Assembly Standing Committee on Higher Education

Good afternoon. The Assembly Higher Education Committee is now called to order. Once we have a quorum, we'll establish a quorum. Thank you everyone for your patience. Welcome to the hearing of the Assembly Higher Education Committee. Please note that today is the last of two hearings of Senate bills.

I will now go over some key elements of the structure of today's hearing. Please note that while this hearing will not have phone testimony, we are accepting written testimony through the position letter portal on a Committee's website at www.ahed.assembly.ca.gov bills with t taken up and signed in order.

Authors, you can sign in at the sergeant's desk in room 437. Additionally, please note that the guideline for bills heard in this Committee is to allow for testimony from two lead witnesses in support and two lead witnesses in opposition to speak for no more than two minutes each.

Stakeholder groups and entities that are neither in support nor in opposition will be allowed to give testimony for no more than two minutes when a call for tweeners if a measure has more than two entities in the tweener category, only two will be allowed to speak for two minutes each.

Members, if you'd like to respond to a roll call, ask a question, or provide a comment, please be sure to activate your microphone and speak into your microphone. For authors, a Bill is up today. Authors each Member presenting today will provide an opening and a closing statement.

As previously stated, your two lead witnesses will each have two minutes to provide testimony in today's hearing. We have seven measures on the agenda today, with two measures proposed for the consent calendar, and once we have quorum, we'll take up the consent calendar and with that, first person we'd like to welcome is Senator Roth, presenting SB 895.

Welcome, Senator Roth.

Thank you, Mister chair. As you all know, for decades, the community College associate degree of nursing has been the basic credential requirement for employment as a registered nurse in a healthcare facility, certainly in the State of California.

However, as you may also know, due to a push by credentialing organizations to increase the percentage of nurses holding BSN or Bachelor of Science in nursing degrees to 80% of those employed in healthcare facilities, the BSN degree is now becoming the new industry standard for employment in California hospitals, whether we like it or not.

A BSN also apparently appears to be a requirement for attainment of a master's degree in nursing and a doctorate of nurse practice.

There was a 2021 health impact report in this state that found that 18% of California hospitals surveyed stated that a BSN was required for employment twice the percentage noted in 2017 and 54.3% reported a preference for hiring BSN degree nurses.

Most significantly, at least for me, 31.5% of the new ADNs associate degree nurses surveyed stated that the lack of a BSN degree was given as the reason for their failure to be hired as a nurse. This demand for the production of BSN credentialed registered nurses continues to increase, and production has not met demand.

This Bill proposes to utilize existing ADN programs in our community college system to supplement the work of our public and private BSN programs at our underutilized community colleges on a limited basis.

To meet this demand, the Bill creates, as you know from the Bill, a pilot program and authorizes the state chancellor to select up to 15 community college districts with nationally accredited ADN programs to offer a BSN degree to up to 25% of each ADN class or 35 students, whichever is greater, and that's to accommodate the smaller schools.

So how does this work?

Well, when students enter the BSN phase of the pilot program, they will have already earned their ADN, they will have passed their NCLEX, their national council licensure exam, and secured their RN license, since they're already licensed as nurses, by the way, at community college fee levels, participating students would then take the additional non clinical coursework necessary to earn the BSN at their community college, again at community college fee levels, allowing these students to work in their communities as nurses around their class schedule and family responsibilities.

From a curriculum standpoint, you may not realize this. I didn't the nursing clinical component of the ADN program is essentially the same as the clinical program applicable to BSN programs. The NCLEX and the RN licensure requirements are exactly the same.

The difference between the two programs basically consists of approximately 30 units of coursework, which generally include humanities and management coursework, and one community health course. No clinical placements despite the rhetoric to the contrary, no clinical placements will be required for this program because they're already nurses.

They're already associate degree nurses who have completed the clinical phases of the nursing program.

The Bill requires that priority participation be granted to community college districts located in underserved nursing areas and requires that the state chancellor's office develop a process to assist community college districts without nationally accredited programs to attain it, prioritizing the Central Valley of the State of California by supplementing the work of our existing public and private BSN programs.

In this way, additional BSN degreed nurses will be added to the workforce. Nurses who were qualified to become supervisors and managers in healthcare facilities and nurses who were qualified to become masters or doctorate degreed nurse practitioners in independent practice settings and as nursing school faculty Members, faculty Members that we do need.

So with that, and with me to testify on behalf of the Bill today is Tammy Vanthel, Riverside Community College District dean of nursing, and Kimberly Mullen with the United Nurses Association of. California.

Thank you so much, Mister Senator. And before we do that, we're going to establish quorum. Thank you so much, Madam Secretary. Would roll call, please.

Thank you, Mister chair.

[Roll Call]

Thank you, colleagues. Before we proceed with the testimony, we'll take up the consent calendar. The measures on consent are File Item number two, SB 939 by Senator Umberg. Next File number five, SB 1335 by Senator Archuleta. Do we have a motion? Do we have second. Thank you. Any comments or questions on the consent calendar?

Seeing none, Madam Secretary. Roll call Please

File item number two, SB 939. The motion is do pass to the Appropriations Committee. File item number five, SB 133. The motion is do passed to the Appropriations Committee. [Roll Call]

Thank you so much. The consent calendar of seven Ayes. We'll keep the row open for additional Members to add on. Thank you, Senator, for your opening comments, and I will pass it on to your lead witnesses. Welcome.

Hi. Is this on? Good afternoon, chair Fong and Committee Members. My name is Kimberly Mullin. I am a registered nurse with United Nurses Association of California Union of Healthcare Professionals, and I am a graduate of Harbor Community College in Laden, Los Angeles.

And UNAC UHCP is a proud sponsor of Senator Roth's SB 895, and it's time to make getting and pursuing a BSN more affordable and accessible for nurses. I've been a nurse for 16 years. I graduated with my adn from Harvard College when I was 29.

And at that time I experienced quite a bit of financial hardship at 29, trying to manage an apartment and have food, but need to go to school full time and also work in between that as well as, you know, considering my aging parents that I had to support.

So, needless to say, when I got my ADN, pursuing a BSN was just not realistic for me at the time. And ultimately it was due to the lack of the limited accessibility in public schools and also the financial, like the high financial cost of the private institutions. So I went straight to work.

And today I'm here to advocate for the next generation of nurses. I don't want them to have to face the same delays and hurdles and financial burdens that I experienced.

And even with high housing costs and the cost of living right now, I feel like it's crucial to not allow additional student debt and allow nurses to focus on what's most important, and that's delivering exceptional nursing care to our patients.

SB 895 will significantly impact the future of nursing, and so many of my nurse colleagues share with me the amount of obstacles and hurdles that they had to go over just to get their BSN.

And with CSUs and UCS graduating less than 30% ADN to BSNS, I feel that the community colleges have the capacity and is well equipped to meet this demand. So, in conclusion, I urge you to ask a nurse, ask a nurse about the importance of greater access, accessibility of getting your BSN.

And with that, I thank you and respectfully request your aye vote.

Thank you so much. Welcome. Thank you.

Hi there. My name is Doctor Tammy Van hall. I'm the dean of nursing at Riverside City College, and I'm appreciative of Senator Roth. And I thank you to the chair and the Committee for the Opportunity to speak here today in support of SB 895.

The philosophy of our faculty and administrators at RCC is that all nursing students deserve the opportunity to earn a BSN. With the support of Senator Roth, RCC was one of the first community colleges to partner with two local CSUs to offer an ADN to BSN concurrent enrollment program, which we are grateful for that partnership.

However, half of my students that we admit are still excluded from participating because they either don't meet the GPA requirements of the CSUs or they have work and family responsibilities that are the reality for so many non traditional college students today.

What results for these students, many of whom belong to historically minoritized groups, is they either don't complete their bachelor's degree at all, or they seek the availability and flexibility that for profit nursing programs offer. Unfortunately, the benefits of open access and flexibility come at a high financial cost for them.

Accredited community colleges are perfectly positioned to offer students a seamless pathway to BSN degree, one that is accessible, affordable, and high quality. National accreditation requires us to demonstrate high standards of excellence with regard to the qualifications of our faculty, availability of resources, and the achievement of key program outcomes.

And let me assure you that offering the BSN at select community of colleges will not impact the availability of clinical space. To suggest otherwise is a false narrative.

The clinical coursework in the BSN program is completed post licensure, allowing students to fulfill their clinical requirements and an even broader variety of community settings that are not typically used for pre licensure programs. So I'd like to thank you again for allowing me to share. I respectfully request your.

aye vote today, and I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you.

Thank you so much. And thank you so much, Senator Ruff, for bringing this forward. And just to be clear, do you continue to commit, working with assemblymember Soria to reconcile the policy between the two bills?

Mister chair absolutely. As you know, I've modified, I drafted the Bill myself, and I further drafted amendments to the Bill to take into account the specific concerns of the assemblymember and the specific needs of the Central Valley in terms of building nationally accredited programs and also preferencing Central Valley schools.

