BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1996|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1996
Author: Gordon (D)
Amended: 6/15/16 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE BUS., PROF. & ECON. DEV. COMMITTEE: 8-0, 6/13/16
AYES: Hill, Bates, Block, Gaines, Galgiani, Jackson, Mendoza,
Wieckowski
NO VOTE RECORDED: Hernandez
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 5/12/16 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT: Private postsecondary education: exemptions
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill provides an exemption for JobTrain, Inc.,
from the California Private Postsecondary Education Act and
oversight by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education
(BPPE), if it maintains its status as a nonprofit institution
that is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Schools,
Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC-ACS) and does
not award degrees or diplomas, and only receives state or
federal student financial aid programs for fewer than 20 percent
of its students who receive vocational training.
ANALYSIS:
AB 1996
Page 2
Existing law:
1)Establishes the California Private Postsecondary Education Act
(Act) and requires BPPE to, among other things, review,
investigate and approve private postsecondary institutions,
programs and courses of instruction pursuant to the Act and
authorizes BPPE to take formal actions against an
institution/school to ensure compliance with the Act and even
seek closure of an institution/school if determined necessary.
The Act also provides for specified disclosures and
enrollment agreements for students, requirements for
cancellations, withdrawals and refunds, and that BPPE shall
administer the Student Tuition Recovery Fund (STRF) to provide
refunds to students affected by the possible closure of an
institution/school. (Education Code § 94800 et seq.)
2)Exempts various institutions from the Act.
This bill:
1)Exempts JobTrain, Inc., from the Act and oversight by the BPPE
if it maintains its status as a nonprofit institution that is
accredited by the WASC-ACS and does not award degrees or
diplomas, and only receives state or federal student financial
aid programs for fewer than 20 percent of its students who
receive vocational training.
2)Requires the Employment Development Department (EDD), in
conjunction with the California Workforce Development Board
(Board), to annually collect information from JobTrain,Inc.
and provide a report to the BPPE on the following:
a) The number of students enrolled and the number that have
completed their respective training program.
b) The number of students attaining training from
JobTrain,Inc. using Workforce Innovation and Opportunity
Act (WIOA) funds.
AB 1996
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c) Skills or competency attained through their respective
program and subsequent employment placement and retention
information, including income.
1)Requires EDD to make the report available on the searchable
CalJOBS Web site, through the training and education providers
link to JobTrain,Inc.
Background
The Act and Exemptions. The BPPE has oversight of all of the
non-exempt, private postsecondary institutions located in
California. AB 48 (Portantino, Chapter 310, Statutes of 2009)
established the Act and 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.
WIOA and California's Eligible Training Provider List (ETPL).
The federal WIOA, formerly known as the federal Workforce
Investment Act (WIA) of 1998, provides for workforce investment
activities, including activities in which states may participate
and also contains various programs for job and employment
investment, including work incentive programs. The new federal
WIOA aims to modernize our workforce development system by
bringing together and enhancing several key employment,
education and training programs. WIOA also seeks to make the
workforce system more comprehensive in its approach to service
delivery and more responsive to the demands of our economy.
Following passage of the federal WIA in 1998, the state
established the California Workforce Investment Board, now the
Board and charged the Board with the responsibility for
developing a unified, strategic planning process to coordinate
various education, training, and employment programs into an
integrated workforce development system that supports economic
development. Local chief elected officials in a local workforce
development area were required to form, pursuant to specified
guidelines, a Local Workforce Investment Board (Local WIB) to
plan and oversee the workforce investment system at the local
AB 1996
Page 4
level. Under WIA, funds were distributed to the states based on
formulas that consider unemployment rates and other economic and
demographic factors. WIA required that 85 percent of federal
funds go to the Local WIBs, with the remainder allocated for
state discretionary purposes. Local WIBs created one or more
One-Stop Centers in the local workforce area, which provide
access to career information, counseling, funding for education,
training and supportive services. Job training programs include
classroom training, customized training, and on-the-job training
(also known as incumbent worker training). Training funds are
often distributed through vouchers to job seekers to enroll in
eligible training programs. Local WIBs determine which training
programs are eligible to receive the vouchers.
