BILL ANALYSIS
SB 182
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 23, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Anthony Portantino, Chair
SB 182 (Ashburn) - As Introduced: February 17, 2009
AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED (RN 09 18282)
SENATE VOTE : 26-5
SUBJECT : Community college nursing faculty.
SUMMARY : Allows temporary clinical nursing faculty at
California Community Colleges (CCC) to teach an unlimited number
of semesters or quarters within any consecutive three year
period until June 30, 2014. Specifically, this bill :
1)Expands existing law to allow temporary clinical nursing
faculty at CCC to teach an unlimited number of semesters or
quarters within any consecutive three year period until June
30, 2014 thereby allowing CCC districts to employ temporary
clinical nursing faculty for an unlimited number of
consecutive semesters through June 30, 2014.
2)Expands existing reporting requirements to require CCC
districts to report to the Chancellor by June 30, 2010, and
each year thereafter until June 30, 2012 regarding the number
of faculty hired pursuant to the aforementioned law, and
specific information regarding the ratio of full-time to
part-time faculty.
3)Expands existing reporting requirements to require the CCC
Chancellor to report to the Legislature and the Governor by
September 30, 2010, and each year thereafter until September
30, 2012, regarding the number of CCC districts that hired
faculty pursuant to the aforementioned law, and the ratio of
full-time to part-time faculty for these CCC districts.
4)Provides that a CCC district may employ temporary clinical
nursing faculty even if the hiring of such faculty results in
an increase in the ratio of part-time to full-time nursing
faculty in that CCC district.
5)Excludes the hours of instruction taught by part-time and
full-time clinical nursing faculty from the calculation of the
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percentage of hours of credit instruction taught and from the
minimum standards established by the CCC Board of Governors
(BOG) regarding the percentage of hours of credit instruction
that is required to be taught by full-time instructors.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Limits temporary clinical nursing faculty at CCC to teaching
four semesters or six quarters in any three-year period until
June 30, 2014. After June 30, 2014, temporary clinical
nursing faculty at CCC are limited to teaching two semesters
in any three-year period.
2)Requires the CCC Chancellor to report to the Legislature and
the Governor by September 30, 2012, regarding the number of
CCC districts that hired faculty pursuant to the
aforementioned law, and the ratio of full-time to part-time
faculty for these CCC districts.
3)Prohibits a CCC district from hiring temporary clinical
nursing faculty if such hiring results in an increase in the
ratio of part-time to full-time nursing faculty in that CCC
district.
4)Establishes legislative intent that at least 75% of the credit
hours taught at CCC districts be taught by full-time
instructors, requires CCC BOG to adopt regulations to
establish minimum standards regarding the appropriate
percentage of credit instruction that should be taught by
full-time instructors, and requires the CCC Chancellor to
calculate specified information relative to credit instruction
hours taught by part-time and full-time faculty.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : California shortage of nursing faculty : According to
the Board of Registered Nursing 2007-08 Annual School Report,
"expansion in Registered Nurse (RN) education has required
nursing programs to hire more faculty to teach the growing
number of students. Although the number of nursing faculty has
grown by 87.3% since 2000-2001, faculty hires have not kept pace
with the growth in California pre-licensure nursing programs.
In 2007-2008, 170 faculty vacancies were reported, representing
a faculty vacancy rate of 4.7%. Although this vacancy rate is
the lowest reported in four years, RN programs will not be able
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to continue their expansion without more faculty."
CCC nursing education programs : According to the CCC
Chancellor's Office (CCCCO) Report on Nursing Education Programs
released in April of 2009, there are 74 CCC campuses currently
operating RN programs, enrolling a total of 13,047
full-time-equivalent students. Enrollments have increased by
about 48% over the last three to four years due to the
development of new programs, and expansion of enrollment
capacity through partnerships with the health care industry, and
federal and state funded programs and grants.
The numbers of temporary CCC nursing faculty has grown in recent
years, while at the same time the number of tenured/tenure track
faculty has remained relatively stagnant. According to
information provided by the CCCCO, in the Fall term of 2002,
there were 571 (52.6%) tenured/tenure track faculty and 515
temporary nursing faculty. By the Fall 2007 term, the number of
tenured/tenure track faculty had dropped to 552 (41.7%) while
the number of temporary nursing faculty grew to 772 (58.3%).
This growth in temporary nursing faculty can largely be
attributed to enrollment expansion efforts funded by grants.
Purpose of this bill : According to the author, this bill seeks
to alleviate the nursing shortage by assisting CCC in the
recruitment and retention of nursing faculty. This bill will
remove limitations on the number of semesters that part-time
clinical nursing faculty are permitted to teach. These changes
will allow CCC nursing programs to better recruit and retain
clinical nursing faculty. Without this bill, nursing programs
statewide will have to lay-off clinical nursing faculty. This
bill applies only to nursing programs, is further limited to
clinical instructors and is subject to the sunset already in
statute (June 30, 2014).
Appropriate timing of this bill : SB 1309 (Scott), Chapter 837,
Statutes of 2006, increased, until June 30, 2014, the number of
semesters in a three year period, from two semesters to four
semesters, that temporary part-time clinical nursing faculty are
allowed to teach, provided that it does not result in an
increase in the ratio of part-time to full-time nursing faculty
in the CCC district. The CCC Chancellor is required to submit
to the Legislature by September 30, 2012, a report detailing the
numbers of faculty hired under this statute and the ratio of
full-time to part-time faculty in the CCC districts. CCC
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districts are just ending the second full academic year under
these new provisions. In light of this, the committee may wish
to consider if this bill is premature.
Related legislation : AB 492 (Conway), pending in the Senate,
expands existing law to allow temporary clinical nursing faculty
at CCC to teach an unlimited number of semesters or quarters
within any period of three consecutive years until June 30,
2014.
SB 1620 (Ashburn) of 2008, which failed passage in the Assembly
Appropriations, would have allowed temporary clinical nursing
faculty at three CCC districts, as selected by the Chancellor of
the CCC, to teach an unlimited number of semesters between July
1, 2009 and June 30, 2012.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Hospital Association
Community College League of California
Kern Community College District
Los Angeles Community College District
Opposition
California Federation of Teachers
California Labor Federation
California Nurses Association
California Teachers Association
Faculty Association of California Community Colleges
Analysis Prepared by : Laura Metune / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960