And I am continuing to work with the Assembly Member on her Bill to make sure that as her Bill moves forward, there are no conflicts between the two.

Thank you so much, Senator. Appreciate that. Are the witnesses in support in the hearing room, please? Come on up.

Priscilla Quiroz here. On behalf of the City of Los Angeles in support.

Chair Members Nate Solov, on behalf of the San Mateo County Community College District in support. Thank you so much.

Kristian Foy, on behalf of Frescinius Medical care and also California Kidney Care alliance in strong support. Thank you.

Vanessa Gonzalez with the California Hospital Association, proud co sponsor of the Bill and here in strong support. Thank you.

Good afternoon, chair Members Janice O'Malley, AFSCME California, proud co sponsors of the Bill. Thank you.

Chair Members Anna Matthews, on behalf of Faculty Association of the California Community Colleges in strong support. Thank you.

Anna Ioakimedes, on behalf of Los Angeles Unified School District in support.

Kelly Brooks here on behalf of the Urban Counties of California, the Rural County Representatives of California and the County Health Executives Association of California, all here in support.

Grace Copland here on behalf of Providence Health and I support.

Kasha Hunt here with Nosimon in support from Citrus College, Mount San Antonio College, North County, North Orange County Community College District. Thank you.

Thank you, chair Members Mark Mcdonald, on behalf of the Antelope Valley, Contra Costa, Foothill, De Anza, Kernan, Mount San Jacinto, San Diego Southwestern, as well as the California Association of Community College Baccalaureates, thank you.

Good afternoon. Sabrina Means, on behalf of co sponsors El Camino College and the Los Angeles Community College District, also in support, on behalf of Pasadena City College, Santa Monica College, Cerritos College, Allen Hancock College, Cuesta College, Santa Barbara City College, and on behalf of the 19 community colleges that comprise the Los Angeles Regional Consortium, in support.

Thank you. Jordan Gershman. On behalf of Davita, in support.

Good afternoon, Mister chair Justin Fanslau on behalf of Merced College and the California Association of Nurse Anesthesiology in Support.

Good afternoon, Diaz Committee Members. Idds on behalf of the California community college chancellor's office and strong support of SBA.

Hi. Good afternoon. Carol Gonzalez, on behalf of Long Beach City College and proud to be a supporter.

Hi. Alice Matanagara, associate dean of nursing representing Golden West College in Huntingdon Beach, California. We are in support of SB 895.

Good afternoon. Casey Elliott, in support on behalf of Rancho Santiago coast and South Orange County Community College districts, thank you.

Mark Ysidro, on behalf of the County of Los Angeles, in support. Thank you.

Good afternoon. Stephanie Goldman, on behalf of the student Senate for California Community College, is proud to co sponsor.

Chair Members Austin Webster with w strategies on behalf of the academic Senate for California community Colleges and the California Community College Association for Occupational Education, in support.

Doctor Elizabeth Reilly, dean of health occupations, Cerritos Community College District, in support.

Good afternoon. I'm Nancy James. I'm the dean of nursing and allied health sciences at Sierra College. In support.

Good afternoon. Nuna Garapien, on behalf of the Community College League of California, proud co sponsors and support. Thank you.

Keith Curry, President CEO of Compton College, Compton Community College District and support.

Thank you so much. Are there witnesses in opposition in a hearing room.

You can stay there. That's fine. Welcome.

Good afternoon. My name is Doctor Renee Pozza and I serve as the Dean of the School of Nursing at Azusa Pacific University. On behalf of the California Association of Colleges of Nursing, I speak in opposition of Senate Bill 895. This Bill is in direct opposition to the recent legislation allowing community colleges to award bachelor's degrees only in areas where this is not duplicative of existing programs in the CSU and UC systems. Currently, California has a robust model for concurrent enrollment in intersegmental partnerships between community college nursing programs, the CSU, UC, and private institutions.

These successful programs enable concurrent enrollment in ADN programs while taking BSN level coursework, many of them in an online format. These programs have ample resources, quality clinical placements, robust distance learning modalities, and employ qualified faculty to teach at the baccalaureate level. Graduation from the BSN programs occurs within two to four months of ADN completion.

These are established, accredited, timely, cost effective, and efficient ways to increase the number of BSN prepared nurses entering the workforce. APU has a very successful partnership with Pasadena City College, enrolling a diverse student body with up to 75% of their ADNs pursuing this pathway. We have a 90% retention for these students graduating BSN prepared nurses within two years. These students have 100% success on NCLEX RN examination and 100% are employed in California healthcare systems within three months of graduation.

BSN degrees at community colleges will require the requisite upper division nursing coursework, new clinical placements, and added nursing faculty, all of which exacerbate placement and faculty challenges for existing programs without adding additional nurses to the work workforce. Moreover, community colleges will need to seek additional accreditation and meet expanded professional nursing standards, all requiring additional fiscal and personnel resources.

In my experience, the accreditation process is time consuming and lengthy. These programs will not simply be able to flip a switch and start educating BSN level nursing students immediately. Given the state's nursing workforce should stabilize in the next few years, we should focus on strategies that maximize the use of existing programs. It is a proven model that works at our institutions as well as our public counterparts. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Welcome.

Good afternoon, Chair Fong and Members of the Committee. I am Rehman Attar, the Director of Healthcare Workforce Development for the California State University Office of the Chancellor, here to present the systems position on Senate Bill 895. While the CSU is deeply appreciative of Senator Roth's attempt to provide solutions to address the state's BSN nursing workforce, challenges, the CSU believed that SB 895 will not accomplish its intended goals.

SB 895 will not create additional nurses due to the limited availability of clinical placements and the strict regulations by the State Board of Registered Nursing. These challenges are not unique to the CSU and would equally affect the California community colleges. To be clear, the CSU does not have a waiting list in our associate's degree to bachelor's degrees nursing programs. Each of our 20 nursing programs accept all eligible students applying to the BSN programs.

In other words, SB 895 does not add more BSN nurses, but instead will siphon off the students that would matriculate from the community colleges associate degree programs that would otherwise come to a CSU nursing degree program. The CSU has invested resources and expertise to develop solutions to address SB 895's intended goals through online programs which can serve rural and non traditional students and partnership programs.

These partnership programs increase accessibility for community college students to enter the CSU nursing degree programs and assist students in completing an associate's degree in nursing and a baccalaureate degree in nursing at an accelerated rate. CSU nursing programs are able to reduce the time to degree to completion from four to six years to three to five years.

These programs are cost effective, less resource intensive, and provide great benefits to both segments and their students through streamlining of curriculum, assisting community colleges achieve national accreditation, creating clinical coordination, providing a faster path to graduation, and built in financial support for students. Currently, 13 CSU nursing programs have partnerships with over 35 community colleges, with several other upcoming partnership programs pending.

As noted in the analysis, the effectiveness of partnership programs reinforced by SB 155, the higher education budget trailer Bill which creates a rebuilding nursing infrastructure grant program which prioritizes new grants and monies for partnerships between the community colleges and the UCs and CSUs, as well as independent colleges and universities for nursing degrees at the baccalaureate level.

The CSU is renowned for its excellent quality in nursing education programs in respect to national accreditation status, on time completion rate, graduation rates, licensure pass rates, as well as is known as a model for robust nursing education infrastructure that enhances access and overcomes barriers faced by location bound and rural students.

Thank you. You can wrap up, please. Sorry, it's been two minutes.

Oh, sorry.

Go ahead. Wrap up your thoughts.

Establishing bachelor degree nursing programs is not easy, efficient, or inexpensive. What the CSU has accomplished is a result of decades of commitment and expertise unique only to the CSU. Bachelor degree nursing programs are resource intensive initiatives that require.

Thank you. All right, are there any additional witnesses in opposition in the hearing room. We have a motion. Second. Witnesses in opposition. Please step up to the mic and say your name.

Hello. I'm Penny Weissmuller. I'm Director of the School of Nursing at Cal State Fullerton. We have a 50 year history of providing associate degree nurses and associate degree students a pathway to the baccalaureate. We work collaboratively with our community colleges and our system. We.

Everyone could just state their. I apologize. Everyone can state their name and the position and organization. Thank you.

Hello. My name is Lisa Rauch. I'm the Director of the Valley Foundation School of Nursing at San Jose State University. I am opposed.

Ron Norby, Director of School of Nursing, Cal State in Dominguez Hills. Opposed.

Hi. Elaine Musselman, Director of Nursing at San Francisco State University, opposed.

Hello, I'm Doctor Rebekah Child, the Program Director at CSU Northridge. We have unlimited spots in our ADN to BSN program, and we are opposed.

Hello. Celestina Barbosa-Leiker, Dean of the College of Health and Human Development at Cal State University Fullerton, oppose.

Elisabeth Wade, Dean of the College of Science, Technology and Business, which includes Nursing. Opposed.

Dave Hassenzahl, Dean of the College of Natural Sciences at California State University Chico, which includes the School of Nursing, opposed.

