BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1059|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 1059
Author: Monning (D)
Amended: 6/21/16
Vote: 21
SENATE BUS., PROF. & ECON. DEV. COMMITTEE: 9-0, 4/4/16
AYES: Hill, Bates, Berryhill, Block, Galgiani, Hernandez,
Jackson, Mendoza, Wieckowski
SENATE VETERAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE: 4-0, 4/12/16
AYES: Nielsen, Hueso, Allen, Roth
NO VOTE RECORDED: Nguyen
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
SENATE FLOOR: 36-0, 5/9/16
AYES: Allen, Anderson, Berryhill, Block, Cannella, De León,
Fuller, Galgiani, Glazer, Hall, Hancock, Hernandez, Hertzberg,
Hill, Hueso, Huff, Jackson, Lara, Leno, Leyva, Liu, McGuire,
Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning, Moorlach, Morrell, Nguyen,
Nielsen, Pan, Pavley, Roth, Stone, Vidak, Wieckowski, Wolk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bates, Beall, Gaines, Runner
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 79-0, 8/18/16 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Postsecondary education: Title 38 awards
SOURCE: Association of California Accredited Law Schools
DIGEST: This bill authorizes an institution that obtains and
provides evidence to the California State Approving Agency for
Veteran's Education (CSAAVE) that it has been "accredited" by
the Committee of Bar Examiners (CBE), to receive approval from
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CSAAVE for participation in Title 38 veteran's education
benefits, provided the institution provides disclosures to
applicants of the school who are eligible for federal Title 38
awards of the institution's tuition costs, refund policies,
class sizes, number of faculty, attrition rates, bar passage
data, and employment outcomes of graduates; and, is in
compliance with all applicable CSAAVE rules and regulations and
is in good standing with the CBE.
Assembly Amendments require the disclosure provided to school
applicants eligible for federal Title 38 awards to be provided
to all prospective students. The amendments also included
conforming changes to ensure that the data reported under this
bill is consistent with requirements proposed under SB 1281
(Block).
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Establishes the Title 38 Funding Program (Title 38 Program)
under the administration of the California State Approving
Agency for Veterans Education (CSAAVE) and requires CSAAVE to
approve qualifying institutions desiring to enroll veterans or
persons eligible for Title 38 awards.
2)Authorizes the Board of Trustees of the State Bar of
California (Board) to establish an examining committee
(Committee of Bar Examiners, CBE) to examine all applicants
for admission to practice law, administer the requirements for
admission to practice law and certify to the Supreme Court for
admission to the bar those applicants who fulfill the
requirements.
(Business and Professions Code (BPC § 6046)
3)Requires the CBE to adopt rules for the regulation and
oversight of unaccredited law schools that are required to be
authorized to operate as a business in California and to have
an administrative office in California, including
correspondence schools, that are not State Bar accredited or
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American Bar Association (ABA) accredited with the goal of
ensuring consumer protection and a legal education at an
affordable cost. (BPC § 6046.7)
4)Provides that the CBE is responsible for the approval,
regulation, and oversight of degree-granting law schools that
exclusively offer bachelor's, master's, or doctorate degrees
in law, such as a J.D. (BPC § 6060.7)
5)Exempts law schools that are ABA accredited and State Bar
accredited from the California Private Postsecondary Education
Act (Act) and oversight by the Bureau for Private
Postsecondary Education (BPPE). (EDC § 94874 (g))
This bill authorizes an institution that obtains and provides
evidence to the CSAAVE that it has been "accredited" by the CBE,
to receive approval from CSAAVE for participation in Title 38
veteran's education benefits, provided the institution provides
disclosures to applicants of the school who are eligible for
federal Title 38 awards of the institution's tuition costs,
refund policies, class sizes, number of faculty, attrition
rates, bar passage data, and employment outcomes of graduates;
and, is in compliance with all applicable CSAAVE rules and
regulations and is in good standing with the CBE.
Background
This bill is sponsored by the Association of California
Accredited Law Schools. The Author states that law schools
accredited by the CBE schools have been eligible to serve
veteran students for over four decades, until an oversight in
legislation in 2014 which rendered the schools ineligible to
receive Title 38 benefits. According to the Author, the ABA's
stringent facility and faculty requirements for accreditation
are often cost-prohibitive for these smaller, regionally based
law schools and notes that as a result, these schools are
subsequently forced to seek accreditation through either private
accrediting bodies or the State Bar. The Author is concerned
that without a correction to the law, working veterans and
veterans with families will be restricted from attending a law
school in their region.
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Title 38. The GI Bill, signed in 1944 by President Franklin D.
Roosevelt gave "servicemen and women the opportunity of resuming
their education or technical training after discharge, or of
taking a refresher or retrainer course, not only without tuition
charge up to $500 per school year, but with the right to receive
a monthly living allowance while pursuing their studies."
