BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2247
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 2247 (Williams)
As Amended August 4, 2014
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |78-0 |(May 15, 2014) |SENATE: |36-0 |(August 18, |
| | | | | |2014) |
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Original Committee Reference: HIGHER ED.
SUMMARY : Requires all campuses serving California students of
public and private postsecondary educational institutions that
receive state or federal financial aid funding to post
institutional accreditation documents on the institution's
website.
The Senate amendments :
1)Define "institutional accreditation documents" to mean the
visiting team reports and the institutional accreditation
agency action letters following an accreditation agency's
action relating to an initial accreditation, reaffirmation,
comprehensive review, special visit, or any sanction or
adverse action taken against an affiliated institution.
2)Require the documents to be made available to the public once
they have been made final through an action of the accrediting
agency.
3)Requires a campus or other unit of any segment of
postsecondary education whose documents are not currently
available to make all documents finalized by the accrediting
agency based on reviews that take place after July 1, 2015,
available to the public.
EXISTING LAW requires, as a condition of participation in state
financial aid programs administered by the California Student
Aid Commission, an institution to be accredited by an
accrediting agency recognized by the United States Department of
Education (USDE) and requires the Bureau for Private
Postsecondary Education to issue an approval to operate to
private institutions that are accredited by a USDE-recognized
accrediting agency.
AB 2247
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FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
COMMENTS : According to the author, California relies heavily on
accrediting agencies to ensure that colleges and universities
are providing quality educational programs for students. By
obtaining accreditation, private (including for-profit)
institutions are guaranteed the ability to operate in
California, and both public and private institutions are
provided access to billions of dollars in state and federal
financial aid funding. The state's ability to monitor the work
of accrediting agencies themselves, however, is virtually
nonexistent. This bill is aimed at ensuring a basic level of
transparency in the accreditation process by providing public
access to the substance of accreditation reviews.
Analysis Prepared by : Laura Metune / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960 FN:
0004656