Good afternoon. Alex Graves, with the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities, on behalf of our approximately two dozen Nursing programs here, in respectful opposition.

Good afternoon. Mechelle Best, Dean for the College of Health and Human Development at Cal State Northridge, which includes the Department of Nursing. We oppose.

Christine Isakson, Senator from the Academic Senate from the California State University System, representing all 23 CSU campuses. We are strongly opposed. Thank you.

Good afternoon. Michelle Willard, Chief of External Relations for Sacramento State, and we respectfully oppose this Bill.

Tanya Altmann. I'm the Chair of the Sacramento State School of Nursing, and I'm opposed.

Fay Mitchell-Brown, I'm the Director of the School of Nursing, California State Chico, and I oppose.

Good afternoon. Andreana Clay, I'm the current Dean of the College of Health and Social Sciences at San Francisco State, which includes the School of Nursing, and I oppose this Bill.

I'm Doctor Marla Seacrest from California State University Stanislaus in the rural community, and we oppose.

Hi. Good afternoon. My name is Phyllis Salopek. I'm Assistant Director at California State University Chico School of Nursing, and I oppose.

Good afternoon. I'm Doctor Monica Lounsberry. I'm the Dean of the College of Health and Human Services at Long Beach State University, and we oppose.

Thank you so much. Are there tweeners in the hearing room?

Good afternoon, Chair and Members. Jen Chase with the University of California. We do not have a position on SB 895, and we really appreciate the author's work in trying to address a workforce shortage. But we do have overall concern about the Legislature moving forward with allowing the community colleges to offer a duplicative degree that is already offered at the CSU and UC. Thank you.

Thank you so much, colleagues. Any questions or comments? Assemblymember Essayli followed by Assemblymember Muratsuchi, followed by Assemblymember Boerner. Assemblymember Essayli.

Okay, so I've heard two different things, and they can't both be right. So I've heard that the reason there's a shortage of nursing program or nurses is because of the lack of clinical placements. Do you guys disagree with that? And why would that change if the community colleges were able to offer the same program?

May I address the Bill. Through the Chair. The Bill does not add any additional nurses, RNs to the system. The problem is that because of a decade or more ago, more than that, I think maybe 1990, the credentialing organizations that credential healthcare facilities decided that it was a good idea for the healthcare facilities to increase the percentage of bachelor's degree nurses employed by them.

I don't know why, I don't necessarily abide by the rationale that I've read, but that seems to be the standard that seems to be floating around, and it's 80%. Now we're not near that yet, but there's been a push ever since for healthcare facilities to prefer, and in some cases insist on, the bachelor's degree applicants for hire in their facilities. It is particularly acute here in California with regard to our children's hospitals and with regard to our district hospitals.

Some of them. The children's hospitals in particular, prefer, even at the undergraduate nurse student level, to prefer BSN students, candidates for their clinical placements before they're even graduated in RNs. So how do you deal with the need for increased bachelor's degree nurses in the program? You've either got to expand our public, our CSU programs, and of course our privates are eager to expand if the Board of Registered Nursing allows them to do so. But on the public side, we have a budget problem. It requires brick and mortar.

It requires additional faculty members to expand because remember, at the CSU level, you're training both the clinical nurse piece and the extra humanities and management courses necessary to get to the bachelor's degree. So one of the solutions that we decided to try with this pilot program is you have an underutilized program here within the community colleges where they are training nurses. They receive an associate degree when they finish. But they attain all of their clinical training. All of their clinical placement work is done at the community college level.

They receive their associate degree. They take the NCLEX, which is the national nursing exam, and they apply to the state and get an RN license. And then the question is, we can send the ADNs out to work or in a community college level in a pilot program we can try and allow the community college to provide the additional humanities courses and a nurse management course. And I think there's a community health course necessary to get the extra hours to qualify for a bachelor of science degree in nursing. The program has to be accredited. There's some additional curriculum.

Why can't they do that at a CSU?

In many cases, the people who attend community colleges are placebound. They're taking care of sick parents, sick kids, sick aunts, uncles. They required to stay close to home. In some cases, they don't have the money, which is why they go to a community college to begin with, because they don't pay fees. And they need to stay at a community college because of the fee structure to take care of the parents and the kids. And the reason that, remember, when you go to a CSU, you have to meet the GPA requirements and you have to pay the tuition.

We facilitated in my office the first, I think it's the first pipeline program in the State of California with CSU San Bernardino, Fullerton, ... We had the Executive Vice Chancellor of CSU in the room with the provost. We had the presidents and provosts of San Bernardino and Fullerton, and, of course, the community college to put together a pipeline program, Assemblymember, that currently exists and is underutilized because the students at Riverside City College either don't meet the GPA, can't pay the tuition, or can't take the time to go to Fullerton or San Bernardino when they need to do so.

Well, if they don't meet the GPA, I don't want them running a hospital. So I put that aside. The other issue. Well, don't. Yeah, you don't have to. But I think the question here is, what is the difference between a bachelor's degree and an associate degree?

I said about 30 hours.

Well, I don't. It sounds. It sounds to me, with all respect, that we just want to have a shortcut to get a BN, just so we say we have one without going through what I think is the appropriate coursework and academic rhetoric. I will say, from what I heard the CSUs, I don't know if they challenge. They said they have unlimited spots, they have hybrid programs online and in person.

And my understanding is that there was an agreement made with the Legislature three years ago that they would not come back asking for bachelor degree programs unless they were not duplicative of something that the CSUs already have. So I guess where I land, and I hear you, Senator. I appreciate your perspective, and I know you are passionate about Riverside.

About 12 years passionate.

Yeah, 12 years. And I get that. But for me, it's a philosophical question of what is the difference between a community college and a CSU. I'll admit I'm biased. I went to Cal Poly, so I do have some bias there. But I do think there should be a difference between the two. And unless there's an issue that we've identified, it seems like this is a solution in search of a problem. So I'm going to respectfully have to oppose it today. But I'll yield to my colleagues.

Thank you so much, Mister Essayli. We have Mister Muratsuchi, followed by Miss Boerner, followed by Doctor Arambula. Assemblymember Muratsuchi.

Thank you very much, Senator Roth. We had a similar discussion on this general subject matter with Assemblymember Soria's Bill. And so I did. I heard the arguments about how community colleges, allowing for bachelor's of science degrees in nursing, would expand access to people. That there would be more community colleges that would be more accessible to students, and especially in the areas of the State of California that do not have a Cal State University close by.

We also heard the argument about how with the community college Promise programs that, that would help make getting a bachelor's degree at a community college again more accessible by making it more affordable. And so I'm just hearing all these arguments, or arguments that I've found persuasive in support of expanding access.

I wanted to ask our representatives from the California State University. Obviously, I have great respect for our California State University. And I understand that there is this history where it seems kind of like a slippery slope. And my impression is that you're just, you know, Cal State universities are primarily concerned that we're just sliding further down that slippery slope, which, you know, in an ideal world, I can understand that, you know, may go against the original design of the master plan, but bottom line is, you know, we have a nursing shortage.

The employers are preferring those with bachelor's in nursing, and this is providing expanding access. And so from, you know, a policymaker's perspective, it's like you know, do we go with expanding access, or do we go with, you know, respecting the integrity of this plan that perhaps needs outdating. And I err on the side of access, but I want to give you an opportunity to respond. Help me out here.

Yeah, I appreciate that. Assemblymember, I would like the Committee to also refer to some of the BRN's workforce reporting that says the nursing workforce at the BSN level will be met by 2027 without us doing anything additional. So I do want to keep that in mind. Additionally, in terms of the slippery slope that's been talking about, I do also want to emphasize that when it came to the CSU and getting authorization for doctoral degrees.

This was done in coordination with the UC's and with the explicit statement to state that the CSU shall not duplicate academic programs offered at the UC's. And this is something that's unlike this Bill, which is a significant departure from that. I think it's also important to address the elephant in a room where it was addressing analysis in regards to the fees or cost of attendance at the community colleges.

With education code, community colleges are authorized to charge as much as a CSU bachelor's degree program, which means if you can look at some dental hygiene programs at the community colleges, they're upwards of $15,000 to $20,000. There's no financial incentive in that regard for these bachelor degree programs at the community colleges.

I think what we're really focused on, and our primary reason for opposition, is that we want to do what's best and most equitable for nursing education, which is addressing the infrastructural issues that are at play. Clinical placements are always going to be an issue, because that's the bottleneck period.

I think where we are to address those clinical placements that have more collaboration, I think it's going to benefit students as a whole. We need to be more mindful in regards to our state resources, and how are we going to invest in this infrastructure and continue to support students.

And I think the quickest way to do that is to support these partnership programs, which can take less than a year to establish where a bachelor's degree accreditation at a community colleges can take years. And it will also take years to see results. By the time a 2027 hits, their nursing need is already met. So it's about also what makes sense.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mister Muratsuchi. Assemblymember Boerner, followed by Assemblymember Arambula, followed by Assemblymember Jackson. Assemblymember Boerner.

