BILL NUMBER: AB 2393 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 5, 2010
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Ammiano
FEBRUARY 19, 2010
An act to amend Sections 94874.5, 94897, and 94928 of the
Education Code, relating to private postsecondary education.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2393, as amended, Ammiano. Private postsecondary educational
institutions: fair business practices.
(1) The California Private Postsecondary Education Act of 2009
provides for the regulation of private postsecondary educational
institutions , with exceptions, by the Bureau for
Private Postsecondary Education , with specified exceptions
. The act exempts various institutions from compliance with the
provisions of the act, except that those otherwise exempt
institutions are required to provide the bureau with specified
records and other information prior to closure.
The act requires private postsecondary educational institutions to
comply with various fair business practices , and
prohibits an institution from, among other things, making an untrue
or misleading change in, or untrue or misleading statement related
to, a record indicating student completion, placement, employment,
salaries, or financial information, including a specified list of
records and documents pertaining to financial reports and other
records that the institution is required to file with the bureau.
This bill would add to the list of records and documents, in which
the institution is prohibited from making an untrue or misleading
statement, records related to placement, employment, salaries, or
financial information regarding an occupation or job in an
apprenticeship program approved by the Division of Apprenticeship
Standards or a position for which the Board of Registered Nursing has
established licensure requirements.
The bill would prohibit an institution from using any job or
occupational name or description that suggests or implies that the
job or occupation is the same as, or similar to, a job or occupation
in an apprenticeable field or nursing field in documents relating to
placement, employment, salaries, or financial information, unless the
information in the document pertains exclusively to the placement,
employment, salaries, or financial information in a job or occupation
that meets specified requirements.
The bill would additionally require institutions that are
otherwise exempt from the act to comply with the existing fair
business practices provisions.
(2) The act requires private postsecondary educational
institutions to annually report to the bureau, and publish ,
various statistics including job placement rates. The act
requires job placement rates to be calculated by dividing the number
of graduates employed in the field by the number of graduates
available for employment for specified programs. The act defines
"graduates employed in the field" for the purposes of these
provisions.
This bill, with respect to occupations or jobs in an
apprenticeship program approved by the Division of Apprenticeship
Standards of the Department of Industrial Relations or a position for
which the Board of Registered Nursing has established licensure
requirements, would separately define "graduates employed in the
field" for purposes of the reporting requirements and the fair
business practices provisions of the act.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 94874.5 of the Education Code is amended to
read:
94874.5. Notwithstanding Sections 94874 and 94874.1, an
institution that is otherwise exempt from this chapter shall comply
with Sections 94927.5 and 94897 Section
94927.5 .
SEC. 2. Section 94897 of the Education Code is amended to read:
94897. An institution shall not do any of the following:
(a) Use, or allow the use of, any reproduction or facsimile of the
Great Seal of the State of California on a diploma.
(b) Promise or guarantee employment, or otherwise overstate the
availability of jobs upon graduation.
(c) Advertise concerning job availability, degree of skill, or
length of time required to learn a trade or skill unless the
information is accurate and not misleading.
(d) Advertise, or indicate in promotional material, without
including the fact that the educational programs are delivered by
means of distance education if the educational programs are so
delivered.
(e) Advertise, or indicate in promotional material, that the
institution is accredited, unless the institution has been accredited
by an accrediting agency.
(f) Solicit students for enrollment by causing an advertisement to
be published in "help wanted" columns in a magazine, newspaper, or
publication, or use "blind" advertising that fails to identify the
institution.
(g) Offer to compensate a student to act as an agent of the
institution with regard to the solicitation, referral, or recruitment
of any person for enrollment in the institution, except that an
institution may award a token gift to a student for referring an
individual, provided that the gift is not in the form of money, no
more than one gift is provided annually to a student, and the gift's
cost is not more than one hundred dollars ($100).
(h) Pay any consideration to a person to induce that person to
sign an enrollment agreement for an educational program.
(i) Use a name in a manner improperly implying any of the
following:
(1) The institution is affiliated with a government agency, public
or private corporation, agency, or association if it is not, in
fact, thus affiliated.
(2) The institution is a public institution.
(3) The institution grants degrees, if the institution does not
grant degrees.
(j) In any manner make an untrue or misleading change in, or
untrue or misleading statement related to, a test score, grade or
record of grades, attendance record, record indicating student
completion, placement, employment, salaries, or financial
information, including any of the following:
(1) A financial report filed with the bureau.
(2) Information or records relating to the student's eligibility
for student financial aid at the institution.
(3) Information or records relating to placement, employment,
salaries, or financial information relating to any occupation or job
described in subdivision (p).
(4) Any other record or document required by this chapter or by
the bureau.
(k) Willfully falsify, destroy, or conceal any document of record
while that document of record is required to be maintained by this
chapter.
