Amended in Senate April 18, 2016

Amended in Senate March 28, 2016

Senate Bill No. 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 the 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. begin insert The bill would define terms for these purposes. end insert The bill would also begin delete require the school to disclose the data required under these provisions in accordance with the ABA end delete begin insert authorize the State Bar to develop a end insert standard information begin delete report. end delete begin insert reporting template. end insert 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.

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

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

SECTION 1.  

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

6061.7.  

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

(1) Admissions data.

(2)  begin delete Tuition and end delete begin insert Tuition, end insert fees, begin delete living costs, end delete and financial aid.

(3) Conditional scholarships.

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

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

(6)  begin delete Class end delete begin insert Average class end insert begin insert end insert sizes for begin delete first-year and upper-class end delete
begin insert required end insert courses and the number of begin delete seminar, clinical, and
cocurricular end delete begin insert clinical end insert offerings.

(7) Employment outcomes for graduates.

(8) Bar passage data.

(b)  begin insert (1) end insert begin insert   end insert The information in subdivision (a) shall be disclosed begin delete in
manner that is either identical to, or substantially equivalent to,
the American Bar Association’s Standard 509 Information Report. end delete

begin insert and published on the law school’s Internet Web site in a
standardized information report that is readily accessible to current
and prospective students in a manner that is complete, accurate,
and not misleading to a reasonable student or applicant. end insert

begin insert

(2) The State Bar may create a standardized information report
template.

end insert begin insert

(3) All law schools described in subdivision (a) shall include
the standardized information report as part of the annual
compliance report required from all law schools that are not
approved by the American Bar Association and are regulated by
the examining committee of the State Bar.

end insert begin insert

(4) A law school may use the information report template to
comply with the information disclosure required under subdivision
(a).

end insert

(c) A law school begin insert described in subdivision (a) end insert shall publicly
disclose on its Internet Web site, in a readable and comprehensive
manner, all of the following information on a current basis:

(1) Refund policies.

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

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

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

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

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

(e) All information that a law school reports, publicizes, or
distributes begin insert pursuant to this section end insert shall be complete, accurate,
and not misleading to a reasonable law school student or applicant.
A law school shall use due diligence in obtaining and verifying
such information.

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

begin delete

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

end delete begin delete

(h)

end delete

begin insert (g) end insert  For the purposes of this section, the following definitions
apply:

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

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

begin insert

(3) “Bar passage data” means the most current cumulative bar
pass rates defined and reported by the examining committee of the
State Bar.

end insert begin insert

(4) “Employment outcomes for graduates” means the results
of a survey by the law school, taken three years after graduation,
that breaks down the employment rate of graduates in each of the
first three years after graduation, including the rate of employment
of graduates in jobs where a Juris Doctor degree is required by
the employer and the rate of employment of graduates in jobs
where a Juris Doctor degree is an advantage in employment.

end insert begin insert

(5) “Admissions data” means information from the most recently
enrolled fall semester class including total number of applications,
the total number of accepted students, and the 75th, 50th, and 25th
percentile scores for the undergraduate grade point averages and
law school admission test scores of admitted students.

end insert