BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1835 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 19, 2016 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONS Rudy Salas, Chair AB 1835 (Holden) - As Amended April 6, 2016 NOTE: This bill is double-referred, having been previously heard by the Assembly Committee on Higher Education on April 5, 2016 and approved on a 13-0 vote. SUBJECT: California Private Postsecondary Education Act of 2009: minimum operating standards: exemptions. SUMMARY: Exempts institutions who are approved by the Bureau of Private Postsecondary Education (BPPE), and who grant doctoral degrees in psychoanalysis, from accreditation by an accrediting agency recognized by the United States Department of Education (USDE). EXISTING LAW: 1)Establishes the BPPE with the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) to oversee and regulate private postsecondary educational institutions. (Education Code (EDC) Section 94800, et seq.) 2)Defines "accredited" to mean an institution that is accredited by an accrediting agency recognized by the USDE. (EDC Section 94813) AB 1835 Page 2 3)Defines an "accrediting agency" as an agency recognized by the USDE. (EDC Section 94814). 4)Defines "approval to operate" or "approval" to mean the authorization to offer to the public and to provide postsecondary educational programs, as well as the written document issued to an institution signifying its approval to operate. (EDC Section 94817) 5)Requires the BPPE to adopt by regulation minimum operating standards for an institution to ensure that the program can achieve its objective; the facilities and instructional equipment and material are sufficient to enable the program; the administrators and faculty are qualified; the institution maintain written and relevant standards for student admissions, as well as maintains a withdrawal policy and provides refunds; gives students a document signifying the degree or diploma awarded; maintains records and standard transcripts; and, is accredited by an accrediting agency or is in the process of accreditation (EDC Section 94885) 6)Requires an unaccredited institution that is approved by the BPPE, prior to January 1, 2015, to operate and offer degree programs to submit an accreditation plan to the BPPE, to obtain pre-accreditation by July 1, 2017, to obtain accreditation by July 1, 2020, and to comply with various student disclosure and visiting committee review requirements. (EDC Section 94885.1) 7)Provides that an institution that has not been accredited by an accrediting agency that seeks to offer one or more degree programs must submit an accreditation plan to the BPPE including documentation the BPPE deems necessary to determine AB 1835 Page 3 potential for accreditation, as specified. (EDC Section 94885.5) 8)Provides for specified exemptions from the Private Postsecondary Education Act of 2009 (Act) for specific types of institutions, including, but not limited to, those where oversight is already provided by other entities; among those exemptions is an institution owned, controlled, and operated and maintained by a religious organization lawfully operating as a nonprofit religious corporation, as specified, whose degrees granted must reflect the nature of the degree title. (EDC Section 94874). 9)Provides that institutions deemed equivalent by the Medical Board of California (MBC) who have completed clinical training in psychoanalysis may engage in psychoanalysis as an adjunct to teaching, training, or research and hold themselves out to the public as psychoanalysts; students in those institutes may engage in psychoanalysis under supervision, if the students and graduates do not hold themselves out to the public by any title or description of services incorporating the words "psychological," "psychologist," "psychology," "psychometrists," "psychometrics," or "psychometry," or state or imply that they are licensed to practice psychology; requires theses students and graduates to register with the MBC and present evidence of student or graduate status; provides that the MBC may suspend or revoke the exemption of those persons for unprofessional conduct, as defined. (Business and Professions Code Section 2529) THIS BILL: 1)Exempts institutions that grant doctoral degrees in psychoanalysis from the provision of the Act that require accreditation requirements if the institution satisfies all AB 1835 Page 4 the following requirements: a) The institution's students hold master's or doctoral degrees before enrolling in the institution; b) All of the institution's students, except as specified, hold a professional license to practice psychotherapy that remains valid throughout enrollment at the institution and carry current malpractice insurance in their respective fields; c) The institution does not accept federal student aid; d) The institution is a nonprofit entity; and, e) The institution is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Psychoanalytic Education (ACPE), or has submitted a self-study to the ACPE, on or before July 1, 2017. 