(l) Use the terms "approval," "approved," "approval to operate,"
or "approved to operate" without stating clearly and conspicuously
that approval to operate means compliance with state standards as set
forth in this chapter. If the bureau has granted an institution
approval to operate, the institution may indicate that the
institution is "licensed" or "licensed to operate," but may not state
or imply either of the following:
(1) The institution or its educational programs are endorsed or
recommended by the state or by the bureau.
(2) The approval to operate indicates that the institution exceeds
minimum state standards as set forth in this chapter.
(m) Direct any individual to perform an act that violates this
chapter, to refrain from reporting unlawful conduct to the bureau or
another government agency, or to engage in any unfair act to persuade
a student not to complain to the bureau or another government
agency.
(n) Compensate an employee involved in recruitment, enrollment,
admissions, student attendance, or sales of educational materials to
students on the basis of a commission, commission draw, bonus, quota,
or other similar method related to the recruitment, enrollment,
admissions, student attendance, or sales of educational materials to
students, except as provided in paragraph (1) or (2):
(1) If the educational program is scheduled to be completed in 90
days or less, the institution shall pay compensation related to a
particular student only if that student completes the educational
program.
(2) For institutions participating in the federal student
financial aid programs, this subdivision shall not prevent the
payment of compensation to those involved in recruitment, admissions,
or the award of financial aid if those payments are in conformity
with federal regulations governing an institution's participation in
the federal student financial aid programs.
(o) Require a prospective student to provide personal contact
information in order to obtain, from the institution's Internet Web
site, educational program information that is required to be
contained in the school catalog or any information required pursuant
to the consumer information requirements of Title IV of the federal
Higher Education Act of 1965, and any amendments thereto.
(p) (1) Use a job or occupational name or description that
suggests or implies that the job or occupation is the same as, or
similar to, a job or occupation in an apprenticeable field in a
document relating to placement, employment, salaries, or financial
information, unless the information in the document pertains
exclusively to the placement, employment, salaries, or financial
information for a job or occupation that the Division of
Apprenticeship Standards of the Department of Industrial Relations
has approved as an apprenticeship program, and the job duties meet
all of the criteria for an apprenticeable job or occupation, as set
forth by the Division of Apprenticeship Standards of the Department
of Industrial Relations.
(2) Use a job or occupational name or description that suggests or
implies that the job or occupation is the same as, or similar to, a
job or occupation in a nursing field in a document relating to
placement, employment, salaries, or financial information, unless the
information in the document pertains exclusively to the placement,
employment, salaries, or financial information for a job or
occupation for which the Board of Registered Nursing has established
licensure requirements, and the job duties are within the scope of
the duties set forth in those licensure requirements.
SEC. 3. Section 94928 of the Education Code is amended to read:
94928. As used in this article, the following terms have the
following meanings:
(a) "Cohort population" means the number of students that began a
program on a cohort start date.
(b) "Cohort start date" means the first class day after the
cancellation period during which a cohort of students attends class
for a specific program.
(c) "Graduates" means the number of students who complete a
program within 100 percent of the published program length. An
institution may separately state completion information for students
completing the program within 150 percent of the original contracted
time, but that information may not replace completion information for
students completing within the original scheduled time. Completion
information shall be separately stated for each campus or branch of
the institution.
(d) "Graduates available for employment" means the number of
graduates minus the number of graduates unavailable for employment.
(e) (1) Except as provided in paragraphs (2) and (3), "graduates
employed in the field" means graduates who are gainfully employed
within six months of graduation in a position for which the skills
obtained through the education and training provided by the
institution are required or provided a significant advantage to the
graduate in obtaining the position.
(2) With respect to an occupation or job for which the Division of
Apprenticeship Standards of the Department of Industrial Relations
has approved a certified apprenticeship program, "graduates employed
in the field" means graduates who are gainfully employed for not less
than 60 days within six months of graduation in a position with job
duties meeting all of the criteria of the apprenticeable occupation
or job set forth by the Division of Apprenticeship Standards.
(3) With respect to an occupation or job for which the Board of
Registered Nursing has established licensure requirements, "graduates
employed in the field" means graduates who are gainfully employed
for not less than 60 days within six months of graduation in a
position with job duties meeting all of the criteria of the licensed
occupation or job set forth by the Board of Registered Nursing.
(f) "Graduates unavailable for employment" means graduates who,
after graduation, die, become incarcerated, are called to active
military duty, are international students that leave the United
States or do not have a visa allowing employment in the United
States, or are continuing their education at an accredited or
bureau-approved postsecondary institution.
(g) "Students available for graduation" means the cohort
population minus the number of students unavailable for graduation.
(h) "Students unavailable for graduation" means students who have
died, been incarcerated, or called to active military duty.