California Assembly Bill AB2393 Introduced / Bill

 BILL NUMBER: AB 2393INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Ammiano FEBRUARY 19, 2010 An act to amend Sections 94874.5, 94897, and 94928 of the Education Code, relating to private postsecondary education. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 2393, as introduced, Ammiano. Private postsecondary educational institutions: fair business practices. (1) The California Private Postsecondary Education Act of 2009 provides for the regulation of private postsecondary educational institutions, with exceptions, by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education. The act exempts various institutions from compliance with the provisions of the act, except that those otherwise exempt institutions are required to provide the bureau with specified records and other information prior to closure. The act requires private postsecondary educational institutions to comply with various fair business practices and prohibits an institution from, among other things, making an untrue or misleading change in, or untrue or misleading statement related to, a record indicating student completion, placement, employment, salaries, or financial information, including a specified list of records and documents pertaining to financial reports and other records that the institution is required to file with the bureau. This bill would add to the list of records and documents, in which the institution is prohibited from making an untrue or misleading statement, records related to placement, employment, salaries, or financial information regarding an occupation or job in an apprenticeship program approved by the Division of Apprenticeship Standards or a position for which the Board of Registered Nursing has established licensure requirements. The bill would prohibit an institution from using any job or occupational name or description that suggests or implies that the job or occupation is the same as, or similar to, a job or occupation in an apprenticeable field or nursing field in documents relating to placement, employment, salaries, or financial information, unless the information in the document pertains exclusively to the placement, employment, salaries, or financial information in a job or occupation that meets specified requirements. The bill would additionally require institutions that are otherwise exempt from the act to comply with the existing fair business practices provisions. (2) The act requires private postsecondary educational institutions to annually report to the bureau, and publish, various statistics including job placement rates. The act requires job placement rates to be calculated by dividing the number of graduates employed in the field by the number of graduates available for employment for specified programs. The act defines "graduates employed in the field" for the purposes of these provisions. This bill, with respect to occupations or jobs in an apprenticeship program approved by the Division of Apprenticeship Standards of the Department of Industrial Relations or a position for which the Board of Registered Nursing has established licensure requirements, would separately define "graduates employed in the field" for purposes of the reporting requirements and the fair business practices provisions of the act. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 94874.5 of the Education Code is amended to read: 94874.5. Notwithstanding Sections 94874 and 94874.1, an institution that is otherwise exempt from this chapter shall comply with  the requirements of Section   Sections  94927.5  and 94897  . SEC. 2. Section 94897 of the Education Code is amended to read: 94897. An institution shall not do any of the following: (a) Use, or allow the use of, any reproduction or facsimile of the Great Seal of the State of California on a diploma. (b) Promise or guarantee employment, or otherwise overstate the availability of jobs upon graduation. (c) Advertise concerning job availability, degree of skill, or length of time required to learn a trade or skill unless the information is accurate and not misleading. (d) Advertise, or indicate in promotional material, without including the fact that the educational programs are delivered by means of distance education if the educational programs are so delivered. (e) Advertise, or indicate in promotional material, that the institution is accredited, unless the institution has been accredited by an accrediting agency. (f) Solicit students for enrollment by causing an advertisement to be published in "help wanted" columns in a magazine, newspaper, or publication, or use "blind" advertising that fails to identify the institution. (g) Offer to compensate a student to act as an agent of the institution with regard to the solicitation, referral, or recruitment of any person for enrollment in the institution, except that an institution may award a token gift to a student for referring an individual, provided that the gift is not in the form of money, no more than one gift is provided annually to a student, and the gift's cost is not more than one hundred dollars ($100). (h) Pay any consideration to a person to induce that person to sign an enrollment agreement for an educational program. (i) Use a name in  any   a manner improperly implying any of the following: (1) The institution is affiliated with  any   a  government agency, public or private corporation, agency, or association if it is not, in fact, thus affiliated. (2) The institution is a public institution. (3) The institution grants degrees, if the institution does not grant degrees. (j) In any manner make an untrue or misleading change in, or untrue or misleading statement related to, a test score, grade or record of grades, attendance record, record indicating student completion, placement, employment, salaries, or financial information, including any of the following: (1) A financial report filed with the bureau. (2) Information or records relating to the student's eligibility for student financial aid at the institution.  (3) Information or records relating to placement, employment, salaries, or financial information relating to any occupation or job described in subdivision (p).   (3)   (4)  Any other record or document required by this chapter or by the bureau. (k) Willfully falsify, destroy, or conceal any document of record while that document of record is required to be maintained by this chapter. (l) Use the terms "approval," "approved," "approval to operate," or "approved to operate" without stating clearly and conspicuously that approval to operate means compliance with state standards as set forth in this chapter. If the bureau has granted an institution approval to operate, the institution may indicate that the institution is "licensed" or "licensed to operate," but may not state or imply either of the following: (1) The institution or its educational programs are endorsed or recommended by the state or by the bureau. (2) The approval to operate indicates that the institution exceeds minimum state standards as set forth in this chapter. (m) Direct any individual to perform an act that violates this chapter, to refrain from reporting unlawful conduct to the bureau or another government agency, or to engage in any unfair act to persuade a student not to complain to the bureau or another government agency. (n) Compensate an employee involved in recruitment, enrollment, admissions, student attendance, or sales of educational materials to students on the basis of a commission, commission draw, bonus, quota, or other similar method related to the recruitment, enrollment, admissions, student attendance, or sales of educational materials to students, except as provided in paragraph (1) or (2): (1) If the educational program is scheduled to be completed in 90 days or less, the institution shall pay compensation related to a particular student only if that student completes the educational program. (2) For institutions participating in the federal student financial aid programs, this subdivision shall not prevent the payment of compensation to those involved in recruitment, admissions, or the award of financial aid if those payments are in conformity with federal regulations governing an institution's participation in the federal student financial aid programs. (o) Require a prospective student to provide personal contact information in order to obtain, from the institution's Internet Web site, educational program information that is required to be contained in the school catalog or any information required pursuant to the consumer information requirements of Title IV of the federal Higher Education Act of 1965, and any amendments thereto.  (p) (1) Use a job or occupational name or description that suggests or implies that the job or occupation is the same as, or similar to, a job or occupation in an apprenticeable field in a document relating to placement, employment, salaries, or financial information, unless the information in the document pertains exclusively to the placement, employment, salaries, or financial information for a job or occupation that the Division of Apprenticeship Standards of the Department of Industrial Relations has approved as an apprenticeship program, and the job duties meet all of the criteria for an apprenticeable job or occupation, as set forth by the Division of Apprenticeship Standards of the Department of Industrial Relations.   (2) Use a job or occupational name or description that suggests or implies that the job or occupation is the same as, or similar to, a job or occupation in a nursing field in a document relating to placement, employment, salaries, or financial information, unless the information in the document pertains exclusively to the placement, employment, salaries, or financial information for a job or occupation for which the Board of Registered Nursing has established licensure requirements, and the job duties are within the scope of the duties set forth in those licensure requirements.  SEC. 3. Section 94928 of the Education Code is amended to read: 94928. As used in this article, the following terms have the following meanings: (a) "Cohort population" means the number of students that began a program on a cohort start date. (b) "Cohort start date" means the first class day after the cancellation period during which a cohort of students attends class for a specific program. (c) "Graduates" means the number of students who complete a program within 100 percent of the published program length. An institution may separately state completion information for students completing the program within 150 percent of the original contracted time, but that information may not replace completion information for students completing within the original scheduled time. Completion information shall be separately stated for each campus or branch of the institution. (d) "Graduates available for employment" means the number of graduates minus the number of graduates unavailable for employment. (e)  "Graduates   (1)     Except as provided in paragraphs (2) and (3), "graduates  employed in the field" means graduates who are gainfully employed within six months of graduation in a position for which the skills obtained through the education and training provided by the institution are required or provided a significant advantage to the graduate in obtaining the position.  (2) With respect to an occupation or job for which the Division of Apprenticeship Standards of the Department of Industrial Relations has approved a certified apprenticeship program, "graduates employed in the field" means graduates who are gainfully employed for not less than 60 days within six months of graduation in a position with job duties meeting all of the criteria of the apprenticeable occupation or job set forth by the Division of Apprenticeship Standards.   (3) With respect to an occupation or job for which the Board of Registered Nursing has established licensure requirements, "graduates employed in the field" means graduates who are gainfully employed for not less than 60 days within six months of graduation in a position with job duties meeting all of the criteria of the licensed occupation or job set forth by the Board of Registered Nursing.  (f) "Graduates unavailable for employment" means graduates who, after graduation, die, become incarcerated, are called to active military duty, are international students that leave the United States or do not have a visa allowing employment in the United States, or are continuing their education at an accredited or bureau-approved postsecondary institution. (g) "Students available for graduation" means the cohort population minus the number of students unavailable for graduation. (h) "Students unavailable for graduation" means students who have died, been incarcerated, or called to active military duty.