BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2393
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 20, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Marty Block, Chair
AB 2393 (Ammiano) - As Amended: April 5, 2010
SUBJECT : Private postsecondary educational institutions: fair
business practices.
SUMMARY : Would require institutions subject to the Private
Postsecondary Education Act of 2009 (Act) and the related
oversight provided by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary
Education (Bureau) to comply with various fair business
practices and placement rate calculations for specified
programs. Specifically, this bill :
1)Would specify that institutions are prohibited from making any
untrue or misleading statement related to placement,
employment, salaries, or financial information for any
occupation or job that the Division of Apprenticeship
Standards (DAS) of the Department of Industrial Relations
(DIR) has approved as an internship program or for which the
Board of Registered Nursing (BRN) has established licensure
requirements.
2)Would prohibit an institution from using 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
a job or occupation that DAS has approved as an apprenticeship
program.
3)Would prohibit an institution from using 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 a job or
occupation for which BRN has established licensure
requirements and the job duties are within the scope of duties
set forth in the licensure requirements.
4)Would provide that, for the purposes of determining job
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placement rates for an occupation or job for which DAS has
approved a certified apprenticeship program, "graduates
employed in the field" shall mean 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
DAS.
5)Would provide that, for the purposes of determining job
placement rates for an occupation or job for which BRN has
established licensure requirements, "graduates employed in the
field" shall mean 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 BRN.
EXISTING LAW : AB 48 (Portantino), Chapter 310, Statutes of
2009, established the Act, created the Bureau within the
Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA), and provided for Bureau
oversight and regulation of specified California private
postsecondary institutions, including:
1)Establishing numerous fair business practices for institutions
covered by the Act, including prohibiting an institution from
promising employment or otherwise overstating the availability
of jobs or making untrue or misleading statements regarding
student completion, placement or expected salary rates.
2)Providing that, for career fields that require licensure by
the state, institutions offering educational programs must
have approval to conduct that educational program from the
applicable licensing entity.
3)Requiring institutions covered by the Act to provide
prospective students a School Performance Fact Sheet
containing completion rates, placement rates, license
examination passage rates and salary and wage information.
4)Providing that, for the purposes of determining placement
rates, "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.
AB 2393
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FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. This bill has been keyed non-fiscal by
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS : Double-referral : This bill has been double-referred
to the Assembly Business and Professions Committee.
Purpose of this bill : According to the author, under existing
law, private postsecondary schools can report and advertise
successful job placement rates that may not accurately reflect
the placement rates for apprenticeship programs approved by DAS
or nursing programs licensed by BRN. This bill is intended to
establish minimum requirements for the reporting of successful
placements for apprenticeship and nursing jobs.
Untrue and misleading statements . As previously outlined in
this analysis, existing law prohibits institutions from making
untrue or misleading statements regarding completion rates, job
availability, or job placements. This bill would prohibit
claims specific to nursing and apprenticeship programs. There
is no reason that the broader provisions of existing law
wouldn't cover untrue or misleading claims relating to nursing
or apprenticeship programs. The changes proposed in this
section of the bill do not appear necessary to ensure the Bureau
is able to take actions against schools making untrue or
misleading statements regarding nursing or apprenticeship
programs. The Committee may wish to consider deleting this
language.
Narrowing the jobs that can be counted in placement rates : This
bill would specify that for specific apprenticeship and nursing
programs, graduates counted as employed in the field must be
employed in positions or jobs with duties meeting criteria set
fort by DAS or BRN, as applicable. Existing law requires, in
order to be counted towards placement rates, graduates be
employed in positions 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. The additional limitations on counting graduate
placements, as proposed in this bill, could ensure that
prospective students receive an accurate accounting of the
number of former graduates who gained employment in the actual
jobs for which they were trained.
Requiring graduates to be employed for 60 days . This bill would
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require that graduates counted as employed in nursing and
apprenticeship fields be employed for at least 60 days within
six months of graduation. Existing law requires that graduates
be employed within six months of graduation but does not require
that the graduate remain employed for 60 days. As approved by
this Committee, AB 48 contained the 60 day requirement; however,
it was removed at the request of the Senate Business and
Professions Committee, which argued that the requirement would
be burdensome to students, who would have to report all of their
job changes, and could result in harassment of students by
schools trying to obtain the data. This bill would establish
different employment timeline standards for nursing and
apprenticeship placements versus other job placements. The
Committee may wish to consider removing the 60 day employment
timeline standard.
Arguments in support : The Consumer Federation of California
(CFC) argues that current law does not include any truth in
advertising standard to limit the wildly inflated student
success claims of some proprietary institutions. The California
Nurses Association (CNA) argues that some private postsecondary
institutions inflate their nursing placement success rates by
including individuals employed in health facilities, even if the
individual is not employed as a registered nurse, which gives
prospective students a misleading sense of their employment
opportunities. CFC and CNA believe that this bill will ensure
that students are fully informed about the limitations of
advertised coursework and their real employment chances upon
graduation.
Arguments in opposition : The California Association of Private
Postsecondary Schools opposes this bill and argues that the
changes proposed in this bill would add unneeded complexity and
confusion to the existing Act.
Related legislation : AB 1889 (Portantino), which was recently
approved by the Assembly Higher Education Committee and is
currently pending in the Assembly Appropriations Committee,
provides for substantive changes and technical cleanup to the
Act.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
AB 2393
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California Nurses Association
Consumer Federation of California
Faculty Association of California Community Colleges
Opposition
Accredited Out of State Colleges and Universities in California
California Association of Private Postsecondary Schools
Analysis Prepared by : Laura Metune / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960