BILL NUMBER: AB 716	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Low

                        FEBRUARY 25, 2015

   An act to amend Section 89708 of the Education Code, relating to
the California State University.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 716, as introduced, Low. California State University: special
sessions.
   Existing law establishes the California State University, under
the administration of the Trustees of the California State
University, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education
in this state. Under existing law, 23 institutions of higher
education constitute the California State University. Existing law
requires that tuition fees adequate to meet the cost of maintaining
special sessions, as defined, in the California State University be
collected from students enrolled in each special session pursuant to
rules and regulations prescribed by the trustees. Existing law
prohibits self-supporting special sessions, as defined, from
supplanting regular course offerings available on a
non-self-supporting basis during the regular academic year.
   This bill would provide that, for purposes of these provisions,
supplanting occurs when an institution reduces the number of
state-supported course offerings while increasing the number of
self-supporting versions of that course. The bill also requires, to
the extent possible, that each campus ensure that a state-supported
course is offered for any course required as a condition of
undergraduate degree completion for a state-supported matriculated
student. The bill would prohibit all campuses from requiring a
state-supported matriculated student to enroll in a special session
course in order to fulfill a graduation requirement for a
state-supported degree program.
   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 89708 of the Education Code is amended to read:

   89708.   (a)    Tuition fees adequate, in the
long run, to meet the cost of maintaining special sessions in the
California State University shall be required of, and collected from,
students enrolled in each special session  under and
 pursuant to rules and regulations prescribed by the
trustees.
    (b)    "Special sessions," as used in this
division, means self-supporting instructional programs conducted by
the California State University. The special sessions shall include,
but not  necessarily  be limited to, career enrichment and
retraining programs. It is the intent of the Legislature that those
programs, currently offered on a self-supporting basis by the
California State University during summer sessions, may be provided
throughout the year, and shall be known as special sessions. The
self-supporting special sessions shall not supplant  , as defined
in subparagraph (c),  regular course offerings available on a
non-self-supporting basis during the regular academic year. 
   (c) "Supplanting," as used in this section, means reducing the
number of state-supported course offerings while increasing the
number of self-supporting versions of that course.  
   (d) To the extent possible, each campus shall ensure that any
course required as a condition of undergraduate degree completion for
a state-supported matriculated student shall be offered as a
state-supported course. A campus shall not require a state-supported
matriculated student to enroll in a special session course in order
to fulfill a graduation requirement for a state-supported degree
program.