BILL NUMBER: AB 1295 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 16, 2009
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 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 in
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
Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to appoint
representatives to work collaboratively to coordinate and
implement an articulated nursing degree transfer
pathway pathways, prior to the commencement
of the 2012-13 academic year. The bill would require the
articulated nursing degree transfer pathways to meet prescribed
requirements . 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
status of plans to implement the articulated
nursing pathway degree transfer pathways
.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: 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)
(c ) 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)
(d ) 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)
(e ) The lack of a common nursing transfer
pathway results in students having may result
in students being required to take duplicative and unnecessary
coursework that prolongs their time to the
time require to obtain a degree and increases degree
costs the cost of education to both the student
and state. These unnecessary barriers act as a disincentive for
students who wish to continue their postsecondary
education to earn the bachelor of science in nursing.
(h)
(f ) 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 to fill public health
nursing positions, to proceed toward completion of a master's degree
in nursing, and to fill nursing faculty positions at both the
California Community College and CSU level.
(i)
(g ) 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.
(b) Prior to the commencement of the 2012-13 academic year, the
Chancellor of the California State University and the Chancellor of
the California Community Colleges shall appoint representatives from
their respective institutions to work collaboratively to coordinate
and implement articulated nursing degree transfer pathways between
the California Community Colleges and the California State
University. The articulated nursing degree transfer pathways shall
comply with both of the following requirements:
(2)
(1 ) 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)
(2 ) 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 science in
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)
(c ) 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. the status of plans to
implement articulated nursing degree transfer pathways between the
California Community Colleges and the California State University.
This report may be part of its annual budget report to the
Legislature.