BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2393|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2393
Author: Ammiano (D)
Amended: 6/23/10 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE BUS., PROF. & ECON. DEV. COMMITTEE : 5-2, 6/28/10
AYES: Negrete McLeod, Corbett, Correa, Florez, Yee
NOES: Aanestad, Calderon
NO VOTE RECORDED: Wyland, Walters
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 49-27, 6/1/10 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Private postsecondary educational institutions:
fair business
practices
SOURCE : Consumer Federation of California
DIGEST : This bill requires institutions subject to the
California Private Postsecondary Education Act of 2009 and
the related oversight provided by the Bureau for Private
Postsecondary Education comply with various placement rate
calculations for specified programs.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law, the Business and Professions Code :
1. Establishes the Bureau for Private Postsecondary
Education (Bureau) within the Department of Consumer
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Affairs (DCA) and provides for Bureau oversight and
regulation of California private postsecondary
institutions.
2. Creates the Board of Registered Nursing (BRN) within DCA
and provides for the licensure and regulation of
registered nurses by BRN.
Existing law, the Education Code :
1. Establishes numerous fair business practices for
institutions covered by the California Private
Postsecondary Education Act of 2009 (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. Provides 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. Requires 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. Provides 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.
Existing law, the Labor Code, creates the Division of
Apprenticeship Standards (DAS) within the Department of
Industrial Relations (DIR). Delineates state policy to
encourage the utilization of apprenticeship as a form of
on-the-job training, when such training is cost-effective
in developing skills needed to perform public services.
Specifies that state and local public agencies shall make a
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diligent effort to establish apprenticeship programs for
apprenticeable occupations in their respective work forces.
This bill:
1. Provides for the purposes of determining job placement
rates for an occupation or job for which DAS has
approved a certified apprenticeship program, that
"graduates employed in the field" shall mean "graduates
who are gainfully employed for not less than 60 days
within 6 months of graduation in a position with job
duties meeting all of the criteria of the apprenticeable
occupation or job set forth by DAS."
2. Provides for the purposes of determining job placement
rates for an occupation or job for which the Bureau of
Registered Nursing (BRN) has established licensure
requirements, that "graduates employed in the field"
shall mean graduates who are gainfully employed for not
less than 60 days within six months of passage of the
National Council of State Boards Nursing Licensure
Examination and in a position with job duties meeting
all of the criteria of the licensed occupation or job
set forth by BRN.
Background
Enactment of AB 48 (Portantino and Niello), Chapter 310,
Statutes of 2009 . After numerous legislative attempts to
remedy the laws and structure governing regulation of
private postsecondary institutions, AB 48 was enacted in
January 1, 2010, to make many substantive changes that both
created a new, solid foundation for oversight and responded
to the major problems with the Former Act. The Act as
created by AB 48 requires all unaccredited colleges in
California to be approved by the new Bureau, and all
nationally accredited colleges to comply with numerous
student protections. It also establishes prohibitions on
false advertising and inappropriate recruiting. The Act
requires disclosure of critical information to students
such as program outlines, graduation and job placement
rates, and license examination information, and ensures
colleges justify those figures. The Act also guarantees
students can complete their educational objectives if their
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institution closes its doors, and, most importantly, it
gives the Bureau an array of enforcement tools to ensure
colleges comply with the law.
Prior to the enactment of AB 48, California was without a
regulatory body for private postsecondary institutions.
The previous Bureau for Private Postsecondary Institutions
(BPPVE) sunset in July 2008, leaving approximately 1,500
private postsecondary institutions that had been previously
approved by BPPVE to operate in California without state
oversight. The former BPPVE registered approximately 700
private institutions providing short-term career/seminar
training, continuing education, intensive English language
programs, and license exam preparation courses. Those
schools had an estimated student enrollment of
approximately 400,000. Of those students, approximately
280,000 students attended non-degree-granting institutions
and the remaining 120,000 attended degree-granting
institutions. BPPVE approved institutions served a
significant portion of students seeking postsecondary
educational and vocational training services. In 2006,
BPPVE approved institutions served as many students as were
served by the entire California State University system. It
is generally believed that BPPVE institutions, especially
the vocational schools, tend to serve segments of the
population that are underserved by the traditional public
and private postsecondary education institutions.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/29/10)
Consumer Federation of California (source)
Consumer Attorneys of California
California Nurses Association
National Nurses Organizing Committee
OPPOSITION : (Verified 6/29/10)
California Association of Private Postsecondary
Institutions
California Coalition of Accredited Career Schools
Department of Consumer Affairs
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ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author's office states, that
private postsecondary vocational schools can report,
utilize, and advertise 'successful job placement' that may
not accurately reflect the placement, employment, or
financial information regarding an occupation in an
apprenticeship program approved by DAS or licensed by BRN.
Existing law utilizes a loose definition of 'successful job
placement' and currently if a course gave any benefit in
securing a position related to the coursework, even for
just a single day within the six-month period, the school
may record it as a 'successful job placement.' The
author's office believes that this bill ensures 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.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The California Association of
Private Postsecondary Schools (CAPPS) believes that this
bill is the first instance of any sector of higher
education being required to align its educational programs
with apprenticeship programs. CAPPS does not believe that
calculating the 60-day timeline is tenable and the
requirement may result in the publishing of artificially
low placement rates.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Ammiano, Arambula, Bass, Beall, Block, Blumenfield,
Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles
Calderon, Carter, Chesbro, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De
Leon, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani,
Galgiani, Hall, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman,
Jones, Lieu, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Monning,
Nava, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Ruskin, Salas,
Saldana, Skinner, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico,
Yamada, John A. Perez
NOES: Adams, Anderson, Bill Berryhill, Blakeslee, Conway,
Cook, DeVore, Emmerson, Fletcher, Fuller, Gaines,
Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman, Harkey, Jeffries, Knight,
Logue, Miller, Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, Norby, Silva,
Smyth, Tran, Villines
NO VOTE RECORDED: Tom Berryhill, Solorio, Audra
Strickland, Vacancy
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JJA:do 6/30/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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