So this is a very interesting thing. My dad actually was a Professor at both Azusa Pacific and RCC, and I was an adjunct Professor at RCC. I currently represent coastal San Diego, and Senator Roth represents my mother. So you do a good job representing my mother. But we have a biomanufacturing degree at Miracosta, and it is a game changer for people, because what the Senator was saying, I just say this to my colleagues.

What the Senator is saying is real. People who go to community colleges, even San Marcos, is too far for them to go when they're looking at daycare, caring for the elderly, caring for their family members or their neighbors, people have complex lives who end up at community colleges. And to my knowledge, nurses aren't actually, when they start nursing, making a lot of money.

And so when we lower the costs, which this will lower the costs and lower barriers, I think to say that the CSUs can pick up all the slack, because I do know what, you know, students pay at Azusa Pacific is higher than what they would pay if they went to community colleges. My first day in the Assembly, I think, was the day I was sworn in in 2018, a for profit University who had a nursing program closed their doors. I don't even think that I had my keys to my district office that day.

We have a demand for nursing that we see, and the demand is not going to go away. So it was great that they have a thing that in 2027, things are going to work out. I don't think there's any harm in doing this pilot. I don't think there's any harm in making, seeing if it works, seeing if we could get the affordability down, seeing if we could do something that makes people's - train up an entire workforce in a way that works for real Californians. So with that, that's why I think I moved or seconded the Bill. I'm not quite sure. I think I moved it.

You made the motion.

Oh, there you go. I moved the Bill because I think this is really important. And there are all sorts of places in California where a CSU or an more expensive private university is very far away and prohibitive. And those are probably places where we want to have nurses being built up in those communities

Thank you, Assemblymember Boerner. Assemblymember Arambula.

Thank you, Mister Chair. I'm first going to appreciate Senator Roth for your work in this space and your continued advocacy. It's been monumental and really does require us to start the conversation in that way. I do want to ask about the partnerships. I'm trying to understand the ability for us to have CSUs work collaboratively with community colleges.

And what I heard through your initial answer was the requirement for us to both spend money and to require brick and mortar to increase capacity. But we heard from the opposition the opportunity to go online. And so I'd like to hear from you. Would that help to address some of the being placebound? Would that help to address some of the monetary requirements or the brick and mortar requirements? And why are we not looking towards online education as part of this solution, since partnerships have shown that to be a successful model?

Well, first, let me say, as I indicated, we actually started the process by facilitating the first pipeline program at RCC with Fullerton, CSU Fullerton, CSU San Bernardino. My recollection is there are about 50 students attending each of those. I can stand to be corrected because I have the Dean with me.

The program obviously has capacity for more, but it's the student's choice, number one. And of course, they do have to meet the GPA requirements for admission to CSU. And of course, there's also the tuition issue, whether it's online or in the classroom, that for some is a problem.

The other thing I would say with respect to online, and I'm a fan of online, and I think it should be used where appropriate, every way possible. Is there some places there's a bandwidth issue, depending on where you live and whether you have appropriate computer equipment to even do that.

So the demographic that attends our community college colleges, depending on where they are and where the college is, there could be challenges in that regard, too, whether it's in Northern California or maybe even the Central Valley, or in Eastern Riverside County, for that matter, or San Bernardino County.

So my approach to this is we need to use all the tools in the tool chest. And contrary to my friend on the right, the studies are certainly not definitive with respect to the nursing shortage. And while we may attain parity or get close to it with registered nurses in General, that's probably not the case with bachelor's degree nurses. And remember, we talk about the fact that we don't have enough faculty in our nursing schools.

Well, in order to get a faculty member, the faculty member has to have start with a bachelor of science degree, probably needs to get a master's, and then needs to get a doctorate to teach in our nursing schools. So somehow we have to expand the pipeline of these folks who can move from the bachelor's degree to the master's degree to the doctorate degree if we can get them to get there in order to help solve our problem. I hope I answered that question so I think we should have more pipeline programs.

In fact, the folks at Riverside City College, together with the folks at the CSUs in Fullerton and San Bernardino, published a peer reviewed piece that they took around to speak at conferences about the pipeline program. They spoke to other community colleges at conferences here in the State of California.

They offered their, they had it required a standardized curriculum, dual credentialing, dual enrollment policies. They offered the entire package to community colleges up and down the state to and with the assistance of the State Chancellor's Office to encourage these pipeline programs and the development at community colleges and CSUs around the state.

So I'm a big believer in that. I think there are limitations, obviously, because we can't force students to fill up ours. And I think we need to use all the tools in the tool chest to solve this BSN bachelor's degree problem to the extent it exists.

I may ask what you believe the effect will be on those partnerships. Do you think we're putting our thumb on the scale with the effort that we have here today? Because I'll just share locally, we have Fresno State and Fresno City College who have received federal funding to help to bridge and to create that partnerships.

And those conversations have gone away in large part because of the legislative effort we've been leading and thinking. I question whether it undermines that real opportunity to build partnerships with the legislative effort we have. And so I just like to ask you what you think the effect would be. Do you think we're going to get more partnerships because of the effort, or do we feel that your initial effort at partnerships needs to be replaced with the current legislation?

Remember, this is a pilot program, and it's very limited in terms of the number of participants in each class. Class. So it's a rather small number of people, any place that it may, that the Chancellor may pick to have it operate. So there's that other, the other piece is I think students are perceptive and they know the marketplace. I'm not in the healthcare business, but I've been associated with it most of my life, as you know. And I think students will go to what is perceived to be the best school they can get into.

And if they can get into a CSU or they can get into a UC and they can pay for it or have somebody pay for it or get financial aid to get there, they will get there. I think it's the students that are placebound for any number of reasons, either money or family or whatever, or work, where they need to stay close to home and that close to home is the community college that they can walk to or bike to.

We need to use all the tools in the tool chest and nothing and allow them to move forward. And if the pipeline program works, because if they are in the pipeline program with dual credentialing and dual enrollment, they're going to get their degree from a California State University. And if you want a degree from a California State University and can do it, you're going to get it.

So I hope that answers your question. I would be very disappointed if this pilot effort, which isn't, assuming the Bill passes, isn't guaranteed to last because this is a test to see how the community colleges handle this. I would be very disappointed if it put a damper on any pipeline program anywhere in the state. I mean, we devoted a lot of time, but less time than the players on the field did to put these programs in place. And again, I hope not.

I will just share. It has hit pause on our local conversations and I'm hopeful that we can restart those conversations because it's essential for us to have those types of partnerships. Last question, and thank you for your indulgence, Mister Chair. We heard from the opposition. I think I got the number right.

You said you had 100% passage rate of the NCLEX. That's pretty good. What are the outcomes that we're seeing? And again, I appreciate your framing. It's after people have graduated and passed the NCLEX. But what is the current passage rate for the NCLEX at our community colleges? Is there a difference between what we're seeing within our CSUs and our community college in relation to the passage?

I think our CC's NCLEX pass rate has been 100% for at least two years. So I don't think it's uncommon to see comparable pass rates. CSU, community colleges and the privates. This effort is not to denigrate any one party's efforts in this move to try to push for more nurses in our healthcare facilities.

The privates do a great job, the CSUs do a great job. Community colleges do a great job. It's just to try to. We need to. In my view, we need to supplement the production of bachelor's degree nurses. And why not use a team member that's actually putting out fully trained licensed nurses and give them the little extra to get there? It's not going to. It's not competing with anybody.

And I have to say, whenever we have these sessions on this particular Bill, and everybody has a perspective which I respect and value, I am a little disappointed because it sounds like a bit of a competition. And when you're dealing with healthcare and you're dealing with what we do, where I come from, where you come from, Doctor and others in the state, underserved, medically underserved areas, we can't afford to have a competition.

Everybody's got to be in the boat. Everybody's got to grab an oar. You've all got to pull at the same point to get the boat moving down the river to the ultimate goal, which in our case is effective healthcare for everybody in the State of California.

Senator, I'm going to, out of respect, give you the vote here today because I believe you to be a man who's worked hard on this issue. I will be following up with some of the responses and the conversation that we've had today and hold the right to be able to once this gets to the floor.

But do just want to make sure that we're uplifting and acknowledging the huge role that both our community colleges and CSU play and that if we are in any way undermining our CSUs in this effort, many of us have concerns about that. And we'll look to make sure that you address those concerns before we finally vote on this.

And if I may say, since it's a pilot program, the Legislature will have an opportunity to weigh in on that and take the appropriate action.

Thank you so much Doctor Arambula. Doctor Jackson.

Thank you very much Mister Chair. And thank you Senator, for presenting this Bill. I mean, I think there's no doubt that California has changed significantly. There's a lot of realignments happening in our workforce and our economy in all kinds of different ways. And there's no doubt that our master plan is outdated for higher education and it's no longer meeting the needs of everyday residents.

