Bill Text: CA AB834 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Private postsecondary education: School Performance Fact
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2014-07-23 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 176, Statutes of 2014. [AB834 Detail]
Download: California-2013-AB834-Chaptered.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 834 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 176
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE JULY 23, 2014
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR JULY 23, 2014
PASSED THE SENATE JUNE 19, 2014
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY JUNE 30, 2014
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 12, 2014
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 3, 2014
AMENDED IN SENATE JANUARY 6, 2014
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 25, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 22, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 10, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Williams
FEBRUARY 21, 2013
An act to amend Section 94878 of, and to add Section 94910.5 to,
the Education Code, relating to private postsecondary education, and
declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 834, Williams. Private postsecondary education: School
Performance Fact Sheets.
Existing law, the California Private Postsecondary Education Act
of 2009, provides, among other things, for regulatory oversight of
private postsecondary schools in the state. The act is enforced by
the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education within the Department
of Consumer Affairs. The act exempts specified institutions,
including certain law schools, from all, or a portion, of its
provisions. The act requires an institution to provide a prospective
student prior to enrollment with a School Performance Fact Sheet,
which is required to contain specified information relating to the
educational program. The act requires an institution that maintains
an Internet Web site to provide, on that Internet Web site, specified
information, including a School Performance Fact Sheet for each
educational program offered by the institution.
The act authorizes an institution exempt from all or part of the
act pursuant to specified provisions to apply to the bureau for an
approval to operate subject to the act, as specified. The act
requires these institutions to provide to prospective students the
School Performance Fact Sheet, to file that fact sheet with the
bureau, and to post it on the institution's Internet Web site no
later than the first August 1 after the institution is approved to
operate and no later than August 1 of each year thereafter.
This bill would provide a law school otherwise exempt from the act
that applies to the bureau for an approval to operate subject to the
act and that meets other specified criteria with an alternate way to
satisfy the requirements of the act regarding a School Performance
Fact Sheet. Specifically, by complying with a specified standard of
the American Bar Association relating to the disclosure of consumer
information, by providing completion rates of students and placement
rates, bar passage rates, and salary and wage information of
graduates to prospective students prior to enrollment through the law
school application process administered by the Law School Admission
Council, and by providing to prospective students, at a minimum on
its Internet Web site, any additional information required to be
reported on a School Performance Fact Sheet, such a law school would
satisfy those requirements. The bill would require such a law school
to annually provide the information to the bureau and would require
the bureau to include the information on its Internet Web site.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 94878 of the Education Code is amended to read:
94878. (a) On or before June 30, 2010, the bureau shall establish
an Internet Web site that includes at least all of the following
information:
(1) An explanation of the bureau's transition plan for the
reconstituted bureau and an explanation of the bureau's scope of
authority.
(2) (A) A directory of approved institutions, and a link, if
feasible, to the Internet Web site of each institution.
(B) For each institution, the directory shall be developed in a
manner that allows the user to search by institution and shall
include all of the following information:
(i) The status of the institution's approval to operate.
(ii) The information provided by the institutions including, but
not limited to, the annual report, as required by Section 94934,
including the school catalog and the School Performance Fact Sheet.
The School Performance Fact Sheet shall be maintained on the
directory for at least five years after the date of its submission to
the bureau.
(iii) If a law school satisfies the requirements of this chapter
regarding a School Performance Fact Sheet by complying with the
requirements of Section 94910.5, the bureau shall include the
information provided by the institution pursuant to Section 94910.5
on its Internet Web site and shall maintain the information in the
same manner as required by clause (ii).
(iv) The disciplinary history of the institution, which shall
include, but shall not be limited to, all of the following:
(I) Pending formal accusations filed by the bureau.
(II) Suspensions, revocations, citations, fines, infractions,
probations, pending litigation filed by the bureau, and final
judgments resulting from litigation filed by the bureau.
(III) Pending or final criminal cases filed by the Attorney
General, a city attorney, a district attorney, or a federal law
enforcement official, of which the bureau has received notice.
(IV) Final administrative actions by the United State Department
of Education, including orders requiring restitution to students.
(V) Final disciplinary actions by an accreditation agency, of
which the bureau has received notice pursuant to Section 94934.
(b) The bureau shall maintain the Internet Web site described in
subdivision (a). The bureau shall ensure that the information
specified in subdivision (a) is kept current. The bureau shall update
the Internet Web site at least annually, to coincide with the
submission of annual reports by the institutions pursuant to Section
94934.
(c) In addition to maintaining the Internet Web site described in
subdivision (a), the bureau shall provide the information described
in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) to the California Postsecondary
Education Commission (CPEC), and the CPEC shall include that
information in an Internet Web site directory of school performance
data maintained by the CPEC. To the extent possible, the bureau shall
provide this information consistent with the information collected
for reporting to the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System
of the United States Department of Education, including institutional
characteristics, completion, annual enrollment, and graduation
rates.
SEC. 2. Section 94910.5 is added to the Education Code, to read:
94910.5. (a) Notwithstanding any other law, a law school that
meets the criteria of subdivision (b) shall be deemed to satisfy the
requirements of this chapter regarding a School Performance Fact
Sheet by doing all of the following:
(1) Complying with Standard 509 of the American Bar Association's
Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools, as that
standard may be amended.
(2) Providing completion rates of students and placement rates,
bar passage rates, and salary and wage information of graduates to
prospective students prior to enrollment through the law school
application process administered by the Law School Admission Council.
(3) (A) Providing to prospective students any additional
information required to be reported on a School Performance Fact
Sheet that is not reported pursuant to paragraphs (1) and (2),
including, but not limited to, the most recent three-year cohort
default rate reported by the United States Department of Education
for the law school and the percentage of enrolled students receiving
federal student loans.
(B) If the law school's three-year cohort default rate reported by
the United States Department of Education is aggregated with the
three-year cohort default rate of an institution to which the law
school belongs, then the law school shall provide to prospective
students the law school's three-year cohort default rate
disaggregated from the institution's three-year cohort default rate.
(C) The law school shall, at a minimum, provide the information
described in this paragraph to prospective students by clearly
posting the information in a conspicuous location on the law school's
Internet Web site.
(4) Annually providing the information required to be disclosed
pursuant to this subdivision to the bureau.
(b) Subdivision (a) shall apply to a law school that meets all of
the following criteria:
(1) The law school is accredited by the Council of the Section of
Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar of the American Bar
Association.
(2) The law school is owned by an institution authorized to
operate by the bureau.
(3) The law school reports graduate salary information and other
information to the National Association for Law Placement.
(4) The law school is approved to operate by the bureau pursuant
to Section 94874.8.
SEC. 3. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order to provide a law school with an alternate way to satisfy
the requirements of the California Private Postsecondary Act of 2009
regarding a School Performance Fact Sheet as soon as possible, it is
necessary that this act take immediate effect.
