(1) The California Private Postsecondary Education Act of 2009 provides for the regulation of private postsecondary educational institutions by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education in the Department of Consumer Affairs. The act also establishes the Student Tuition Recovery Fund and requires the bureau to adopt regulations governing the administration and maintenance of the fund, including requirements relating to assessments on students and student claims against the fund, and establishes that the moneys in this fund are continuously appropriated to the bureau for specified purposes. The act caps the amount that may be in the fund at any time at $25,000,000. This bill would raise the cap for the fund to $30,000,000. (2) This bill would appropriate the sum of $1,300,000 from the Student Tuition Recovery Fund to the Attorney General for the purposes of providing grants to eligible nonprofit community service organizations to assist eligible students affected by the closure of Corinthian Colleges, Inc., as defined, with loan discharge and other student loan-related requests and tuition recovery-related claims, and to pay an amount not to exceed $150,000 for the reasonable administrative costs of the Attorney General's office related to these grants, as specified, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would require the bureau to notify the Attorney General of all unlawful Corinthian Colleges, Inc., closures within 15 days of the effective date of these provisions. The bill would require the Attorney General to, among other things, within 90 days of the notification, solicit grant applications from eligible nonprofit community service organizations, select one or more of these organizations deemed to be qualified, and set additional terms and conditions of the grants as necessary. The bill would set a schedule for how grant funds are to be distributed. The bill would require the grantee to submit specified information to the Attorney General on a quarterly basis, and require the Attorney General to make these reports available to the Legislature and the bureau upon request. The bill would require the Attorney General to provide the Legislature and the bureau a final report summarizing all the information submitted to it by grantees, promptly following the time when all funds are expended by the grantees, or by August, 1, 2018, whichever is earlier. The bill would authorize the Attorney General to contract with another qualified entity to perform the Attorney General's duties under these provisions. (3) This bill would, for a period not to exceed 2 years from April 27, 2015, authorize state agencies that provide certification, registration, or licensure necessary to promote the safety and protection of the public to, on a case-by-case basis, consider for certification, registration, or licensure students who were enrolled in a program of Corinthian Colleges, Inc., that provided education or training aimed towards these students receiving certification, registration, or licensure from the state agency, and who did not receive that certification, registration, or licensure due to the closure of that institution. (4) The Cal Grant Program prohibits an applicant from receiving Cal Grant awards totaling in excess of the amount equivalent to the award level for a total of four years of full-time attendance in an undergraduate program, except as provided. This bill would partially exempt from this limitation on Cal Grant awards a student who was enrolled and received a Cal Grant award at a California campus of Heald College, and who was unable to complete an educational program offered by the campus due to its closure. (5) The California National Guard Education Assistance Award Program authorizes the renewal of California National Guard Education Assistance Awards, for a maximum of the greater of either four years of full-time equivalent enrollment or the duration for which the qualifying member would otherwise be eligible pursuant to the Cal Grant Program, if specified conditions are met. This bill would partially exempt from this limitation on California National Guard Education Assistance Awards a student who was enrolled and received a California National Guard Education Assistance Award at a California campus of Heald College, and who was unable to complete an educational program offered by the campus due to its closure. (6) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Sponsored bills
The Budget Act of 2015 appropriated specified amounts for support of the Department of Toxic Substances Control. This bill would require the Director of Finance to transfer up to $176,600,000 as a loan from the General Fund to the Toxic Substances Control Account for the Department of Toxic Substances Control to use for activities related to the lead contamination in the communities surrounding the Exide Technologies facility in the City of Vernon. This bill would require the department to repay these funds, as specified, and would authorize the Director of Finance to forgive any unpaid balance of the loan under specified circumstances. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a Budget Bill.
Existing law establishes the Toxic Substances Control Account in the General Fund and authorizes moneys in the account, upon appropriation, to be used for, among other purposes, the payment of all costs of removal and remedial action incurred by the state in response to a release or threatened release of a hazardous substance, as specified. This bill would appropriate $176,600,000 from the account to the Department of Toxic Substances Control for activities related to the cleanup and investigation of lead-contaminated properties in the communities surrounding the Exide Technologies facility in the City of Vernon, including job training activities, and actions taken to pursue all available remedies against potentially responsible parties. The bill would require the department to engage the impacted community, as specified; develop a Job and Development Training Program, as specified; and post on its Internet Web site specified information. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.
This measure would declare the week of March 7, 2016, through March 13, 2016, as Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Week.
This measure would proclaim the month of March 2016 as Grand Jury Awareness Month in California, recognize those who volunteer in a grand jury, and encourage all Californians to learn about its role in the judicial system.