online courses.
(B) Overseeing the development of at least 12 model online courses
of study that, collectively, would allow students to meet the
requirements of the Intersegmental General Education Transfer
Curriculum (IGETC) and at least two courses that support basic skills
education courses in English, English as a second language, or
mathematics.
(C) Encouraging the entities listed in paragraph (1) to do both of
the following:
(i) Make accessible to each other their courses of study that are
funded by the state.
(ii) Allow their courses of study to be accessible to the general
public if they determine access would not inhibit their ability to
provide appropriate protection of the state's intellectual property
rights.
(3) Ensure that the learning objects created as part of the
California Virtual Campus online courses of study with state General
Fund revenues are linked to digital content libraries that include
information about course content freely available to California
educators and students.
(4) Develop formal partnership agreements between the entities
listed in paragraph (1) and the California Virtual Campus, including
course articulation agreements that allow qualified high school
students to accelerate the completion of requirements for a high
school diploma and a two-year or four-year degree and agreements that
provide opportunities for part-time faculty teaching online to
obtain full-time employment teaching online.
(5) Develop formal partnership agreements with the entities listed
in paragraph (1) and others to enhance access to professional
development courses that introduce faculty, teachers, staff, and
college course developers to the conceptual development, creation,
and production methodologies that underlie
the development of online courses of
study and support students' successful completion of those courses.
The professional development opportunities may include, but not
necessarily be limited to, all of the following:
(A) Addressing issues relating to copyright, permission for the
use or reuse of material, use of resources in the public domain, and
other intellectual property concepts.
(B) Accessibility for students with disabilities.
(C) Factors to ensure that content is culturally relevant to a
diverse student body.
(D) Delivery options that incorporate multiple learning styles and
strategies.
(6) Develop formal partnership agreements with entities,
including, but not limited to, those listed in paragraph (1), to
ensure access to online professional learning communities that
incorporate the use of Internet-based collaboration tools and to
support joint discussions between K-12 educators, higher education
faculty and staff, and others to examine student performance data,
student learning objectives, curriculum, and other issues that relate
to students' academic success and preparation for the workforce.
(7) In partnership with entities, including those listed in
paragraph (1), develop an e-portfolio system that allows
participating students to demonstrate their attainment of academic
learning objectives, skills and knowledge that relate to their career
interests, and completion of prerequisites for participation in
courses or training programs. The e-portfolio system may do all of
the following:
(A) Ensure that student privacy is protected in accordance with
existing law.
(B) Comply with accessibility laws for students with disabilities.
(C) Be designed in a manner that supports the use of e-portfolio
content in the accreditation requirements of schools, colleges, and
universities.
(8) In partnership with entities, including those listed in
paragraph (1), identify opportunities to enhance students' access to
medical education and medical services through the use of high-speed
Internet connections to the campuses, and opportunities for education
programs and services to support the telehealth efforts taking place
within the state.
(d) The lead agency for the California Virtual Campus, in
consultation with the leadership stakeholder group described in
paragraph (1) of subdivision (c) if that group is convened by the
California Virtual Campus grant recipient, shall contract with an
independent third party with expertise in online teaching, learning,
and the development of online courses of study, as approved by the
board, to evaluate the California Virtual Campus. The evaluation
shall include, but not be limited to, an assessment of the number of
faculty, teachers, consortia, informal educators, and students that
use the online courses of study, the quality of students'
experiences, student grades earned, and the cost of the online course
content, comparing the online course content with traditional
textbooks. The board may require additional information that it
determines to be necessary to evaluate the effectiveness and
viability of the California Virtual Campus. This evaluation shall be
submitted to the Legislature no later than three years after the
enactment of this act.
SEC. 4. Section 78910.30 of the Education Code is amended to read:
78910.30. This article shall remain in effect until January 1,
2017, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2017, deletes or extends
that date.
SEC. 5. If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this
act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local
agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant
to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of
the Government Code.