Copyright© 2006 by School Services of California, Inc.

                                      Volume 19                   For Publication Date: August 18, 2006             No. 18

Update on Pending Bills Affecting Community Colleges 

These are several bills that we have reported on in previous editions of the Update as awaiting action in the appropriation committees of the two houses. The Legislature reconvened beginning last week, so below is an update on the status of each of the bills. 

Admissions 

AB 2050 (Canciamilla, D-Pittsburg), which carries with it a 180-minute-minimum-school-day requirement, would require the attendance of a pupil enrolled in community college for vocational or occupational courses that simultaneously satisfy high school graduation requirements be computed and reported as attendance for the full 240-minute minimum school day. Current Status: Held in Senate Appropriations 

SB 1303 (Runner, R-Lancaster) would exempt from the specified 5% K-12 student enrollment cap a pupil recommended by his or her principal for enrollment in a college-level advanced scholastic summer session course or in a vocational community college summer session course. Current Status: Passed Assembly Appropriations 

SB 1563 (Escutia, D-Whittier) would establish a Community College Early Assessment Pilot Program for the purpose of providing high school students with an indicator of their readiness for college-level English and mathematics at the end of grade 11 and allowing high schools to work with students in grade 12 to elevate the skills of these students to a level expected of first-time community college freshmen students. Current Status: Passed Assembly Appropriations 

SB 1546 (Alarcon, D-Los Angeles) would authorize a community college district to establish and offer to students a course of study leading to the concurrent award of the associate degree and a high school diploma. Current Status: Assembly Floor 

Career-Technical and Vocational Programs 

AB 993 (Canciamilla, D-Pittsburg) would require the Board of Governors to incorporate an energy management resources and training center into an existing Economic and Workforce Development Program initiative. Current Status: Senate Floor 

SB 1309 (Scott, D-Altadena) would establish the Health Science and Medical Technology Project and other initiatives to expand the capacity of the state’s institutions of higher education to prepare students for nursing careers. Current Status: Passed Assembly Appropriations 

SB 1552 (Scott, D-Altadena) would extend the Economic and Workforce Development Program through January 1, 2013. Current Status: Passed Assembly Appropriations 

Employment 

AB 2293 (Nava, D-Santa Barbara) would authorize the assessment of a penalty against an employer if it is found that the employer or any employee, officer, or agent of that employer, in submitting facts concerning the termination of a claimant’s employment where the claimant was performing services for an educational institution, willfully makes a false statement or representation or willfully fails to report a material fact regarding any week during which the services were performed or any time granted to the claimant for professional development during his or her employment with that employer. Current Status: To Governor 

SB 1465 (Soto, D-Pomona) would make technical changes affecting STRS members, one of which is to allow STRS to use criteria to help establish base hours for certain part-time community college members. Current Status: Passed Assembly Appropriations 

Facilities 

AB 162 (Leslie, R-Tahoe City) proposes a voluntary alternative collaborative plan review and approval process through the State Architect for community college building plans. Current Status: Senate Floor 

AB 1286 (Evans, D-Santa Rosa) extends the provisions of AB 1492 (Chapter 363/2005), which granted community college districts the authority to request the Controller to withhold from their apportionments the funds necessary to satisfy their annual payment obligations specifically for energy efficiency improvements. This process, whereby funding is intercepted by the Controller, who then directly pays bond holders, can help community college districts secure lower interest rates on bonds and loans. Current Status: Passed Senate Appropriations 

AB 2951 (Goldberg, D-Los Angeles) would revise the term “public utility service.” The bill would, except with respect to the imposition of a capital facilities fee on a school district, county office of education, community college district, the California State University, the University of California, or a state agency, require a public agency that provides public utility service to only charge a public agency rates, charges, surcharges, or fees that are determined on the basis of the same objective criteria and methodology applicable to comparable nonpublic users. Current Status: Passed Senate Appropriations 

ACR 118 (Canciamilla, D-Pittsburg) would declare that current space standards of the California Community Colleges, as set forth in the California Code of Regulations, are obsolete and should be rescinded immediately. The measure would express legislative intent that the Chancellor, in consultation with the Director of Finance and the California Postsecondary Education Commission, develop those guidelines. Current Status: Held in Senate Appropriations 

SB 1290 (Ducheny, D-San Diego) would require that each school building on a community college campus constructed, reconstructed, modified, or expanded on or after January 1, 2007, be built in accordance with the Field Act or according to the California Building Standards Code, as adopted by the California Building Standards Commission. Current Status: Senate Floor Concurrence

SB 1304 (Runner, R-Lancaster) would authorize state funds provided for the capital outlay financing needs of the community colleges be used to acquire an existing government owned or privately owned building and for the necessary costs of converting that building to community college use. The bill would provide that a community college district that is eligible for state funding for capital outlay financing may purchase such a building and convert it to community college use with state funds if it meets specified criteria. Current Status: To Governor