2)Provides that the exemption in number one above sunsets on January 1, 2021 unless extended. FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown. This bill is keyed fiscal by the Legislative Counsel. COMMENTS: Purpose. This bill exempts from institutions who are approved by the BPPE and who grant doctoral degrees in psychoanalysis from accreditation by an accrediting agency recognized by the USDE. This bill is sponsored by The Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis . According to the author, "[This bill] provides graduate programs in psychoanalysis an exemption to the [Act] as AB 1835 Page 5 there is currently no national accrediting body for the psychoanalyst field. The original author of SB 1247, Ted Lieu, has written a letter to clarify that the intent of his legislation never meant to affect small not-for-profit institutions offering extensive education in the discipline of psychoanalysis." Background. The BPPE is responsible for oversight of private postsecondary educational institutions operating with a physical presence in California. After numerous legislative attempts to remedy the laws and structure governing regulation of private postsecondary institutions, AB 48 (Portantino), Chapter 310, Statutes of 2009, made many substantive changes that created a new, solid foundation for oversight and gave the new BPPE an array of enforcement tools to ensure schools comply with the law. The Act requires all unaccredited colleges in California to be approved by BPPE, and all nationally accredited colleges to comply with numerous student protections. The Act requires disclosure of critical information to students such as program outlines, graduation and job placement rates, and license examination information, and ensures colleges justify those figures. AB 48 contained numerous exemptions to state-level oversight, the most notable of which is an exemption from BPPE authority and regulation under the Act granted to for-profit and nonprofit regionally accredited institutions. Students attending institutions that are accredited by a regional accrediting agency other than the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), which is one of the six regional accrediting bodies recognized by the USDE, are currently eligible for very limited tuition recovery assistance in the event of a school closure, but are not eligible for any other consumer protections provided under the Act. Requiring Accreditation. The BPPE noted in its response to the AB 1835 Page 6 2013 Sunset Review Background Paper prepared by the Senate Committee on Business, Professions and Economic Development staff that "requiring accreditation would provide a much higher level of consumer protection to students in the state and ensure that California students would have the option of applying for federal financial aid. Additionally, by requiring accreditation for approval to operate in California, the state will save money by not forcing the [BPPE] to act in the place of an accrediting body for unaccredited institutions." At the time of the 2013 Sunset Review Hearings, the BPPE highlighted that California is one of few states to continue to allow unaccredited degree granting programs, with approximately 140 approved institutions offering unaccredited degrees. The BPPE noted that it was working to evaluate the approvals granted to unaccredited schools offering degrees and that the end result of the BPPE's analysis often leads to denial upon renewal or approval revocation. The BPPE stated in 2014 that "requiring accreditation for approval to operate would allow the BPPE to focus on its mandate of consumer protection, while relying on academic experts approved by USDE to evaluate academic programs." In response to these concerns, and as a means of better serving students while aiming to decrease the BPPE's significant workload associated with reviewing unaccredited degree granting institutions, SB 1247 (Lieu), Chapter 840, Statutes of 2014 amended the Act to require that all degree granting programs be accredited, unless they meet at least one of the specified exemptions in the EDC. According to a letter to the BPPE from former Senator, and now Congressman, Ted Lieu, who authored SB 1247, "the purpose and design [of SB 1247] was never intended to apply to an institution such as the Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis (ICP)." The letter goes on to say "ICP's standards for training AB 1835 Page 7 far exceed the usual organizations accredited by the BPPE. ? In contrast [to conventional educational settings], ICP's admission requirements differ markedly - it requires proof of a terminal degree in the particular setting (e.g. Ph.D., Psy.D, MFT, LCSW, MD), including official school transcripts, and licensure prior to admission, something that distinguishes programs at ICP from many other degree granting institutions." Psychoanalytic studies. According to the ACPE, "psychoanalysis is a specific form of individual psychotherapy that aims to bring unconscious mental elements and processes into awareness in order to expand an individual's self-understanding, enhance adaptation in multiple spheres of functioning, alleviate symptoms of mental disorders and facilitate character change and emotional growth." According to the author, "Beginning in the 1990s, the field of psychoanalysis began to develop within the mental health community. Several non-profit educational institutions were established to provide medical professional post-graduate, continuing education training in the emerging field. Because of the relatively small nature of the training programs and their status as providers of continuing education, there is no national accreditation body for these programs." In 1991, both the BPPE and the MBC approved psychoanalysis training programs as valid postsecondary, graduate training programs for licensed professionals in mental health services. According to the author, these accreditations have never been contested and remained valid until the 2014 reforms enacted by SB 1247. SB 1247 required