Bill Text: CA AB2136 | 2025-2026 | Regular Session | Introduced

California Assembly Bill 2136

Introduced

Bill Title: Community colleges: baccalaureate degree program: Cerritos Community College District.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2)

Status: (Introduced) 2026-04-21 - In committee: Set, first hearing. Testimony taken. [AB2136 Detail]

Download: California-2025-AB2136-Introduced.html

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 2136

Introduced by Assembly Member Pacheco
(Coauthor: Senator Archuleta)

February 18, 2026

An act to add Article 3.2 (commencing with Section 78045) to Chapter 1 of Part 48 of Division 7 of Title 3 of the Education Code, relating to community colleges.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 2136, as introduced, Pacheco. Community colleges: baccalaureate degree program: Cerritos Community College District.

Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Existing law establishes community college districts throughout the state and authorizes them to provide instruction at the campuses they operate. Existing law authorizes the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, in consultation with the California State University and the University of California, to authorize the establishment of community college district baccalaureate degree programs, as provided.

This bill would authorize the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges to authorize the Cerritos Community College District to offer up to 3 applied baccalaureate degree programs in the fields of public safety management, paralegal studies, and automotive technology. The bill would require each baccalaureate degree program to be designed to meet documented regional workforce demand and developed in consultation with employers, labor organizations, and workforce development partners, and meet specified requirements. The bill would require the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to monitor the baccalaureate degree programs and would authorize the chancellor to report outcomes to the Legislature, as provided.

This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Cerritos Community College District.

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) Cerritos Community College District serves a major workforce region in southeast Los Angeles County, and its boundaries do not contain a campus of the California State University or University of California systems. As a result, residents seeking to pursue a locally accessible baccalaureate degree must commute outside the district, creating geographic, financial, and logistical barriers to baccalaureate degree attainment for working adults, first-generation college students, and low-income students.

(b) The region served by Cerritos Community College District includes communities that experience lower rates of baccalaureate degree attainment and higher concentrations of working adults, first-generation college students, and low-income households for whom affordable and locally accessible baccalaureate education is essential to upward economic mobility.

(c) Labor market analyses for the County of Los Angeles demonstrate substantial unmet demand for mid- and high-skill occupations that increasingly require baccalaureate-level credentials, including public safety management and administration, legal services, and advanced automotive and transportation technology.

(d) Employers in public safety, legal services, and advanced transportation and automotive industries report persistent shortages of qualified workers with baccalaureate-level preparation, constraining regional economic growth, emergency preparedness, public safety operations, and community resilience.

(e) California’s community colleges have demonstrated the capacity to deliver high-quality, workforce-aligned baccalaureate degree programs through the California Community Colleges Baccalaureate Degree Program, which integrates applied instruction, employer partnerships, and work-based learning.

(f) Cerritos College operates nationally recognized career education programs with strong employer partnerships, high job placement outcomes, and established associate degree pathways that directly align with documented regional workforce demand.

(g) Cerritos Community College District maintains deep and sustained partnerships with organized labor, public safety agencies, employers, workforce boards, and regional economic development agencies that uniquely position it to deliver applied baccalaureate degrees in fields of demonstrated labor market need.

(h) Expanding access to applied baccalaureate degree programs at Cerritos College will increase educational attainment, accelerate workforce mobility, and strengthen the regional economy while providing an affordable and locally accessible pathway to a baccalaureate degree.

(i) It is therefore in the interest of the state to authorize Cerritos Community College District to offer a limited number of applied baccalaureate degree programs aligned with regional workforce demand.

SEC. 2.

Article 3.2 (commencing with Section 78045) is added to Chapter 1 of Part 48 of Division 7 of Title 3 of the Education Code, to read:

Article 3.2. Cerritos Community College District Baccalaureate Degree Programs

78045.

Notwithstanding any other law, the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges may authorize Cerritos Community College District to offer up to three applied baccalaureate degree programs pursuant to this article.

78045.1.

(a) The applied baccalaureate degree programs authorized pursuant to this article shall be limited to the following fields:

(1) Public safety management.

(2) Paralegal studies.

(3) Automotive technology.

(b) Each baccalaureate degree program authorized pursuant to this article shall be designed to meet documented regional workforce demand and shall be developed in consultation with employers, labor organizations, and workforce development partners.

(1) Be built upon an existing associate degree or career education pathway offered by Cerritos Community College District.

(2) Maintain an active employer advisory committee that includes industry and labor representatives.

(3) Demonstrate labor market demand and wage mobility outcomes for program graduates.

(4) Incorporate work-based learning, applied instruction, or industry-aligned experiential learning.

(5) Align with regional economic development strategies and workforce plans.

(6) Be self-supporting and funded through existing apportionment, fee authority, and other available funding sources.

(d) The Chancellor of the California Community Colleges shall monitor the baccalaureate degree programs authorized pursuant to this article and may report outcomes to the Legislature, including, but not limited to:

(1) Enrollment.

(2) Completion.

(3) Employment placement.

(4) Wage outcomes.

SEC. 3.

The Legislature finds and declares that a special statute is necessary and that a general statute cannot be made applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution because of the unique regional workforce partnerships, labor integration, program readiness, and demonstrated economic mobility outcomes of Cerritos Community College District.