SB 1652 (Vincent, D-Inglewood) would revise the provision relating to leases for a period not to exceed five separate or consecutive calendar days or portions of those days, to instead authorize the lease of property not needed for school classroom buildings for a period not to exceed 14 separate or consecutive calendar days, or portions of those days, in each fiscal year. Current Status: To Governor 

Faculty/Instruction  

AB 1943 (Nava, D-Santa Barbara) would authorize community college district governing boards to offer credit courses of instruction without the approval of the Board of Governors only under conditions authorized by regulations adopted by the board of governors. Current Status: Assembly Floor Concurrence 

Funding/Finance 

AB 1402 (Blakeslee, R-San Luis Obispo) would backfill shortfalls in estimated property taxes for community colleges if the projected amount falls below the amount projected in the Budget Act. This bill would require the Controller to transfer additional general fund money to backfill the revenue shortfall. Current Status: This bill now deals with “Community Care Facilities” (see “By the Way” in this issue) 

SB 361 (Scott, D-Altadena), the bill to implement the new funding formula and equalization for community colleges, was amended. Amendments included specifying that the new funding formula is to be implemented effective October 1, 2006, for the 2006-07 year, and adjusting the per-FTES amounts to reflect the 2006-07 general apportionment COLA. Current Status: Passed Assembly Appropriations 

Governance 

SB 709 (Speier, D-Hillsborough) as amended, would add the Lieutenant Governor to the Board of Governors (BOG) of the California Community Colleges as an ex officio, voting member. Current Status: Failed Assembly Appropriations 

SB 1181 (Maldonado, R-Santa Maria) would request the University of California, and require the California State University and the California Community Colleges, on or before March 1 of each year, to prepare and submit to the Chairperson of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, the Chairpersons of the appropriate legislative budget subcommittees, and the Director of Finance a report on the total compensation of specified executive-level and senior-level administrative positions at both the systemwide and campus levels (with respect to the community colleges, at the systemwide level only), the policies for setting and adjusting compensation and approving transfer agreements, separation agreements, and settlement agreements for all employees, and mechanisms in place to ensure compliance with compensation policies and any sanctions administered for breach of compliance. Current Status: Held in Assembly Appropriations 

Student Services 

AB 473 (Liu, La Canada Flintridge) would require the Board of Governors to develop a rational and transparent student affordability policy for recommending adjustments in student financial aid levels and mandatory systemwide resident student fees that are consistent with prescribed student fee principles. This bill would extend the provisions for extended eligibility for exemptions from nonresident tuition for victims of the Katrina Hurricane. AB 473 would also affect the audit fee, setting it at 150% of the per-unit student fee charged students who enroll in the course for credit. Current Status: Passed Senate Appropriations 

AB 1399 (Garcia, R-Cathedral City) would add children of California National Guard members who have ever been, at any time, called into active service or who are in active service, to the existing selection criteria that give applicants for competitive Cal Grant A and Cal Grant B awards additional consideration. Current Status: Held in Senate Appropriations 

AB 1968 (Leslie, R-Tahoe City) would authorize the governing board of a community college district to adopt rules and regulations to exempt low income students from transportation fees or to require low-income students to pay all or part of this fee. The bill would also prohibit the governing board of a community college district from entering into or extending a contract with a transit system unless a majority of the students of that community college district who vote in an election have approved the payment of the fee for this purpose. Current Status: Assembly Floor Concurrence 

AB 2581 (Yee, D-San Francisco) would prohibit any administrator of any campus of a higher education institution from making or enforcing any rule subjecting a student to disciplinary sanction solely on the basis of conduct, speech, or other communication that, when engaged in outside a campus, is protected from governmental restriction by specified provisions of the California Constitution or the United States Constitution. This bill would also prohibit its provisions from being construed to authorize any prior restraint of the student press. Current Status: To Governor 

SB 160 (Cedilla, D-Los Angeles) would require the Board of Governors for the California Community College system to provide educational access opportunities to students who are U.S. citizens, permanent residents of other states, and those persons without lawful immigration status by extending to them state and segmental financial aid assistance including, but not limited to, the Board of Governor Fee Waiver. Current Status: Passed Assembly Appropriations

Transfer and Articulation 

SB 652 (Scott, D-Altadena) would add a provision to the Donahue Higher Education Act that requests the University of California to address deficiencies in the articulation of major preparation courses between the community colleges and the campuses of UC to make it easier for prospective transfer students to identify which community college courses meet major preparation requirements across the various campuses of the university. The bill would request UC to identify commonalities and differences in similar majors across all UC campuses in order to accomplish specified goals. The bill would request UC to annually review, and update as appropriate, the lower-division transfer paths and articulation to ensure that they reflect current UC campus degree requirements and community college curricula. Current Status: Assembly Floor

—Sheila G. Vickers