BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2412
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Date of Hearing: May 4, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
2412 (Chang) - As Amended March 17, 2016
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill establishes an incentive grant program for the
completion of industry-recognized credentials at the California
Community Colleges (CCC), commencing with the 2017-18 academic
year. Specifically, this bill:
1)Establishes an incentive grant program, to be administered by
the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office (CCCCO),
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for the completion of credentials at CCC campuses. The
credentials would be in high-demand occupational areas as
identified by the CCCCO, working with local workforce boards,
businesses, industry, the Employment Development Department,
and the California Workforce Development Board.
2)Requires the CCCCO to provide each participating CCC campus
with grants of $1,000 for each credential earned by a CCC
student in one of the occupational areas identified per (1).
3)Requires grant funds to be used to improve its workforce
development and career technical education programs by
upgrading equipment, purchasing supplies, expanding programs,
or for any other use that would improve campus workforce
education and career technical education programs. Grant funds
cannot be used to fund the salaries or benefits of personnel
in recipient departments.
4)Requires the CCCCO to report to the Legislature on the program
by December 1, 2018 and every three years thereafter.
FISCAL EFFECT:
1)Annual costs for the incentive grants would depend on the
number of occupations identified by the Chancellor's Office as
high-demand and the number of students completing credentials
in these occupations. Costs would probably be at least several
million dollars annually. According to the CCCCO, 90,821
students completed a CTE certificate or degree. If only 10% of
these degrees were in high-demand occupations, costs for
incentive grants would exceed $9 million (GF-Prop 98).
2)Administrative costs for one position at the Chancellor's
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Office would be about $120,000 annually. [General Fund]
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the CCCCO, employers currently struggle
to find workers who possess the necessary skills to fill job
openings, and this skills gap is projected to grow. By 2025,
30% of all job openings in California (1.9 million) will
require some form of postsecondary education short of a
four-year degree. California's education pipeline is not
keeping pace with the higher levels of skills and education
required by employers and must significantly increase the
number of individuals with industry-valued, middle-skill
degrees, certificates and credentials.
The author argues that, "enactment of this legislation will
prompt important change within the community college system to
put greater emphasis on career technical education and
workforce development."
2)Governor's Budget Proposal. The Governor has earmarked $200
million in the CCC's 2016-17 budget to establish the Strong
Workforce Program, which is designed to allow CCC campuses to
expand access to career technical education courses and
programs and to implement a regional planning and
accountability structure to meet regional workforce needs.
3)Comments. The program envisioned in this bill seems to be
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ongoing, but this is unclear. While the program is
characterized as an incentive program, and is geared toward
high- demand occupations, a participating college's grant
amount appears to be based on past performance, i.e. the
number of students having completed credentials in the
identified occupations. There does not seem to be any
requirement that participating colleges increase the number of
students completing credentials in these occupations.
Analysis Prepared by:Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)
319-2081