Amended in Senate March 28, 2016

Senate BillNo. 1281


Introduced by Senator Block

February 19, 2016


An act to add Section 6061.7 to the Business and Professions Code, relating to law schools.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 1281, as amended, Block. Law schools: unaccredited law school disclosures.

Existing law requires any law school that is not accredited by the examining committee of the State Bar to provide every student with a disclosure statement, subsequent to the payment of any application fee but prior to the payment of any registration fee, that contains, among other things, a statement that the law school is not accredited and the number and percentage of students who have taken and who have passed the first-year law student’s examination and the final bar examination in the previous five years, or since the establishment of the school, whichever time is less, as specified.

This bill would additionally require a law school that is not accredited by thebegin delete examining committee of the State Bar to post specified disclosures required by the American Bar Association’s Standards and Rules for Procedure for Approval of Law Schools on the law school’s Internet Web site. The bill would additionally require a law school that is not accredited by the examining committee of the State Bar that has a bar passage rate below ____ over the previous three years to display its passage rate on its Internet Web site adjacent to, and in the same type size and font as, the law school’s name.end deletebegin insert American Bar Association (ABA) to post on it’s Internet Web site, specified information, including tuition costs, class sizes, number of faculty, bar passage data, and employment outcomes for graduates. The bill would also require the school to disclose the data required under these provisions in accordance with the ABA standard information report. The bill would require specific disclosure information be distributed by the school to all applicants being offered conditional scholarships at the time the scholarship offer is extended.end insert

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

P2    1begin insert

begin insertSECTION 1.end insert  

end insert

begin insertSection 6061.7 is added to the end insertbegin insertBusiness and
2Professions Code
end insert
begin insert, to read:end insert

begin insert
3

begin insert6061.7.end insert  

(a) In addition to the disclosure statement required
4by Section 6061, any law schools not approved by the American
5Bar Association shall publicly disclose on its Internet Web site,
6with a link from the Internet home page under “Admissions,” all
7of the following information:

8
(1) Admissions data.

9
(2) Tuition and fees, living costs, and financial aid.

10
(3) Conditional scholarships.

11
(4) Enrollment data, including academic, transfer, and other
12attrition.

13
(5) Number of full-time and part-time faculty, professional
14librarians, and administrators.

15
(6) Class sizes for first-year and upper-class courses and the
16number of seminar, clinical, and cocurricular offerings.

17
(7) Employment outcomes for graduates.

18
(8) Bar passage data.

19
(b) The information in subdivision (a) shall be disclosed in
20manner that is either identical to, or substantially equivalent to,
21the American Bar Association’s Standard 509 Information Report.

22
(c) A law school shall publicly disclose on its Internet Web site,
23in a readable and comprehensive manner, all of the following
24information on a current basis:

25
(1) Refund policies.

26
(2) Curricular offerings, academic calendar, and academic
27requirements.

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(3) Policies regarding the transfer of credit earned at another
2institution of higher education.

3
(d) The law school’s transfer of credit policies shall include, at
4a minimum, both of the following:

5
(1) A statement of the criteria established by the law school
6regarding the transfer of credit earned at another institution.

7
(2) A list of institutions, if any, with which the law school has
8established an articulation agreement.

9
(e) All information that a law school reports, publicizes, or
10distributes shall be complete, accurate, and not misleading to a
11 reasonable law school student or applicant. A law school shall
12use due diligence in obtaining and verifying such information.

13
(f) A law school shall distribute the data required under
14paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) to all applicants being offered
15conditional scholarships at the time the scholarship offer is
16extended.

17
(g) Schools shall be considered in compliance if they report the
18data required by Standard 509 of the American Bar Association’s
19Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools,
20as that standard may be amended.

21
(h) For the purposes of this section, the following definitions
22apply:

23
(1) “Curricular offering” means only those courses offered in
24the current and past two academic years.

25
(2) “Conditional scholarship” means any financial aid award,
26the retention of which is dependent upon the student maintaining
27a minimum grade point average or class standing, other than that
28ordinarily required to remain in good academic standing.

end insert
begin delete29

SECTION 1.  

Section 6061.7 is added to the Business and
30Professions Code
, to read:

31

6061.7.  

(a) In addition to the disclosure statement required by
32Section 6061, any law school that is not accredited by the
33examining committee of the State Bar shall post all disclosures
34required by Standard 509 of the American Bar Association’s
35Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools,
36as that standard may be amended, on its Internet Web site.

37(b) Any law school that is not accredited by the examining
38committee of the State Bar that has a bar passage rate below ____
39over the previous three years shall display its passage rate on its
P4    1Internet Web site adjacent to, and in the same type size and font
2as, the law school’s name.

end delete


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