BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Carol Liu, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 2736
AUTHOR: Assembly Higher Education Committee
AMENDED: June 9, 2014
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: June 18, 2014
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Kathleen Chavira
SUBJECT : Postsecondary Education.
SUMMARY
This bill authorizes the California State University
Trustees to fix a voluntary fee, as defined, for voluntary
membership in the statewide student organization, and makes
several corrections and changes to various provisions of
the Education Code affecting the California State
University.
BACKGROUND
Current law authorizes a student body organization to be
established at any state university under the supervision
of the university officials and outlines the activities
which may be undertaken by the organization. Current law
also authorizes the CSU trustees to fix fees for voluntary
membership in the student organization.
Current law requires the trustees to fix a membership fee
to be required of all students attending the university, if
a student body organization is established upon the
favorable vote of two-thirds of the students voting. Once
approved, the trustees may approve an increase or decrease
in the fee only if such has been approved by a majority of
students voting and provides that these fees be a
prerequisite to enrollment at the university, as specified.
Current law prohibits this fee from being charged to
students registering solely in extension classes.
Current law authorizes the expenditure of these fees to
provide for the support of governmental affairs
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representatives who may be attending upon the State
Legislature or the offices and agencies of the executive
branch of state government. (Education Code � 89300)
Current law establishes the CSU Board of Trustees and
specifies its composition. Current law provides for two
student representatives on the Board and requires that the
Governor appoint the students from a list of names provided
by the governing board of any statewide student
organization that represents the students of the CSU and
the student body organizations of the campuses of the CSU.
(Education Code � 66602)
ANALYSIS
This bill :
1) Authorizes the CSU trustees to fix fees for voluntary
membership in the statewide student organization.
2) Defines that the fee for membership in a student
organization is voluntary if a student has the ability
to affirmatively elect to pay the fee, or to decline
the payment of the fee each time the fee is assessed.
3) Makes several non-controversial changes and
corrections to existing Education Code provisions.
It:
a) Changes the date by which an
ongoing Legislative Analyst's Office report on
the California State University (CSU) Early Start
Program must be delivered from January 1 to July
1, beginning in 2016, and extends the sunset date
of these provisions from January 1, 2018 to July
1, 2018.
b) Deletes irrelevant reporting
requirements relative to the CSU authority to
offer the Doctorate of Nursing Practice (DNP) and
sunsets the reporting requirement in January 1,
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2021.
c) Changes the due date of a
statutorily required report disclosing the
acceptance of any gift of personal property by
the CSU Trustees from January 5 to January 31,
annually.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Technical changes . This bill makes several technical
changes to provisions of the Education Code affecting
the CSU. The bill makes the following three changes:
Section 1 . To address concerns regarding the large
number of incoming freshmen at the CSU requiring
remediation, Executive Order 1048 was issued in 2010,
creating the Early Start Program. Entering freshmen
not proficient in math or "at risk" in English are
required to start the remediation process before their
first term at CSU. Students are given a menu of
options to determine the best approach to start their
remedial instruction, including senior year high
school courses, courses offered in the summer at any
one of their local California Community College (CCC)
or CSU campuses and online courses. Legislation
enacted in 2012 (AB 2497, Solorio), required the
CSU to work with the LAO on an ongoing series of
reports showing the impact of CSU's Early Start
Program on students needing remediation. Currently,
the law requires a report be submitted on January 1,
2014, and then subsequently every two years after
that. According to the CSU, requiring the report in
January does not allow sufficient time to ensure that
data for the current year is reviewed and prepared for
transmission to the LAO. This bill moves the
reporting deadline, to July 1, beginning in 2016, to
ensure LAO can base its report on the most recent
program data. The bill also makes conforming changes
to related sunset provisions.
Section 2 . CSU was granted the authority to establish
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a Doctorate of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree pilot
program at three campuses in 2010 (AB 867, Nava,
Chapter 416). The CSU is also required, in
collaboration with LAO and the Department Of Finance,
to conduct a statewide evaluation of these pilot
programs by January 1, 2017. Compromise on the bill
came together in the final hours of session and the
evaluation requirements were taken from prior
legislation authorizing and requiring the evaluation
of the newly granted CSU authority to offer an EdD
degree. As a result, some of the language in the DNP
report is unrelated to the pilot program. This bill
deletes language that requires reporting on public
school and community college program partners, and
sunsets the reporting requirement provisions on
January 1, 2021.