institutions to seek accreditation from a USDE-recognized accrediting agency, or if no programmatic accreditation is available, to seek regional accreditation by AB 1835 Page 8 the WASC Senior College and University Commission, which is a lengthy and costly process that exceeds the resources of these small, non-profit psychoanalysis programs. This bill, instead, requires institutions to seek accreditation from ACPE by July 1, 2017. It should be noted that ACPE is not a USDE recognized accrediting agency, nor is it clear if ACPE is seeking recognition by the USDE. If these psychoanalytic programs are not exempted as a result of this bill, or ACPE does not obtain USDE recognition by the sunset date implemented by this bill, the psychoanalytic programs will have to close. BPPE Sunset Review. The issue of unaccredited degree granting programs is raised in the BPPE 2015 Sunset Review Report, prepared by the Senate Committee on Business, Professions and Economic Development and the Assembly Committee on Business and Professions (Committees). The report notes that many unaccredited degree-granting institutions have contacted the Committees, citing opposition to the requirement to obtain accreditation. The author may wish to raise this issue through the 2016 Sunset Review process. Current Related Legislation. SB 1192 (Hill) of the current legislative session addresses several issues, including the effects of SB 1247 on institutions under the jurisdiction of the BPPE, raised during the sunset hearing for BPPE on March 28, 2016. NOTE: This bill is pending in the Senate Committee on Education. Prior Related Legislation. SB 1247 (Lieu), Chapter 840, Statutes of 2014 amended the Act by requiring accreditation for degree-granting institutions and changing statutory eligibility requirements for the Student Tuition Recovery Fund (Fund), among other things. ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: AB 1835 Page 9 The Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis writes in support, "Without [this bill], ICP would be unable to confer the degree of Doctor of Psychoanalysis, which we have been doing at the behest of the California Department of Education in the course of their site visit at our inception in 1991. Our candidates are requires, in order to graduate, to write a thesis that makes a significant contribution to the field of psychoanalysis. These articles are often published in national and international journals. They benefit the patient population and the professional sphere through adding to the body of knowledge about the human mind and in the ways in which it can be traumatized and then treated successfully." The Psychoanalytic Center of California writes in support, "[This bill] address the [BPPE]'s decision to broadly apply regulatory and target institutions outside the scope of the 2014 reforms to the [Act] by providing a narrow exception for graduate institutions that exclusively provide education to licensed professionals, already holding a masters or doctoral degree, and that accept no federal student aid. This narrowly crafted measure provides these institutions the flexibility to develop curriculum while protecting younger students from costly diploma mills." The Newport Center for Psychoanalytic Studies (NPI) writes in support, "Institutions like NPI face a fundamentally impossible task in obtaining [USDE] sanctioned accreditation, despite the unquestioned legitimacy of the education we provide. All of our candidate students are already licensed practitioners, and the do not have a vocational outcome. Because NPI offers graduate degrees at the doctoral level, they are also beyond the scope of the national accreditors. The regional accreditors also do not offer a practically available route to accreditations. Tiny non-profit institutions like NPI cannot afford or implement the large, expensive bureaucratic structures and processes required AB 1835 Page 10 to prosecute let alone obtain regional accreditation. Additionally, our student cohorts are too small for regional accreditation consideration." The Los Angeles Institute and Society for Psychoanalytic Studies (LAISPS) writes in support, "[As the BPPE] adopted regulations to implement the 2014 reforms, the [BPPE] has broadly applied [SB 1247] to specialized graduate programs for professionals, requiring these programs to undergo the expensive and lengthy accreditation required for large undergraduate research universities. ? Although LAISPS has already applied for and received an Exemption from the BPPE, we strongly support [this bill]." ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: None on file. IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES: The process of obtaining accreditation from the ACPE may require more time than the six months this bill allocates. The author should amend the bill to allow these psychoanalysis programs more time to become accredited. AMENDMENTS: To address the implementation consideration above, the author should amend the bill as follows: (5) The institution has obtained accreditation from, AB 1835 Page 11 or has submitted a self-study application to, the Accreditation Council for Psychoanalytic Education on or before July 1,2017.2018. REGISTERED SUPPORT: Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis (sponsor) Psychoanalytic Center of California The Newport Center for Psychoanalytic Studies The Los Angeles Institute and Society for Psychoanalytic Studies REGISTERED OPPOSITION: None on file. Analysis Prepared by:Gabby Nepomuceno / B. & P. / (916) 319-3301 AB 1835 Page 12