Amended in Assembly May 27, 2016

Amended in Senate April 18, 2016

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 Barbegin insert of California (State Bar)end insert 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 previousbegin delete fiveend deletebegin insert 5end insert 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) tobegin delete postend deletebegin insert publicly discloseend insert 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 define terms for these purposes. The bill would also authorize the State Bar to develop a standard information reporting template. 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:

P2    1

SECTION 1.  

Section 6061.7 is added to the Business and
2Professions Code
, to read:

3

6061.7.  

(a) Any lawbegin delete schoolsend deletebegin insert school that isend insert not approved by
4the American Bar Association shall publicly disclose on its Internet
5Web site, with a link from the Internet home page under
6“Admissions,” all of the following information:

7(1) Admissions data.

8(2) Tuition, fees, and financial aid.

9(3) Conditional scholarships.

10(4) Enrollmentbegin delete data, including academic, transfer, and other
11attrition.end delete
begin insert data.end insert

12(5) Number of full-time and part-time faculty,begin delete professionalend delete
13begin insert technically trainedend insert librarians, and administrators.

14(6) Average class begin delete sizes for required coursesend delete begin insert size of each required
15courseend insert
and the number of clinical offerings.

16(7) Employment outcomes for graduates.

17(8) Bar passage data.

18(b) (1) The information in subdivision (a) shall be disclosed begin delete19 and published on the law school’s Internet Web siteend delete in a
20standardized information report that is readily accessible to current
21and prospective students in a manner that is complete, accurate,
22and not misleading to a reasonable student or applicant.

23(2) The State Bar may create a standardized information report
24template.

25(3) begin deleteAll law schools described in subdivision (a) end deletebegin insertAny law school
26that is not approved by the American Bar Association end insert
shall include
27the standardized information report as part of the annual
28compliance report requiredbegin delete fromend deletebegin insert to be submitted to the State Bar
29byend insert
all law schools that are not approved by the American Bar
30Association and are regulated by the examining committee of the
31State Bar.

P3    1(4) A law school may use the information report template to
2comply with the information disclosure required under subdivision
3(a).

4(c) begin deleteA law school described in subdivision (a) end deletebegin insertAny law school
5that is not approved by the American Bar Association end insert
shall publicly
6disclose on its Internet Web site, in a readable and comprehensive
7manner, all of the following information on a current basis:

8(1) Refundbegin delete policies.end deletebegin insert policy.end insert

9(2) Curricular offerings, academic calendar, and academic
10requirements.

11(3) begin deletePolicies end deletebegin insertPolicy end insertregarding the transfer of credit earned at
12another institution of higher education.

13(d) The law school’s transfer of creditbegin delete policiesend deletebegin insert policyend insert shall
14include, at a minimum, both of the following:

15(1) A statement of the criteria established by the law school
16regarding the transfer of credit earnedbegin insert for coursework completedend insert
17 at another institution.

18(2) A list of institutions, if any, with which the law school has
19established an articulationbegin delete agreement.end deletebegin insert agreement end insertbegin insertand the terms of
20any such agreement. If the law school has not entered into a
21transfer or articulation agreement with any other college or
22university, the institution shall disclose that fact.end insert

23(e) All information that a law school reports, publicizes, or
24distributes pursuant to this section shall be complete, accurate, and
25not misleading to a reasonable law school student or applicant. A
26law school shall use due diligence in obtaining and verifying such
27information.

28(f) A law schoolbegin insert that is not approved by the American Bar
29Associationend insert
shall distribute the data required under paragraph (3)
30of subdivision (a) to all applicants being offered conditional
31scholarships at the time the scholarship offer isbegin delete extended.end deletebegin insert made.end insert

32(g) For the purposes of this section, the following definitions
33apply:

begin insert

34
(1) “Admissions data” means information from the most recently
35enrolled fall semester class including the total number of
36applications, the total number of accepted students, and the 75th,
3750th, and 25th percentile scores for the undergraduate grade point
38averages and law school admission test scores of admitted students.

end insert
begin insert

P4    1
(2) “Bar passage data” means the most current cumulative bar
2pass rates defined and reported by the examining committee of the
3State Bar.

end insert
begin insert

4
(3) “Conditional scholarship” means any financial aid award,
5the retention of which is dependent upon the student maintaining
6a minimum grade point average or class standing other than that
7ordinarily required to remain in good academic standing.

end insert
begin delete

34 8(1)

end delete

9begin insert(4)end insert “Curricular offering” means only those courses offered in
10the current and past two academic years.

begin delete

11(2) “Conditional scholarship” means any financial aid award,
12the retention of which is dependent upon the student maintaining
13a minimum grade point average or class standing, other than that
14ordinarily required to remain in good academic standing.

end delete
begin delete

15(3) “Bar passage data” means the most current cumulative bar
16pass rates defined and reported by the examining committee of the
17State Bar.

end delete
begin delete

4 18(4)

end delete

19begin insert(5)end insert “Employment outcomes for graduates” means the results of
20a survey by the law school, taken three years after graduation, that
21breaks down the employment rate of graduates in each of the first
22three years after graduation, including the rate of employment of
23graduates in jobs where a Juris Doctor degree is required by the
24employer and the rate of employment of graduates in jobs where
25a Juris Doctor degree is an advantage in employment.

begin delete

26(5) “Admissions data” means information from the most recently
27enrolled fall semester class including total number of applications,
28the total number of accepted students, and the 75th, 50th, and 25th
29percentile scores for the undergraduate grade point averages and
30law school admission test scores of admitted students.

end delete
begin insert

31
(6) “Enrollment data” means information about the number of
32students who are admitted to the school per class per year for the
33past three years, the number of students who transfer to and from
34the school per class per year for the past three years, and the
35number of students who do not continue to attend the school each
36year for the past three years on either a voluntary or involuntary
37basis.

end insert
begin insert

38
(7) “Transfer or articulation agreement” means an agreement
39between the law school and any other college or university that
P5    1provides for the transfer of credits earned in the program of
2instruction.

end insert


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