Section 3 . Current law authorizes the CSU Trustees to
accept, on behalf of the state, gifts or donations of
real or personal property, as specified. These
"gifts" are required to be annually reported to the
California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC),
the Joint Legislative Budget Committee and the
Department of Finance by January 5. The CSU has been
consistently late in reporting this information
because the Trustees must review and approve the
report at their annual January meeting prior to
releasing the report to the specified entities. The
Trustees meeting schedule does not permit the report
to be released by the January 5 deadline. In
addition, the Governor's veto of funding for CPEC
resulted in the closure of the CPEC office in November
2011. This bill moves the due date for this annual
report from January 5 to January 31, and provides that
the report may continue to go to CPEC or to a
successor agency to the CPEC.
2) Why the change in fee authority ? In March 2014, the
California State Student Association (CSSA), the
recognized statewide student organization for
California State University students, requested the
establishment of a systemwide voluntary fee to fund
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their programs and activities. Currently, CSSA is
dependent on a voluntary portion of membership fees
collected by the 23 local student associations, which
has been augmented in recent years by an annual
allocation of the Chancellor's Office.
According to the Board of Trustees agenda item,
authorization of a voluntary student fee would create
a long-term, stable revenue stream to fully implement
student participation, enable the CSSA to establish a
higher degree of financial independence from the CSU
system and allow students the individual choice to
contribute financially to statewide student
representation.
According to the CSU, current law clearly grants the
Trustees the authority to establish a voluntary
membership at a state university, but there is a need
to clarify the Trustees' authority to establish a
voluntary fee at the systemwide level, before they can
act on the California State Student Association (CSSA)
request. This bill proposes that clarification by
specifically authorizing the Trustees to establish a
"voluntary" fee for the purposes of funding the
statewide student organization.
3) How does the current voluntary fee work ? Current law
authorizes the CSU trustees to fix a fee for voluntary
membership in a student organization at a campus
subject to the following:
a) The fee is voluntary to the extent that
it may only be fixed if two-thirds of the
students voting in an election for this purpose
elect the fee.
b) Once voted, the trustees are required to
fix a membership fee which is required of all
students, other than those enrolled solely in
extension classes.
c) Increases or decreases so the fee may
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only be approved by the trustees if approved by a
majority of voting students.
d) Payment of these fees is required to be a
prerequisite to enrollment, with exceptions for
students who work off the fee, as specified.
1) How is the new fee supposed to work ? According to the
sponsor, the new fee authorized by the bill is
expected to operate differently from the current fee
for campus level student organizations.
For the statewide student organization:
a) The Trustees are authorized to fix a
voluntary membership fee for the statewide
student organization.
b) A student has the ability to affirmatively
elect to pay the fee, or a clear and unambiguous
means to decline payment of the fee, each time
the fee is assessed.
As currently drafted, the bill does not clearly
distinguish between existing fee authority to fund
campus student organizations, and the requirements to
be met to fund the newly authorized voluntary fee to
fund the statewide student organization. In addition,
though not the intent, it appears to establish a new
mandatory fee. According to the sponsor, the
modifications to current law are intended to clarify
and distinguish between
the voluntary fee established by the bill and the
existing authority to establish a campus based fee.
Staff recommends the bill be amended to create a new
subdivision which authorizes the voluntary fee for the
statewide student organization, and clarifies that for
this purpose, a student shall have the ability to
elect to pay the fee or opt out of paying the fee,
each time it is assessed.
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2) Need for clearer cross reference . This bill
identifies the statewide student organization at the
CSU by cross referencing statute that establishes the
organization's role in appointing a student
representative to the CSU Board of Trustees. Staff
recommends the bill be amended to replace the cross
reference with "the statewide student organization
that represents the students of the California State
University and the student body organizations of the
campuses of the California State University."
3) CSU fees . Below is a summary of the types of fees
which the CSU system and or a CSU campus may levy.
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SUPPORT
California State Student Association
California State University
OPPOSITION
None received.