So it seems to me that we have to find ways to continue to pilot new ways to do these things. And my mother went to a community college to become a nurse, became an RN herself. And I even thought about going to the medical field and took some classes at a community college and they made it very clear if you don't pass this class with an A or B, you gonna take this class again.

And has nothing to do with the rigor, it has to do with the number of hours you're able to get. Am I correct in that? It has nothing to do with you being able to get clinical, it has nothing to do with you getting a less quality education. It actually just has to do with the number of hours you're able to accumulate in order to get that classification as a bachelor's degree. Am I correct in that?

That's correct, Assemblymember.

Therefore, what we're asking is for community college to be able to add those extra hours, because, again, workforce requirements are changing in terms of the number of, in terms of the degree in which they're willing to hire you at. And it's similar to the kind of changes that you're starting to even see between a registered nurse and a LVN.

In many cases, those are, requirements are starting to change in terms of how, what kind of employment you're getting. Doesn't change the workload. It doesn't change what you will be responsible for. It just changes what kind of paper you get. Right. And because it's a pilot, I really do believe, and, you know, unfortunately, I mean, I was on the CSU board of trustees when we were fighting for being able to get a doctorate in education.

And I remember very vividly that the UC was vehemently opposed because of the master plan for higher education. And it wasn't until the Legislature forced them to compromise that the UC came on board because they didn't have a choice. And it reminds me of the same things.

Are we are going to allow institutions and systems to protect themselves, or are we going to see what our actual people on the ground, who we really represent, are a need in terms of, in many cases, the flexibility that they may need in their own lives, similarly situated people who actually may need more flexibility, less time traveling, unable to live on campuses in other cases.

It just seems to me that a pilot program trying to figure out the best way to serve our constituents, to be able to enter the workforce seems reasonable to me, given that we're seeing a lot of instability in our population in many cases, and the huge needs we need in our workforce. So I'll be supporting this today.

I just think that we have to understand that the systems that we're used to are no longer working for everyday people anymore, and we've got to be willing to change systems. And this is a broader conversation I think we need to have in the future. But sticking into these boxes, I think, are not, are only hurting the people we're trying to help. So I want to thank you for your willingness to engage in these conversations.

Thank you so much, Doctor Jackson. Assemblymember Quirk-Silva.

Thank you. I want to appreciate all of my colleagues who've made comments because it is always interesting to hear the perspectives from my colleagues and of course, from the author and the witnesses. Two things that I heard that really make a lot of sense to me.

One is allowing choices and access and having more, if you want to say, as you've used tools in the toolbox. And I think it's very evident that a first time community college student is much different than a first time four year student. Whether it's at a CSU or a UC, there's different pathways to get there.

I happen to represent North Orange County, which of course has Cal State Fullerton. We also have Fullerton College and Cypress College just within the Orange County part of the district and is often called the education community. I have had many meetings over my decade of service with our community college.

Cal State Fullerton, related not only just to higher ed, but also in the nursing program. It was mentioned about the children's hospital. There were some very significant, specific conversations that came up a handful of years ago about the clinical practice of being able to get community colleges into some of these institutions.

I've also toured some of the private colleges right next door, and Anaheim is an American career college that has a very robust nursing program. But the point here is allowing individuals, sometimes returning students or returning stay at home moms who have raised children going back into the community college students.

Sometimes it's students who haven't made a decision about what they're doing right after they graduate, and community college sometimes becomes the best option for them. But I will be supporting this Bill, I would say one of the other reasons it's really important to me is the diversity of students going into the field.

As a former classroom teacher that did it the traditional way, which was getting a bachelor's, then getting a credential. There is many steps to take, and yet we know getting students into the pipeline, whether it's starting at the community college, the four year, or even going all the way.

For now, a PhD can be attained at Cal State Fullerton, which was mentioned was not the case a handful of years ago. Let people have the choice to choose what is the best option for them, and a lot of that option comes down to the cost. We know that people make decisions according to what they can afford, and so I'm really proud to represent a district that has many options. We have strong ROP programs.

We have strong, again, two community colleges in my Orange County district, another one in the LA part of the district, Cerritos, and of course Cal State Fullerton. So thousands of students going to school in my district. So I will be supporting this as a pilot program and look forward to seeing what the results are. But firmly believe and giving individuals choices.

Thank you so much, Assemblymember Quirk-Silva. Assemblymember Boerner, quick comment?

Yeah, I had a quick statement. I just looked up online what the CSU fees were for four years academic. It's $22,968 currently on your fee schedule, just for tuition that I don't think includes the student fees that we've audited- this legislative body has audited the CSUs for.

The biomanufacturing bachelor's program at Mira Costa is for four years, $10,000. That's a huge difference for many Californians. So let's take the diversity, let's take the ease of access, let's take away the fees of, let's make it accessible for people to build careers where we know they need them in public health.

Thank you so much. Assemblymember Boerner. Assemblymember Low.

Thank you so much, Mister Chair and colleagues. The comments I want to make are just to continually reaffirm to this body and to the institution about segments, and I tend to be a broken record. But is it as important, the California Higher Education Master Plan back in 1960, in which we have not had a meaningful revision to help ensure the direction of the State of California. And in absence of that, we see oftentimes segments that are very protective of their own entities.

And it is incumbent upon us as a State of California to help set up our institutions for success. And of course, the Bill before us helps to also address the industry and the community need, seeing that there is a lack of practitioners in real time. But I just would urge Members of this Committee and individuals that have longevity in this institution.

To help address the issue of the California Higher Education Master Plan. So that segments do not continually point fingers at each other, but rather we're all stronger California together. But again, that's a conversation for a different time. We have a Bill before us, and I'm delighted to be able to support that as well.

Thank you so much, Assemblymember Low. And just a quick question, Senator. I know there's been different discussion about costs. Can you just more explain about the cost of this proposed?

This Bill takes itself out of the cost provision in the Medina Bill, which allowed the community colleges to charge at a higher rate. So, you know, I disagree with some of the statements that were made on that regard.

Thank you. Any further questions or comments? Seeing none. It's been a really robust conversation. I want to thank the Senator for introducing this Bill. And as policymakers, we have an obligation to explore existing policies to ask those hard questions. As we heard from a number of my colleagues, when we look at the different policies across the segments and to really look at how we take action on behalf of our constituents and the people to provide those opportunities and choices.

I believe this pilot will help us understand and assess if community colleges should be offering BSNs. And this pilot is a deviation from the traditional tenets of California's Master Plan of Higher Education. As noted in the Committee analysis, there's a history going back 20 years of exploring new programs when the need is demonstrated and warranted.

And we know with nursing programs, at least in the Southern California and the LA area, there's a high demand for nursing programs and for nurses. And as a former trustee for the community colleges at LA and Southern California, there's a strong demand for those types of programs.

I look forward to seeing the LAOs and analysis and study for this Bill. And with that, I really appreciate all my colleagues comments, and I look forward to supporting the Bill here today. Seeing no further questions or comments. Madam Secretary, roll call, please. I'm sorry, did you want to make a closing statement?

Mister Chair. I just. You've taken a lot of time with this Bill, and I just wanted to thank you and your Members for doing so. And obviously request an aye vote. Thank you.

Thank you, Senator. Madam Secretary, roll call, please.

File item number one, SB 895. The motion is due passed to the Appropriations Committee. [Roll Call].

That measure is eight ayes. We'll keep the roll open for additional Members to add on ... Thank you so much. Thank you. I'd like to invite any Senators that have Bills up today to join us in the Higher Education Committee in room 437. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Senator Glazer, welcome. We have a motion. Well, let's have a Senator present item number hearing. Thank you.

You guys are so thorough.

Thank you, Senator Glazer. Senator Glazer, welcome. Presenting SB 1200, item number three. Welcome. Just a little bit out of breath.

Take your time. Thanks. Thank you, Chair and Members, for allowing me to present this Bill today. Thank you to the Committee staff for working with us on their thorough analysis. I first want to begin by accepting the Committee amendments. This Bill extends the California Promise Program, which was established by SB 412 in 2016.

This Bill will eliminate the sunset date indefinitely. Extending the program require the trustees to provide a report over the next eight years about the program's participation rate, the amount of student success funds that are received by and used by the campuses. It does rename the program to a finish in four and through in two.

The California Promise program is a name that has been adopted in a lot of places in California, so it has created some confusion. So it has a name change, and it does require that at each respective campuses, list the programs that they do to, to support the finish in four.

This program, for those who were not around back when I authored the Bill, the four year graduation rate at the state universities, on average, was 19%. That's what the four year graduation rate was in 2015. Today, not just because of this Bill, but because of the great work of the University system, the presidents, the faculty.

The four year graduation rate now is, I think, around 35-36%. So real progress. Think about that. We try to move the bureaucracy in so many ways in our legislative life, but with almost very little new money. A doubling of the graduation rate in eight and a half years. That's pretty amazing, guys.

