BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Gloria Romero, Chair
2009-2010 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 867
AUTHOR: Nava and Arambula
AMENDED: April 14, 2009
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: July 1, 2009
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Nancy Anton
SUBJECT : California State University: Doctor of Nursing
Practice Degree.
SUMMARY
This bill authorizes the California State University (CSU)
to award a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree subject
to specified conditions.
BACKGROUND
Current law provides that the primary mission of the CSU is
undergraduate and graduate instruction through the master's
degree. It specifies that CSU (1) shall offer
undergraduate and graduate instruction through the master's
degree, and (2) may offer doctoral degrees jointly with the
University of California (UC) or other independent
institutions of higher education provided they are approved
by the California Postsecondary Education Commission
(CPEC). Current law also authorizes CSU to independently
award the Doctor of Education (Ed.D) degree focused solely
on preparing administrative leaders for California public
K-14 schools.
In setting forth the missions and functions of California
public and independent institutions of higher education,
current law provides, among other things, that UC "has the
sole authority in public higher education to award the
doctoral degree in all fields of learning, except that it
may agree with the CSU to award joint doctoral degrees in
selected fields."
ANALYSIS
This bill authorizes CSU to award the Doctor of Nursing
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Practice (DNP) degree to prepare nurses for advanced
practice nursing and prepare clinical faculty to teach in
postsecondary nursing education programs subject to the
following specifications:
1) The DNP program shall be designed to enable students
to earn the degree while working full time.
2) DNP program funding shall be from within CSU's annual
Budget Act appropriation for enrollment growth.
Initial funding shall be from within existing budgets
for academic programs without diminishing the quality
of undergraduate academic programs. In addition,
enrollment in Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)
programs:
a) Shall not alter the CSU ratio of graduate
instruction to total enrollment.
b) Shall not diminish enrollment growth in
university undergraduate programs.
c) Shall be funded at the marginal cost
calculation that the CSU receives for graduate
enrollment.
3) If CSU establishes a DNP degree program, it shall
report annually on the status of the program/s to the
California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC),
the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO), and the
appropriate legislative budget subcommittees prior to
the meeting of legislative budget hearings.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Where will the funding come from ? The bill requires
that initial funding be "from within existing budgets
for academic programs support, without diminishing the
quality of program support offered to CSU
undergraduate programs." The bill also specifies that
ongoing funding come from enrollment growth without
altering the graduate/undergraduate instruction ratio.
Given these limitations, where will the funding come
from: graduate programs? If so, which graduate
programs? Will DNP programs be established at the
expense of Master's degree nursing programs? If so,
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does this make sense? Staff recommends that the bill
be amended to clarify where such funding is expected
to come from.
2) What about Master's level nursing programs ? Is it
CSU's intent to replace master's level nursing
programs with DNP programs? Should the bill be
amended to ensure that any DNP programs established
compliment or supplement the preparation provided in
existing advance nursing practice master's level
degree programs and not to supplant or replace them?
3) CPEC approval ? Current law generally requires
colleges to seek and receive approval by CPEC prior to
commencing new programs of study. It is unclear if
CSU DNP programs authorized by this bill are to be
subject to or exempted from this process. As the
process serves to improve the quality of programs,
avoid duplication, and ensure best use of state
resources, staff recommends that the bill be amended
to clarify that although this bill authorizes CSU to
offer DNP degree programs, such programs are not
exempted from any existing review and approval
processes.
4) Are DNP programs the answer to the nursing faculty
shortage ? While numerous studies point to a shortage
of nursing faculty one of the contributing factors to
the overall shortage of nursing faculty, they do not
identify additional DNP programs as the primary
solution. For example, one of the difficulties in
recruiting/retaining nurse faculty is that their
salaries may be only half what can be earned as a
clinical nurse. A June 2008 study by the California
Institute for Nursing & Health care (CINHC) identified
seven critical areas for strategic nursing education
redesign and additional DNP programs were not one of
their recommendations. The most common barriers to
expanding nursing programs were lack of clinical sites
and lagging faculty salaries. In addition, a CSU
Advisory Committee found that an Ed.D program - which
CSU is already authorized to provide - which focuses
on nursing should likely meet the need for nursing
faculty and a survey of CSU and community college
nursing directors found that the Ed.D was the
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preferred doctoral degree for nursing faculty.
5) Existing DNP programs have capacity . In California
there are currently three higher education
institutions which offer DNP programs: University of
San Francisco, University of San Diego and the Western
University of Health Sciences (in Pomona). While one
program typically runs at capacity, the other two do
not. In addition, UC Irvine is considering offering
such a program. If there is available capacity in
existing DNP programs, does it make sense to alter CSU
mission's to authorize them to also offer such
programs?
6) Prior legislation . On April 17, 2008, the Senate
Education Committee heard and passed (9-0) Senate Bill
1288 (Scott) which would have authorized CSU to offer
DNP degree programs. SB 1288 was held in the Senate
Appropriations committee.
SUPPORT
American Nurses Association/California
American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees
Asian Americans for Community Involvement
California Hospital Association
California State Student Association
California State University
Coast Community College District
Greater Fresno Area Chamber of Commerce
Joint Venture Silicon Valley
Oxnard Chamber of Commerce
San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce
Silicon Valley Leadership Group
Thousand Oaks-Westlake Village Regional chamber of Commerce
OPPOSITION
None received.