BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2382
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Date of Hearing: May 5, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 2382 (Blumenfield) - As Amended: April 12, 2010
Policy Committee: Higher
EducationVote: 9-0
Business and Professions 11-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill authorizes the California State University (CSU) to
award the Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) degree.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires CSU to comply with all of the following:
a) Allocate funding on a per full-time equivalent student
(FTES) basis for each new student in these degree programs
from within CSU's enrollment growth levels as provided in
the annual Budget Act.
b) Provide that enrollments in DPT programs shall not alter
the CSUs ratio of graduate instruction to total enrollment,
and shall not diminish enrollment growth in university
undergraduate programs.
c) Focus the DPT degree on preparing physical therapists to
provide health care services, consistent with meeting the
requirements of the Commission on Accreditation in Physical
Therapy Education (CAPTE).
d) Charge students fees in DPT programs no higher than the
rate charged for students in state-supported doctoral
degree programs in physical therapy at the University of
California (UC), including joint DPT programs of the CSU
and UC.
AB 2382
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e) Provide any startup funding for the programs from within
existing budgets for academic programs support, without
diminishing the quality of program support offered to CSU
undergraduate programs.
f) No reduction of undergraduate enrollments at CSU as a
result of funding these programs.
2)Requires CSU, the Department of Finance (DOF), and the
Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) to conduct a joint,
statewide evaluation of the implemented DPT programs, and
report specified information to the governor and the
Legislature by January 1, 2015.
FISCAL EFFECT
No net state costs, as the additional student fee revenues, from
increased fees charged to DPT students, will more than offset
the additional costs of the DPT programs. When fully
implemented, likely in 2016-17, additional student fee revenues
will be about $500,000 annually per campus, or $2 million for
the four CSU DPT programs. (This assumes DPT students will be
charged about $14,500 annually ($43,500 for three years)-equal
to the current charge for CSU Doctor of Education (Ed.D)
students.) The additional cost for the DPT programs-mainly
involving adding two faculty positions per campus to accommodate
a one- or two-semester extension of the current programs-are
about $300,000 per campus annually, or $1.2 million total. All
start-up costs to develop the DPT program will be absorbed by
existing faculty.
(The three-year costs to students in DPT programs offered at the
state's private postsecondary institutions range from $73,000 to
$122,000.)
COMMENTS
1)Background and Purpose . The Commission on Accreditation for
Physical Therapy Education, which has sole responsibility for
accrediting PT education programs in the U.S., revised its
accreditation standards last October to require the DPT as the
terminal degree instead of the Master's degree, thus requiring
AB 2382
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PT Master's degree programs to convert to DPT programs by
December 30, 2015. Programs that do not meet this criterion by
that date will be required to come into compliance no later
than December 31, 2017, or lose accreditation.
There are currently nine private DPT programs in California
and one public program-a joint DPT between San Francisco State
University and UC San Francisco. CSU operates four PT Master's
programs at its Fresno, Northridge, Long Beach, and Sacramento
campuses. CSU Fresno also offers a nine-month DPT option, upon
completion of its Master's program, in partnership with UC San
Francisco.
Master's degree programs typically require two to two and
one-half years of study, while doctoral degree programs
require three years. Doctoral programs, which include a more
robust clinical education and diagnostic education, are more
costly to operate than baccalaureate or master's level
programs.
2)Opposition . The California Podiatric Medical Association is
concerned as to whether CSU is set up to include the enhanced
clinical rotations, which the association maintains are key to
a meaningful higher level of Physical Therapist training,
whether CSU has the funding to establish doctoral programs,
and how the new programs would differ from the Masters of
Physical Therapy currently available.
3)Prior Legislation . In 2009, AB 867 (Nava), which would grant
CSU the authority to award the Doctor in Nursing Practice
degree, was held on Suspense in Senate Appropriations.
AB 724 (Scott)/Chapter 269 of 2005, authorized CSU to award
the Ed.D. Earlier versions of that bill authorized CSU to
award a DPT and the Doctor in Audiology degree, but these
provisions were removed due to objections by UC.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081