And I know it's the work that you do here in this Committee, but most praise is due to the work on the campuses with our students. So it's been a great program that supported this effort to have kids graduate. The program provides priority registration for those who are in it.

They say, I want to get through in four years. You get priority registration, you get some enhanced academic advising. You commit to taking at least 30 units, and then when you look at the people that are in the program today, they have a 64% graduation rate, much higher than the systems rate. I was just at Fullerton.

Assemblywoman Quirk-Silva. Oh, there she is. I was in Fullerton just a couple months ago on a hearing on the finish in four program. And what they said at Fullerton is that the students that are in the finish in four program, it has an amazingly high 93%.

If they're in the program at Fullerton, 93% of them are graduating in four years. Is that an incredible track record at that campus? They deserve a lot of praise, but the challenge is that most of the students don't know about this four year track and they're not enrolled in it.

And that's what we did talk about at Fullerton. So you can tell I'm enthusiastic about this effort that's been going on. I have a witness here who was a participant at the California Promise Program at Sacramento State. Nikita Akhumov, who can you talk about his involvement? And with that, I respectfully ask for your vote today.

Thank you so much. Welcome.

Good afternoon, Mister Chair Members of the Committee. My name is Nikita Akhumov and I'm a third-year incoming student at Sacramento State pursuing a bachelor's of art in political science. The California Promise program has been a cornerstone of my academic journey. When I first enrolled, I was uncertain about how to navigate the complexities of higher education.

However, with the additional academic counseling provided through this program, it was instrumental in setting me on a clear path to graduate in four years. With the guidance of dedicated counselors, I was able to create a structured and efficient academic plan, ensuring that I stayed on track each semester.

This sense of security and direction allowed me to fully immerse myself in the vibrant hornet community. At SAC State, I currently serve as the Executive Director for two student organizations where I actively advocate for social issues that are close to my heart.

Balancing these leadership roles while maintaining a firm GPA has been challenging, but the support from the California Promise program has made it manageable and possible. Knowing that I will graduate in four years has given me the confidence to engage deeply in my studies and extracurricular activities.

It has provided me with a sense of stability and purpose, allowing me to contribute positively to my campus community. SB 1200 will ensure that countless other students can benefit from the same support and opportunities that I got. It is a critical investment in our students success and the overall prosperity of our state's higher education.

Thank you for your time and consideration, and I urge all of you to support SB 1200 and help sustain this vital program for the current and future generation of California students. Thank you.

We have a motion, a second. Thank you so much, colleagues. Are there witnesses in support in the hearing room? Are there witnesses in opposition in the hearing room? Are there tweeners in the hearing room? Colleagues, any questions or comments?

Thank you for coming to the home of the Titans. Appreciate that. And I really appreciate this Bill. It seems a little quiet compared to the Bill that we just had for, but a title does mean something. When you say California promise, it can mean a variety of things.

When you say finish in four and through and two program, I had to read that two or three times. That's a little tricky. But I do think it will give students pause. And that's important because we want students to flow into this type of program, to get out in four years because they can.

But they have to have not only that map, they have to know exactly what is required. And as you noted, 30 units. That's quite a lot of units to take. But if they stay on track, they can do this.

But one of the things that some of the Committee Members have heard me say many times, and maybe it's a future piece of legislation, is that whether it's this four year program or the transfer program where they go to the community college two years and then transfer and then could still finish in four years, we are not getting that information to students in high school.

And as you mentioned, it's letting students know. And so I seriously think it's the senior year of high school, the last semester before they even get on to the community college or the four year to let them know. These are some pathways.

If you follow them, you will be able to achieve that goal in four years because your data in here actually shows that, yes, there's success, but there's still a large amount of students that are taking the 5 and 6 years to graduate. And I'm really a big believer that they don't know about these programs, but I do support it. Thank you.

Thank you, Assembly Member. Any further questions or comments? CNN Senator, would you like to close?

I would. And just a point that I missed in my staff notes. I should have been paying more attention. The focus is on first-generation, low-income Pell eligible. That is the focus of the program.

Obviously, it's available to everyone, but that is the focus of making sure that historically underrepresented in our higher education system get more awareness of this opportunity. And believe me, this awareness thing is a big problem. And when you talk about the five or six year program, listen, tens of thousands of students every year have done everything right.

They got the grades, have the debt, and they drop out with. With no degree. And that's. That's a failure that I push my friends in the higher education space to focus on, because that if you.

If you were a business, I'm sorry for the little longer close, but if you were a business and you were losing 10,000 of your customers every year, you'd want to know what the heck is going on. And the systems have not done a good job of surveying and finding out what are those barriers?

We know they're barriers for a lot of people. We want to break them down and make sure they can be successful. With that, I respectfully ask your aye vote today.

Thank you so much, Senator Glazer, for your leadership and efforts, especially with the CSU system, and for accepting the Committee's amendments, and for your ongoing leadership and work and efforts assisting students at the CSU to continue their graduation and to earning their degrees. And with that, I look forward to supporting a measure here today.

Madam Secretary, roll call. Please.

File item number three. SB 1200. The motion is do pass as amended, to the Appropriations Committee. [Roll Call]

Okay, that measure has nine eyes. We'll keep the rope. And for additional Members, add on. Thank you so much. Senator Bradford's on his way. Thank you. Colleagues at this time will entertain add ons for the consent calendar. Madam Secretary, roll call. Please.

File item number two, SB 939. The motion is do passed to the Appropriations Committee. File item number five, SB 1335. The motion is do passed to the Appropriations Committee. [Roll Call].

Consent calendars? 10 ayes, and we'll keep the roll open for additional Members. Add on to. And I think that's it for now. Thank you, colleagues, for your patience. Senator's on his way. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Colleagues, I'd like to invite Senator Bradford, Senator Ochoa Bogh, and Senator Stern to join us in Assembly Higher Education in room 437. Thank you. That's what I'm thinking. I love that she was. Yeah.

Welcome. Senator Stern, presenting item number four, SB 1252. Welcome.

Thank you, Mister Chair. Promise not to be a pest here today, but I do hate mosquitoes. I know you all do, too, or not just pass their risk to our kids, not to mention wildlife, our water, soil.

So we're really trying to bring the smartest people in the state to bear with the Higher Education Committee, unleash the power of our state's top researchers on UC and CSU campuses to hopefully get some best practices out in the field and deal with the mosquito problem before we get more cases of dengue, which are now here in the State of California, West Nile.

I've had lost personal, family, friends to the virus and the like, so vector control districts need to start thinking outside the box and finding ways not to just spray everywhere, but really get targeted and use the best technology and practices we got. And so we brought some of our best here. So I'm going to defer to our expert witness and respectfully ask for an aye vote.

Thank you so much. Welcome.

Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Olivia Winokur. I'm representing the California Mosquito Surveillance and research program at UC Davis, where I am a postdoctoral scholar. Our state faces a number of mosquito borne disease threats, including West Nile virus, that has caused over 8000 reported human cases since it arrived here in 2003.

Climate change and globalized travel and trade continue to raise the potential of outbreaks, and invasive mosquitoes are a growing issue statewide. These daytime biting mosquitoes have changed the backyard experience across the state, and they can transmit several exotic viruses, including dengue, zika, and chikungunya, which are detected each year in California's travelers.

All it would take for an outbreak is the arrival of an infected person that then infects our mosquitoes. In fact, local dengue transmission occurred in California for the first time twice last year, in Pasadena and Long Beach, as mandated in the health and safety code.

Our team collaborates closely with the California Department of Public Health and the Mosquito and Vector Control Association of California on Research, Surveillance, and data analytics to improve our ability to prevent mosquito-borne diseases. The program's running as intended, with multiple avenues of communication and information dissemination, including regular engagement with university researchers across the state.

The loss of the UC statewide mosquito research program in the late two thousands stripped away funding that once incentivized our University researchers to address our state's needs. SB 1252 would pave the way for much needed reinvestment in mosquito control research, in line with the state's goals to implement sustainable pest management.

Effective, sustainable mosquito control is evidence based there are many, many reasons for optimism about emerging technologies, and these new technologies bring many questions that need objective scientific evidence.

It's essential to ensure that our UC and CSU researchers are fully engaged not only in conducting this research, but also in regular dialogue with our partners in mosquito control and public health to understand the issues and seek appropriate, scalable, sustainable, interdisciplinary solutions.

We appreciate the efforts of Senator Stern and this Committee to ensure that our universities will be at the forefront of new research to keep Californians safe from mosquito borne diseases. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Are there witnesses in support in a hearing room? Are there witnesses in opposition in a hearing room? Are there tweeners in a hearing room? Colleagues, any questions or comments? All right, we have a motion. A second, someone. Yes.

We need a law to tell an. Agency to talk to people we're not telling. Why can't they just talk to them? Yeah. So we're not asking the agency to talk to people. We're asking them to integrate this new technique into their research. So to take integrated pest management and to. To integrate that into the research strategy.

