BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2385|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2385
Author: John A. Perez ()
Amended: 8/17/10 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 7-1, 6/30/10
AYES: Romero, Alquist, Emmerson, Hancock, Liu, Price,
Simitian
NOES: Huff
NO VOTE RECORDED: Wyland
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 10-1, 8/12/10
AYES: Kehoe, Ashburn, Alquist, Corbett, Emmerson, Leno,
Price, Wolk, Wyland, Yee
NOES: Walters
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 62-13, 6/3/10 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Pilot Program for Innovative Nursing and Allied
Health Care
Profession Education at the California
Community Colleges
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill establishes the Pilot Program for
Innovative Nursing and Allied Health Care Profession
Education at the California Community Colleges (CCC) to be
administered by the CCC Chancellor's Office. Under this
program, up to five campuses will be selected by the CCC
CONTINUED
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Chancellor to offer pilot programs that test innovative
delivery models and expand student capacity in health care
occupations for which there is a substantial labor market
demand. Sunsets on July 1, 2017.
ANALYSIS : The CCCs provide instruction to about 1.5
million students at 109 colleges operated by 72 locally
governed districts throughout the state. The system offers
academic and occupational programs at the lower division
(freshman and sophomore) level, as well as recreational
courses and precollegiate basic skills instruction. The
CCCs offer a broad range of degrees, certificates, courses
and transfer majors including those in nursing and the
allied health professions (e.g. dental hygiene, dental
assisting, medical assistant, occupational therapy
assistant, physical therapy assistant, pharmacy technical,
and sonography). In addition, many colleges have
established programs intended to promote regional economic
development. Current law requires CCCs to charge each
student a fee of $26 per unit effective with the fall term
of the 2009-10 academic year.
This bill establishes a seven-year pilot program to be
administered by the CCC Chancellor's Office to encourage up
to five CCCs to establish innovative programs in areas
which prepare students for health occupations for which
there is a substantial labor market demand. Specifically,
the bill:
1.Requires the CCC Chancellor to:
A. Develop, contingent upon obtaining resources, a
"request for application" (RFA) for CCCs to apply to
participate on or after the 2011-12 academic year in
this pilot program. The RFA will be developed in
collaboration with representatives from education,
labor, health care employers, licensing and
credentialing entities, regional occupational centers
and programs, hospitals and nursing organizations,
and other appropriate entities.
B. Select up to five campuses, ideally geographically
distributed throughout the state, to participate in
the pilot program. Existing innovative programs
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currently underway that require additional resources
"to move to scale" would be eligible to apply.
C. Pursue funding to help support the development and
delivery of the pilot program including but not
limited to federal funds, private funds, employer
contributions and state and federal workforce funds.
D. Collect data, analyze this data, and contract with
an external evaluator to conduct an independent
evaluation, with findings and recommendations with
respect to the pilot program to be reported to the
Legislature by January 1, 2017.
2.Requires participating campuses to:
A. Provide an industry-recognized certificate or
degree in health care fields for which there is a
demonstrated shortage of workers in the labor market
and documented support from employers.
B. Demonstrate a capacity to train specified health
care workers, or the ability to sustain or expand
current innovative health care education and training
programs, or both. Limited capacity may be
demonstrated by demonstrated by waiting lists to
enter existing community college allied health care
or nursing programs.
C. Provide evidence of sufficient clinical sites.
D. Include high-quality curriculum delivery models.
Provide that all courses shall meet the curriculum
standards approved by the appropriate state licensing
entities that oversee each health occupation, and
shall not in any way shorten the clinical units or
hours as determined by the appropriate state
licensing entities that oversee each health
occupation. Curriculum already approved by the
appropriate state licensing entities that oversee
each health occupation shall be deemed to satisfy the
requirements.
E. Have flexible delivery models (e.g. on-line or
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distance learning; and intensive week-end, evening,
or summer courses.)
F. Enhance student success by providing student
support services to students in the pilot program
including but not limited to advisers, tutors,
mentors, financial assistance and internship
assistance.
G. Demonstrate clear, nonduplicative, and articulated
education pathways with local secondary and
postsecondary education entities.
H. Identify funding resources to support the pilot
program, as specified.
3.Authorizes participating campuses when selecting students
for admission to the pilot program to use the diagnostic
assessments and multicriteria screening assessments
authorized under current law for admission to CCC nursing
programs.