California's ETPL lists qualified employment training providers
for purposes of public employment monies. Training providers
who are eligible to receive Individual Training Accounts (ITAs)
through WIOA are listed on the ETPL. EDD is responsible for
accepting information on training providers from local boards,
compiling a single statewide list of eligible training providers
and disseminating the statewide ETPL to local boards for
distribution to their One-Stop Career Centers, effectively
directing training resources into programs intended to lead to
employment in high-demand, high-priority jobs and occupations
that provide economic security, particularly those facing a
shortage of skilled workers. The subsequent eligibility criteria
is required to use performance and outcome measures to determine
whether a provider is qualified to remain on the list.
The Local WIBs are responsible for reviewing and verifying
applications submitted by training providers, determining if the
applicant meets the criteria for initial eligibility and
forwarding the information to EDD for training providers and
programs that meet the criteria. The EDD also has the authority
to remove training providers for nonperformance.
A private postsecondary education institution must either have
approval from BPPE or be exempt from the Act in order to be
placed on the ETPL. JobTrain had been listed on the ETPL since
2001 and had been exempt from BPPE oversight until JobTrain was
informed that their exemption expired on December 31, 2015.
According to the author, the loss of eligibility for an
exemption from BPPE means that JobTrain cannot be on the ETPL.
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The author asserts that this, in effect, means that individuals
who receive funding WIOA cannot be referred to JobTrain and
cannot take advantage of their successful vocational training
programs. According to the author, an exemption is necessary
and required for JobTrain to again be on the ETPL and serve
those most in need of vocational training.
The author believes that "AB 1996 would allow those most in need
to access and take advantage of JobTrain's proven vocational
training programs and calls the exemption justifiable since
appropriate oversight is being provided by other entities and
there is minimal financial risk to public funds and to the
students, JobTrain does not offer degrees or diplomas and
JobTrain's programs and operations are reviewed by WASC and
JobTrain has been in good standing with for many years." The
author also asserts that financial aid is a small portion of
JobTrain's revenues, further reducing the risk of misuse of
public educational funds and that aside from WIOA ITAs, JobTrain
student tuition is funded by donations, grants, and fee for
service contracts, but not by student financial aid. The author
believes that BPPE's regulations would pose an undue constraint
on JobTrain pursuing its mission of charitable education,
particularly because dozens of ability-to-benefit students, high
school dropouts, would fail to qualify. Current law requires
that they must pass a standard test, but JobTrain has found that
most who fail the test are still able to pass the school's
courses and become gainfully employed in their desired
occupations.
Comments
Student advocates concerned about this bill state that any
exemption from state oversight weakens the regulatory structure
and risks harm to the students enrolled in the program.
Loopholes such as the one in this bill, they argue, create
opportunities for unscrupulous institutions to exploit loopholes
and harm students. These organizations, Public Advocates,
University of San Diego Center for Public Interest Law,
University of San Diego Children's Advocacy Institute and
University of San Diego Veterans Legal Clinic argue that
individual school exemptions place the Legislature in the
position of a fact-finding regulator, judging which and how much
each school should be regulated.
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FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
SUPPORT: (Verified8/3/16)
Acrobat Outsourcing
California State Council of Laborers
Cańada College
Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto
East Palo Alto City Councilmember Ruben Abrica
J&J Air Conditioning
JobTrain, Inc.
NOVA Workforce Board
San Mateo County Board of Supervisors President Warren Slocum
Sequoia Adult School
11 Individuals
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/3/16)
Department of Consumer Affairs
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: Supporters of this bill cite the need
for job training access for low income individuals. They argue
that JobTrain is one of the few organizations in the area
offering training programs for high demand careers accessible to
people with barriers to employment. Supporters state that the
bill is necessary so that JobTrain can remain on the ETPL for
eligible courses offered. Students who receive ITA support
under WIOA will then be referred to JobTrain. Without this, the
options for low-income individuals to access vocational training
will be even more limited.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: The Department of Consumer Affairs
(DCA) does not believe that JobTrain should be provided an
exemption from the Act and that providing an exemption for a
specified institution sets a precedent for future legislation to
grant individual institutional exemptions. DCA notes that
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Page 7
providing an exemption will leave a vulnerable group of students
without any BPPE protections. BPPE suggests an alternative to
exempting JobTrain by instead just exempting JobTrain from the
ability-to-benefit test requirements under the Act so that
consumers could continue to receive the protections provided by
state oversight of JobTrain.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 5/12/16
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,
Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Calderon,
Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper,
Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines,
Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson,
Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger
Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder,
Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina,
Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen,
Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago,
Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber,
Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon
NO VOTE RECORDED: Burke, Jones-Sawyer
Prepared by:Sarah Mason / B., P. & E.D. / (916) 651-4104
8/3/16 18:54:28
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