So, not so much just to talk to people, but like, to identify things like bacterial larvicides that have shown that they can go kill the mosquito larva before they're born. Whereas normally, right now in your community, the mosquito folks just go spray, and they aren't using those larvicides, things like that, to integrate. Right.

The smartest people's research in the state into what the vector control districts and your locals are doing. I just don't know if we need a law to do that. Can you assure me this is not a vehicle for gut and amend in August? Yes, I can.

Can I add to why we would need a law? Yeah. Okay. Briefly, if that's okay.

Yes.

I think everything is incredibly running right now because we have people running this program that really value University researchers. But if we didn't have those people in place that we're facilitating those conversations, I think a lot of this good research that's being done isn't going to get applied.

Okay. Thank you. Appreciate it. Yep.

Thank you. Assemblymember Muratsuchi.

Since I don't see any other Senators ready to present your Bill, I'd like to learn more about mosquito control here. So, I was born and raised in a tropical island of Okinawa where there are a lot of mosquitoes. I would imagine that there are other parts of the. Of the world that.

That, you know, have to deal with a lot more. You know, why can't we just draw on, you know, I mean, do other countries, what countries are considered to have the most advanced, most effective mosquito controls? And, you know, can we, you know, adopt some of those practices, experiences from other countries?

It's a really good question. I'll turn it to our postdoctoral researcher here. But I will just simply say that other countries are leaning on UC Davis right now. So their research is being deployed in East Asia, in Africa, but not in, like, LA, Fresno, the South Bay.

So that's the irony, is actually our best and brightest are doing the best research in the world. It's where it's being deployed and being shown to be effective is places like sub saharan Africa, East Asia. But meanwhile, here we are. Dengue is breaking out, Zika is coming, all the rest. So it's more like bringing those smarts and not outsourcing it, but bringing it back. But I don't know if you had a further comment.

Yeah, I think I'll say, also, like, other countries are different. They have different regulations, different things in their toolbox that we don't have. We have a huge push for integrated mosquito management. So not just spraying pesticides. Other places that can use DDT still use it. We can't do that. We don't want to do that. Right.

So I think we're really looking for novel ways to control mosquitoes before we get to a potential outbreak. So can we do all these things? Can we engage community? Can we use biological control? Can we do other ways of controlling mosquitoes before we even get to a point where there is a potential outbreak?

We also have a lot of people that are working on connecting the data that we have. Something that we're really good at in California is collecting data.

So can we connect the data that we already have to understand how that would turn into human cases so we can intervene at the right time with the smallest amount of pesticides possible.

All right, thank you.

Thank you Assemblymember. Any further questions or comments? See you. None. Senator Stern, we'd like to close, please.

Sure, yeah. Thank you for. I'm glad we had a second to focus on this, and I do appreciate this Committee's leadership on research, especially utilizing our higher education institutions to do that.

I've been frustrated as a dad now with the two and a one year old who are just getting lit up, like right now in LA, and it honestly scares me. And we had people come out to the house and go spray, and they basically killed all our plants, killed everything.

The kids couldn't even go outside for a few days, and I thought to myself, there's got to be a better way here. And whether it's these sort of targeted uses of these bacterial larvicides, we've heard mentioned, and the Canadian analysis rightly points out that our definition on something called biological controls, by the way, may be a little limited.

So we want to keep working with the Committee, as well as the previous Committee and our experts here to make sure we're expansive enough and that we're not sort of restricting what's on the table, but that we're including our best practices in there, but also just basic, simple things like dragonflies, which eat mosquito larva.

And if the crayfish invade your local streams, they eat up the dragonflies. And so there's no dragonflies left. You get a lot more mosquitoes. Same for bats. So those kinds of simple solutions we could get to. And hopefully people stop wasting their money on having the Orkin guy come out and just spray your whole backyard.

And then you get mosquitoes. A week later, we get some of our smarties informing our vector control districts to do good work, save taxpayers dollars. And I promise you again, this is just a mosquito Bill. So thank you for the question, but I'm serious about this stuff, and I hope you are, too. And respectfully ask for aye vote.

Thank you so much, Senator Stern, for bringing us forward. And we know that the Barker lab at UC Davis continues to provide research data and recommendations regarding mosquito abatement, including sustainable pest management, to our state. This measure appears to frame their work and codify additional practices. And with that, I'm prepared to support the Bill today. Thank you so much. Madam Secretary, roll call.

Please file item number four, SB 1252. The motion is due. You pass to the Appropriations Committee. [Roll Call].

That measure has nine ayes. We'll keep the roll open for additional Members to add on. Thank you, Senator. I'd like to welcome Senator Bradford or Senator Ochoa Bogh to join us in the Assembly Higher Education Committee in room 437. Thank you so much.

Item number six, SB 1348 by Senator Bradford. Welcome.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll be straight to the point accepting the Committee amendment. So I thank you and your staff for working with me to hopefully strengthen this Bill. This Bill will create a state-level designation recognizing colleges and universities in California that are making significant commitments to enhancing black student success and experience.

Historically, black students are underrepresented on college campuses, and the statistics of Black College Student Achievement should be concerning to all of us. National data shows black student enrollment declined by 22% between 2010 and 2020.

That also shows that black students are more likely to delay attending college after high school, and that black students are more likely to attend only part-time, less likely to earn a degree, and more likely to take on greater debt during that school experience. And that's not all the bad news. There are colleges and universities.

I should say it's not all bad news. In California that are distinguishing themselves through their investment and a commitment to black student success. 1348 will create a method to recognize those innovative colleges and universities by awarding them a special designation of serving black students. No such designation currently exists in California, or federally, for that matter.

This recognition would be similar to the designations currently awarded to Federal Government for minority-serving institutions, such as Hispanic-serving institutions, Asian American, and Native American. Pacific Island serving institutions. Black student-serving institutions will focus on expanding educational opportunities and improving the academic outcomes for black students.

This recognition would also help students and their families identify those colleges and universities in California that deliver high levels of service for black students. This Bill is supported by the UCs, our CSUs, and our California Federation of Teachers. I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

And here with me today is Dr. Luke Wooden, President of Sac State University, Herb English, Dean of counseling and special programs in Riverside Community College, and also President Keith Curry, President of Compton Community College. So, thank you.

Thank you so much Senator, welcome.

Thank you.

Please proceed. Yes.

All right. So, as was mentioned, my name is Luke Wood, and I'm serving as President of Sacramento State and very much in support of Senator Bradford's Bill. Just want to paint the picture at what's happening in a national landscape. So there are two different types of minority-serving institutions.

There are enrollment-based institutions and then mission-based institutions. So your mission-based institutions are your historically black colleges and universities and your tribal colleges. The focus of that designation is based upon their historical mission and focus in serving black and native students. Separate from that, there are enrollment-based institutions.

And there's enrollment-based criteria based upon the percentage of students who are enrolled. So, one that you may be familiar with is what's called a Hispanic serving institution, which means that at least 25% of your students identify as Latinx.

There's also Asian American, Native American, Pacific Islander serving institution, AANAPISI, which means at least 10% of your students identify as Asian or Pacific Islander. And there's a few other examples, all at that 10% or 25% threshold. So there is a two designations for serving black students at the federal level.

One is your HBCU, but then the other one is what's called PBI, predominately black institution. And unlike the AANAPISI, which is 10%, or the HSI designation, which is 25%, it is 40%. In order to be able to have a focus on serving black and African American students. We see that as problematic, because if you lay on a. On a map, the institutions that are either PBIs or HBCUs, they're all concentrated in the same states. And the entire Western United States, California, and the entire Midwestern United States is left out.

And so what this Bill does is it allows us to say to our black students the same thing that we currently say to our Latinx students, same thing we currently say to our Asian students, that we are here to serve you and we are committed to you.

But it also avoids some of the same challenges that some of the other designations have, because you have an enrollment-based focus or you have a mission-based focus.

And what has happened is that with the HSI designation in particular, people have focused on the fact that you can enroll students and have a high density of students, but it doesn't mean that you're actually serving them. And so this solves basically two problems at once.

One, by having a designation, but two, not just a designation based upon percentage, but also based upon what you're doing to serve black and African American students. So, Sacramento State, we are committed to serving our black student community. We have started an honors college specifically focused on serving students who are interested in black history, life, and culture.

We have the largest enrollment of black students in the entire Cal State system, and we're very much in support of this Bill and what this Bill can do. This is one of the few examples I can see where it does not necessarily take any monetary investment to actually make a significant impact.

This has the potential of truly, if passed, of truly creating an entire ecosystem so that we can say to our black students in California that we are here to serve you and that we are committed to your success.

Thank you sir. We have a motion. Second, thank you. Thank you so much. Welcome.

Thank you so much. Good afternoon. My name is Herbert English and thank you for this opportunity to speak today. I am honored and humbled. As a community college graduate from Riverside City College and now serving as a community college dean at the college that I attended. It has provided me with an opportunity to pursue my goals of achieving undergraduate and graduate degrees. I also serve as a co-founder for Black Student Success Week. We have celebrated our fifth year.