Educational benefits are currently available both to active duty
personnel and veterans through two key programs: the Tuition
Assistance program administered and run by the Department of
Defense (DOD) and the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance
Act administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
The former Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational
Education (BPPVE) used to serve as the approval agency for
California institutions attended by veterans using Title 38
monies under a contract with the VA. When BPPVE expired, these
duties were transferred to the California Department of Veterans
Affairs (Cal-Vets) which now provides oversight of postsecondary
education programs through CSAAVE. In its role as the approval
agency, the primary function of CSAAVE is to review, evaluate
and approve quality educational and training programs for
veteran's benefits. CSAAVE is intended to approve colleges and
universities, vocational schools, business schools, professional
schools, and licensing and certification training and tests, all
of which must lead to an educational, professional or vocational
objective.
Stemming from concerns about the experience of veterans at
private for-profit institutions and multiple reports and
hearings highlighting false and predatory advertising to
veterans, and the potential lack of accountability for the
millions of dollars administered by DOD and VA that are spent at
private postsecondary education institutions in California if
schools are not regulated, the Legislature took steps in 2014 to
increase accountability and program quality of institutions
receiving Title 38 monies. AB 2099 (Frazier, Chapter 676,
Statutes of 2014) stipulated new Title 38 veterans funding
eligibility standards for postsecondary institutions in
California. All institutions now must provide license
examination passage rates to students, and institutions that
offer degrees must have institutional and programmatic
accreditation in order to receive Title 38 monies. The bill
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also provided that, in order for a postsecondary institution to
be determined eligible to accept Title 38 monies, determined by
CSAAVE, the postsecondary institution, whether it offers degrees
or not, must either be a public school, a nonprofit school,
approved by the Bureau or be regionally accredited.
Law Schools Approval by the State Bar. Most law schools in
California are approved by the ABA, which also deems them State
Bar accredited. The State Bar also "accredits" 20 law schools
that are neither ABA accredited nor accredited by an accrediting
agency recognized by USDE pursuant to rules adopted by the CBE
and approved by the Board of the State Bar. The role of the
State Bar in accrediting law schools goes back some 80 years
when the Board first evaluated the program of legal education at
"fixed-facility" law schools in the state at that time.
Evaluating Institutional and Program Quality. Accreditation is
a voluntary, non-governmental peer review process used to
determine academic quality. Under federal law, USDE establishes
the general standards for accreditation agencies and is required
to publish a list of recognized accrediting agencies that are
deemed reliable authorities on the quality of education provided
by their accredited institutions. While accredited and
unaccredited education and training programs are currently
allowed to operate in California, only accredited institutions
are authorized to participate in federal and state financial aid
programs. Degrees earned from institutions that are not
accredited additionally may limit a student's career options and
opportunities to receive reciprocity from other state licensing
boards.
Accreditation is the accepted standard for educational degrees.
Accrediting bodies, as pointed out in a 2013 report issued by
the Legislative Analyst's Office, are good at assessing the
quality of educational programs and gathering knowledgeable
subject matter experts to assess content, rigor, currency, and
delivery of educational programs. They have also been good at
keeping up with emerging trends in education and incorporating
them into their reviews. While the accrediting process is not
perfect, as highlighted by the unlawful activities of
institutions accredited by some accrediting agencies, and does
not focus on fair business practices that can impact a student's
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success, accreditation is designed to provide a baseline measure
of the quality of a particularly educational program.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
According to the Assembly Committee on Appropriations analysis
dated August 3, 2016, this bill will result in minor fiscal
impact to CSAAVE.
SUPPORT: (Verified8/18/16)
Association of California Accredited Law Schools (source)
American GI Forum
AMVETS - Department of California
California Association of County Veteran Service Officers
VFW - Department of California
Lincoln Law School of Sacramento
Monterey College of Law
Cal Northern School of Law
Trinity Law School
Leon Panetta, Chairman of the Panetta Institute
Monterey County Business Council
Santa Cruz County Supervisor Ryan Coonerty
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/18/16)
None received
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: Supporters believe that this bill will
fix the unintended consequences of AB 2099 and note, that in
order to become accredited, schools that this bill would assist
must establish that their paramount objective is to provide a
sound legal education. Supporters believe that State Bar
accreditation provides an assurance that schools our veterans
attend receive a beneficial and cost effective legal education.
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Supporters write that State Bar accredited schools must maintain
a sound program of legal education and adhere to carefully drawn
rules that regulate all aspects of the institution. Supporters
note that working men and women, many of whom are veterans, are
able to realize their aspirations because of these programs
located in areas unserved by other law schools and that are
affordable and offer day and night programs.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 79-0, 8/18/16
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,
Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke,
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,
Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, 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: Roger Hernández
Prepared by: Sarah Mason / B., P. & E.D. / (916) 651-4104
8/19/16 19:21:38
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