BILL NUMBER: AB 1295 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 13, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Fuller
FEBRUARY 27, 2009
An act to add Section 89267.5 to the Education Code,
relating to nursing degree programs.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1295, as amended, Fuller. Postsecondary education: nursing
degree programs.
Existing law establishes the University of California, the
California State University (CSU) , and the California
Community Colleges as the 3 segments of public postsecondary
education in this state. Under existing law, the Chancellor of the
California Community Colleges is required to encourage community
college districts to, and the Chancellor of the California State
University is required to, standardize all nursing education program
prerequisites on a statewide basis and negotiate and implement
articulation agreements among the campuses and districts of these 2
segments.
Existing law, the Entry-Level Master's Nursing Programs Act, among
other things, requires the Chancellor of the California State
University to determine which campuses are eligible for supplemental
funds for establishing entry-level master's programs in nursing.
Existing law expresses the intent of the Legislature that, with
respect to nursing programs at the University of California, the
Regents of the University of California should expand nursing
programs to enroll additional students, as specified.
This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation to create a model program that facilitates and expedites,
for licensed registered nurses who have completed associate degrees
in nursing, the completion of coursework necessary to earn a bachelor
of science in nursing degree or a master of science in nursing
degree and to create programs that facilitate the completion of
master of science in nursing degrees by students with baccalaureate
degrees who are enrolled in associate degree nursing programs.
Existing law expresses the intent of the Legislature to encourage
CSU to establish partnerships or collaborations with community
colleges to facilitate the education of students in bachelor of the
science of nursing (BSN) or entry-level master's nursing programs.
This bill would prohibit CSU from requiring an ADN-to-BSN student,
as defined, enrolled in CSU to earn a BSN degree, to complete
certain coursework. The bill would require the Office of the
Chancellor of the California State University and the Chancellor's
office of the California Community Colleges to work collaboratively
to coordinate and implement an articulated nursing degree transfer
pathway. The bill would require the Legislative Analyst's Office, by
March 15, 2011, to prepare and submit to the Legislature and Governor
a report on the implementation and efficacy of the articulated
nursing pathway.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no
yes . State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all
of the following:
(a) Access to a quality nursing education through California's
public postsecondary institutions is provided through 74 California
Community Colleges and 22 California State University (CSU) campuses.
(b) The California Board of Registered Nursing is responsible for
approving the comprehensive and quality nursing curriculum provided
through the California Community Colleges and CSU and for licensing
registered nurses who pass a standardized licensing exam.
(c) The California Community Colleges provide approximately 70
percent of California's nursing workforce.
(d) In order for California to meet the demand for an increasingly
skilled and educated nursing workforce and to address the critical
shortage of nurses throughout the state, it is an economic benefit to
the state and students to streamline the community college and the
CSU transfer pathway for nursing.
(e) It is estimated that only 20 percent of community college
associate degree nurses continue on to obtain a bachelor's degree.
(f) At the bachelor's degree level, there is no common or
standardized approach for recognizing an associate degree in nursing
curriculum content and crediting a registered nurse with an associate'
s degree for that knowledge.
(g) The lack of a common nursing transfer pathway results in
students having to take duplicative and unnecessary coursework that
prolongs their time to degree and increases degree costs to both the
student and state. These unnecessary barriers act as a disincentive
for students who wish to continue their education to earn the
bachelor of science in nursing.
(h) California's workforce needs increasingly educated nurses to
meet the demand for trained nurses with bachelor's degrees that are
needed to fill public health nursing positions and for students to go
on to complete a masters degree in nursing to fill nursing faculty
positions at both the California Community College and CSU level.
(i) A streamlined nursing degree transfer pathway between
California Community Colleges and CSU will result in a cost savings
to both the student and California, make it less burdensome for
community college nursing students to further their education, and
reduce the time to degree.
SEC. 2. Section 89267.5 is added to the
Education Code , to read:
89267.5. (a) As used in this section, "ADN-to-BSN student" means
a person who meets all of the following qualifications:
(1) The person has earned an associate degree in nursing from a
California Community College from a program approved by the Board of
Registered Nursing.
(2) The person is licensed to work in California as a registered
nurse.
(3) The person is applying to the California State University to
earn a bachelor of science in nursing.
(b) The California State University shall comply with all of the
following with respect to an ADN-to-BSN student enrolled in the
California State University to earn a bachelor of the science of
nursing degree:
(1) A campus of the California State University that offers a
bachelor of the science of nursing degree program shall not require
an ADN-to-BSN student who has been admitted to that program to
undertake any coursework other than the following:
(A) The coursework that is unique and exclusively required to earn
a bachelor of science in nursing.
(B) Fifteen additional units or the minimum number of additional
units to allow the student to achieve a total of 120 units, or both.
(2) A campus of the California State University shall not require
an ADN-to-BSN student to complete any duplicative courses for which
the content is already required by the Board of Registered Nursing
for licensure or that the student has already satisfied by earning
the associate degree in nursing and becoming licensed as a registered
nurse.
(3) A campus of the California State University shall not require
an ADN-to-BSN student, who has taken a prerequisite course at a
California Community College to earn the associate degree in nursing,
to take the same prerequisite course or same content from that
prerequisite course at the university for the bachelor of the science
of nursing degree.
(c) The Office of the Chancellor of the California State
University and the Chancellor's office of the California Community
Colleges shall work collaboratively to coordinate and implement an
articulated nursing degree transfer pathway.
(d) By March 15, 2011, the Legislative Analyst's Office shall
prepare and submit to the Legislature and Governor a report on the
implementation and efficacy of the articulated nursing pathway. This
report may be part of its annual budget report to the Legislature.
SECTION 1. It is the intent of the Legislature
to enact legislation to do both of the following:
(a) Create a model program that facilitates and expedites, for
licensed registered nurses who have completed associate degrees in
nursing, the completion of coursework necessary to earn a bachelor of
science in nursing degree or master of science in nursing degree.
(b) Create programs that facilitate the completion of master of
science in nursing degrees by students who have completed
baccalaureate degrees and who are enrolled in associate degree in
nursing programs.