4.Authorizes participating campuses to collect supplemental
student fees from students in the program to support the
program. Such fees would have to be based on a fee
schedule approved by the CCC Chancellor at the time the
campus applies to participate in the pilot program. The
bill specifies that any such fees could not offset state
apportionment funding, and part or all of any CCC
supplemental fee may be covered by student financial aid
for eligible students.
5.States legislative intent that the pilot program be
funded with a combination of state apportionment funding,
employer-based partnerships, federal grants, and private
philanthropic resources.
6.Includes a variety of findings and declarations.
7.Provides that the provisions of this bill shall be
implemented in any fiscal year only to the extent that
the Chancellor's Office determines that sufficient monies
are available to administer the program.
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7.Becomes inoperative on July 1, 2017, and sunsets on
January 1, 2018.
Comments
Need for the Bill . According to the author, the CCC system
offers educational programs in a variety of allied health
care professions and prepares approximately 70 percent of
California's registered nurses. These are among the most
costly CCC programs, which, in recent years have been
subjected to budget cuts. Colleges have thus been forced
to limit enrollment and are struggling to keep pace with
program demand.
Supplemental Fee Authority . Perhaps the most significant
feature of this bill is that it allows up to five CCCs for
a limited period of time to charge higher student fees for
enrollment in certain programs. There currently exist a
wide variety of differential fees within California's
public and private higher education institutions.
For example, a student admitted in 2009-10 to a California
State University (CSU) School of Nursing to pursue a
Bachelor's of Science Degree in Nursing (BSN) would pay
student fees of approximately $5,000 per year for each of
two years whereas this same student pursuing a BSN at the
University of California (UC) would pay an estimated
$10,000. An identical student pursing a BSN at Samuel
Merritt University in Oakland would pay approximately
$35,000 per year. A student pursuing an Associate Degree
of Nursing at a CCC in 2010-11 is expected to pay $26 per
unit. Part-time nursing students at Samuel Merritt
University pay $1,504 per unit.
UC currently charges special fee rates for 12 professional
programs including nursing, medicine and pharmacy. These
special fees are substantially higher that the fees paid by
students in other programs.
In addition, both UC and CSU have accredited extension
programs through which students (matriculated and
nonmatriculated) may take credit courses; extension course
fees are substantially higher than university fees as there
is no state subsidy and students must pay the full cost of
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delivering the course. In one advanced degree nursing
program offered by UC, students pay a higher fee for a
portion of the program offered through extension, and then
have their fees reduced when they transition to the portion
of the program offered through the campus (and which is
state subsidized.) Students in a nearly identical program
at a different UC campus pay the state-subsidized fee level
throughout the entire program.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2010-11 2011-12
2012-13 Fund
Pilot project
$500 to $1,000 annually General*
for five years
Evaluation
$85 General
*Counts toward meeting the Proposition 98 minimum funding
guarantee
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/17/10)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees, AFL-CIO
Association of California Healthcare Districts
California Community Colleges Board of Governors
California Hospital Association
California Postsecondary Education Commission
Faculty Association of the California Community Colleges
Latino Coalition for a Healthy California
School Innovations & Advocacy
United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health
Care Professionals
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : Proponents argue that the
community colleges educate the majority of nurses in the
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state and are well positioned to implement changes to
attract a diverse pool of candidates and address the
state's pressing workforce shortages with a pilot program
that could be a cost-effective model for other healthcare
education programs.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Ammiano, Arambula, Bass, Beall, Bill Berryhill,
Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield, Bradford, Brownley,
Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter, Chesbro,
Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, Eng, Evans, Feuer,
Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Galgiani,
Garrick, Gilmore, Hall, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber,
Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Lieu, Bonnie Lowenthal,
Ma, Mendoza, Monning, Nava, Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, V.
Manuel Perez, Portantino, Ruskin, Saldana, Silva,
Skinner, Solorio, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico,
Villines, Yamada, John A. Perez
NOES: Adams, Anderson, Conway, Cook, DeVore, Emmerson,
Gaines, Hagman, Harkey, Logue, Miller, Smyth, Tran
NO VOTE RECORDED: Tom Berryhill, Norby, Salas, Audra
Strickland, Vacancy
CPM:cm 8/17/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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