We celebrate that week, the third week of April, and that has really brought out and shed a spotlight on the underachievement of African American and black students in our system. I also serve as the President of the African American Male Education Network and Development, better known as AAMEND.

I am proud to stand in strong support of the Senate Bill 1348, which seeks to establish California black serving institution designation. SB 1348 is a landmark piece of legislation that acknowledges and addresses the unique challenges faced by black and African American students in post-secondary education.

By recognizing and supporting institutions that are dedicated to serving these students, SB 1348 will ensure that our colleges and universities are equipped to provide the resources, support, and inclusive environments necessary for their success. The establishment of the California Black Serving Institution designation will incentivize excellence and innovation in serving black and African American students by setting clear criteria for recognition and support.

This program will highlight best practices, successful programs, encouraging other institutions to adopt similar initiatives. This will create a ripple effect, improving educational outcomes not just for black and African American students, but for all students across the state.

As a community college dean, I have seen firsthand the profound impact that targeted support programs can have on student success. Institutions that have implemented such programs have seen significant increases in retention and graduation rates among small cohorts of black and African American students.

For example, initiatives that provide academic support, mentoring, and culturally relevant programming have been particularly effective. The California Black Serving Institution Designation will amplify these efforts, providing a framework for excellence that can be replicated statewide.

Furthermore, as the President of AAMEND, I am deeply cognizant of the urgent need for systematic change to address the enduring inequities in higher education. Senate Bill 1348 represents a pivotal advancement toward creating an educational landscape in which black and African American students can flourish.

By fostering an environment characterized by inclusion and support, this program aims to dismantle the barriers that have historically hindered success of these students. AAMEND has proactively established 47 student charter programs across California community college, ensuring that students benefit from mentorship, connection to campus resources, and vital leadership opportunities.

For 18 years, AAMEND, composed of African American male community college faculty, deans, vice presidents, presidents, and chancellor have been dedicated to the success of black and African American males. Our initiatives have provided essential elements such as mentorship, inspiration, accountability, guidance, study abroad opportunities, and financial assistance. These efforts have collectively contributed to significant student success.

In conclusion, SB 1348 represents a bold and necessary commitment to educational equity and excellence. I urge all stakeholders to support this vital legislation and join us in creating a brighter future for black and African American students in California. Thank you, Senator Bradford, and the Committee for Agreeing to the amendments.

This Bill is not solely about the number of students, but also about the quality of service and support we provide. As I said earlier, I am a graduate of community college. I was successful, but many that look like me are not. Please. I am in support of SB 1348.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Are there witnesses in support in the hearing room?

Keith Curry, President, CEO of Compton College, also the co-founder and chair of Black Student Success Week, also the national chair for black enrollment and expert Advisory Committee as it relates to black enrollment nationally, and I support the Bill.

Thank you.

Noemi Lujan Perez with the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, here to support SB 1348 and Senator Stephen Bradford's efforts.

Hi. Carol Gonzalez on behalf of Long Beach City College and the Education Trust West, in support. And on behalf of my colleagues who couldn't be here, the Campaign of College Opportunity also in support. Thank you so much.

Jessica Duong with the University of California in support.

Eric Bakke with the California State University Office of the Chancellor in proud support of Senate Bill 1348.

Eiry Diaz with the California Community College Chancellor's Office, also in support.

Johnny Wu with the California Student Aid Commission in support. Thank you.

Teresa Aldridge, proud 32-year member at Cosumnes River College and Board Member of the Emoji Community Education Foundation in high support of this Bill.

Kasha Hunt here with Nossman on behalf of Citrus College, in support.

Hello. Genesis Gonzalez on behalf of Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kunalakis, in support. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Are there witnesses in opposition in the hearing room? Are there tweeners in the hearing room? Colleagues, any questions or comments? Seeing none, Senator, would you like to close? I'm sorry, Assemblymember Muratsuchi.

Thank you. Since we don't have other Senators ready to present.

This is our final Bill.

Oh, this is our final Bill. Okay.

Well, no, you can go ahead and ask.

All right. No, I don't have any questions.

All right, thank you. Senator, would you like to close, please?

I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Thank you. Thank you, Senator Bradford, for bringing this very important Bill forward and for accepting the Committee's amendments. California has long led the nation in efforts to address disparities and inequity gaps in our education system.

This measure is a necessary step to ensure that students and parents understand which community colleges and universities are focused on improving the academic success of our black and African American students. I look forward to supporting this measure here today, and thank you again, Senator Bradford, for your leadership and efforts with that. Madam Secretary, roll call please.

File item number six, SB 1348. The motion is do pass as amended to the Appropriations Committee. [Roll Call]

Thank you, colleagues. That measure's eight ayes, and it's out. We'll keep the roll open for additional members to add on. Thank you.

And why don't you have one of those blazers, you know?

I will get one of those blazers to you. Thank you.

Cuz the ladies look very sharp in that, you know.

Thank you, Senator. Let's get the tie here.

Oh, and the ties. Hey, man, take them shopping with you guys.

Thank you, Senator. Good to see you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, colleagues, for a robust meeting.

I'm still here. I'm still here. Yeah.

At this time, we'll entertain a--thank you so much. The meeting is still going. I apologize if--we'll do entertain add-ons now. Thank you so much. Madam Secretary, roll call, please.

File Item Number One: SB 895. The motion is do pass to the Appropriations Committee. [Roll Call].

That measure has nine ayes and one no. We'll keep the roll open for additional members to add on.

File Item Number Three: SB 1200. The motion is do pass as amended to the Appropriations Committee. [Roll Call].

That measure has ten ayes. We'll keep the roll open for additional members to add on.

File Item Number Four: SB 1252. The motion is do pass to the Appropriations Committee. [Roll Call].

That measure has ten ayes. We'll keep the roll open for additional members to add on.

File Item Number Seven: SB 1411. The motion is do pass to the Appropriations Committee. [Roll Call].

That measure has nine ayes. We'll keep the roll open for additional members to add on. Thank you so much. We'll keep the roll open additional--we'll keep the roll open for additional five minutes. Anybody would like to add on? Thank you so much. Thank you, colleagues, for a robust meeting. Appreciate everyone's hard work and efforts, and thank you so much again to our Assembly Higher Education Committee staff for your tremendous leadership and service as well. Thank you, colleagues. Thank you.

And we had a consent calendar. I'm so excited.

Thank you for checking.

I like my wife.

My brother.

She's on the way.

Thank you so much.

So, Al, did you tell me you're going somewhere?

No, no, no. It's our last official hearing, so I wanted to give everyone a thank you card.

Oh, yeah. I thought Cheryl said--

I think she misunderstood. Yeah. Our plan is to retire from the committee.

Too difficult to work with?

Not at all. Not at all.

We are having a really great discussions.

Oh, yeah?

I'm enjoying it. I can't keep my poker face, but it's been really--it's been nice to watch.

It seems like Mr. Osinelly is a nice guy. Until he gets on Twitter.

Yes. Do you have summer plans? Or are you just take a little vacay with the fam?

Yeah. I'm going to be in--my wife and daughter is already in Japan.

Oh, wonderful. That's great. Have a wonderful time.

Well, thank you. How about you?

No plans per se, but I have plans for the fall, so that's--at least we're getting closer, but take some days.

Yeah? That's the nice thing about working for the legislature.

Where'd your family go?

My in-laws are in Tokyo.

Thank you so much. At this time, we'll entertain add-ons for our items. Madam Secretary, roll call, please.

The consent calendar consists of two file items: File Item Number Two: SB 939; the motion is do pass to the Appropriations Committee, and File Item Number Five: SB 1335; the motion is do pass to the Appropriations Committee. [Roll Call]. File Item Number One: SB 895. The motion is do pass to the Appropriations Committee. [Roll Call].

Do we need to roll call vote? The final? That measure has nine ayes and one not voting and one no. Thank you so much.

File Item Number Three: SB 1200. The motion is do pass as amended to the Appropriations Committee. [Roll Call].

Thank you. That measure has 11 ayes and it's out. Thank you.

File Item Number Four: SB 1252. The motion is do pass to the Appropriations Committee. [Roll Call].

Thank you. That measure has 11 ayes and it's out.

File Item Number Six: SB 1348. The motion is do pass as amended to the Appropriations Committee. [Roll Call].

That measure's nine ayes, two not voting. That measure is out.

File Item Number Seven: SB 1411. The motion is do pass to the Appropriations Committee. [Roll Call].

Thank you so much. That measure has ten ayes and it's out. Thank you so much, colleagues, for a robust hearing today. The Assembly Higher Education Committee--thank you to the Assembly Higher Education Committee staff and to everyone involved with today's hearing. Really appreciate everyone's hard work and efforts with our committee and with that, want to wish everyone a happy and safe Fourth of July as we embark on an Independence Day weekend. Thank you so much, and have a great day, everyone. This meeting is now adjourned.

Thank you very much.