Article 5. Bureau Powers And Duties of California Education Code >> Division 10. >> Title 3. >> Part 59. >> Chapter 8. >> Article 5.

The Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education, as established by Section 6 of Chapter 635 of the Statutes of 2007, is continued in existence and shall commence operations. This chapter establishes the functions and responsibilities of the bureau, for the purposes of Section 6 of Chapter 635 of the Statutes of 2007. The bureau shall regulate private postsecondary educational institutions through the powers granted, and duties imposed, by this chapter. In exercising its powers, and performing its duties, the protection of the public shall be the bureau's highest priority. If protection of the public is inconsistent with other interests sought to be promoted, the protection of the public shall be paramount.

(a) The powers and duties set forth in this chapter are vested in the Director of Consumer Affairs, who may delegate them to a bureau chief, subject to the provisions of this section. The bureau chief shall work in collaboration with the director. The director is responsible for the implementation of this chapter and he or she shall ensure that the protection of the public is the bureau's highest priority.
  (b) The bureau chief shall be appointed by the Governor, subject to confirmation by the Senate, and is exempt from the State Civil Service Act pursuant to Part 2 (commencing with Section 18500) of Division 5 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
  (c) Each power granted to, or duty imposed upon, the bureau under this chapter shall be exercised and performed in the name of the bureau, subject to any conditions and limitations the director may prescribe. The bureau chief may delegate any powers or duties to a designee.
  (d) As may be necessary to carry out this chapter, the director, in accordance with the State Civil Service Act, may appoint and fix the compensation of personnel.

(a) The bureau shall adopt and shall enforce regulations to implement this chapter pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code).
  (b) The bureau shall develop and implement an enforcement program, pursuant to Article 18 (commencing with Section 94932) to implement this chapter. The enforcement program shall include a plan for investigating complaints filed with the bureau. The bureau shall contract with the office of the Attorney General, or other appropriate state agency, to establish a process for the bureau's staff to be trained to investigate complaints, including, but not limited to, the information, evidence, and materials needed to process complaints.
  (c) The bureau shall institute training to ensure that its staff are equipped to review and verify the accuracy of the data contained in consumer disclosures, including, but not limited to, the School Performance Fact Sheet.
  (d) The bureau shall establish a program to proactively identify unlicensed institutions, identify material or repeated violations of this chapter and regulations implementing this chapter, and take all appropriate legal action.

(a) The bureau shall establish an Internet Web site that includes at least all of the following information:
  (1) An explanation of the bureau's scope of authority.
  (2) (A) A directory of approved institutions, and a link, if feasible, to the Internet Web site of each institution.
  (B) For each institution, the directory shall be developed in a manner that allows the user to search by institution and shall include all of the following information:
  (i) The status of the institution's approval to operate.
  (ii) The information provided by the institutions, including, but not limited to, the annual report, as required by Section 94934, including the school catalog and the School Performance Fact Sheet. The School Performance Fact Sheet shall be maintained on the directory for at least five years after the date of its submission to the bureau.
  (iii) If a law school satisfies the requirements of this chapter regarding a School Performance Fact Sheet by complying with the requirements of Section 94910.5, the bureau shall include the information provided by the institution pursuant to Section 94910.5 on its Internet Web site and shall maintain the information in the same manner as required by clause (ii).
  (iv) The disciplinary history of the institution, which shall include, but shall not be limited to, all of the following:
  (I) Pending formal accusations filed by the bureau.
  (II) Suspensions, revocations, citations, fines, infractions, probations, pending litigation filed by the bureau, and final judgments resulting from litigation filed by the bureau.
  (III) Pending or final civil or criminal cases filed by the Attorney General, a city attorney, or a district attorney in this state, or filed in any state by an attorney general or a federal regulatory or prosecutorial agency if the case would be actionable under California or federal law, of which the bureau has received notice.
  (IV) Final administrative actions by the United States Department of Education, including orders requiring restitution to students.
  (V) All disciplinary actions ordered by an accreditation agency, including any order to show cause, of which the bureau has received notice pursuant to Section 94934 or other information otherwise publicly available of which the bureau has received notice.
  (b) The bureau shall maintain the Internet Web site described in subdivision (a). The bureau shall ensure that the information specified in subdivision (a) is kept current. The bureau shall update the Internet Web site at least annually, to coincide with the submission of annual reports by the institutions pursuant to Section 94934.
  (c) (1) The bureau shall post on its Internet Web site a list of all institutions that were denied approval to operate, after the denial is final, and describe in clear and conspicuous language the reason the institution was denied approval. The bureau shall include with this list the statement provided in paragraph (2) on its Internet Web site.
  (2) "The following institutions were denied approval to operate by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education for failing to satisfy the standards relating to educational quality, or consumer protection, or both. These unlicensed institutions are not operating in compliance with the law, and students are strongly discouraged from attending these institutions."

The bureau shall conduct an outreach program to secondary school pupils as well as prospective and current private postsecondary students, to provide them with information on how to best select a private postsecondary institution, how to enter into enrollment agreements, how to make informed decisions in the private postsecondary education marketplace, and how to contact the bureau for assistance. The bureau may accomplish the purposes of this section in cooperation with other federal, state, or local entities, or any combination of these entities.

(a) There is within the bureau a 14-member advisory committee. On or before July 1, 2015, the members of the committee shall be appointed as follows:
  (1) Three members, who shall have a demonstrated record of advocacy on behalf of consumers, of which the director, the Senate Committee on Rules, and the Speaker of the Assembly shall each appoint one member.
  (2) Two members, who shall be current or past students of institutions, appointed by the director.
  (3) Three members, who shall be representatives of institutions, appointed by the director.
  (4) Two members, who shall be employers who hire students, appointed by the director.
  (5) One public member appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules.
  (6) One public member appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly.
  (7) Two nonvoting, ex officio members as follows:
  (A) The chair of the policy committee of the Assembly with jurisdiction over legislation relating to the bureau or designee appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly.
  (B) The chair of the policy committee of the Senate with jurisdiction over legislation relating to the bureau or designee appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules.
  (b) (1) A public member shall not, either at the time of his or her appointment or during his or her tenure in office, have any financial interest in any organization currently or previously subject to regulation by the bureau, be a close family member of an employee, officer, or the director of any institution subject to regulation by the bureau, or currently have, or previously have had, a business relationship, in the five years preceding his or her appointment, with any institution subject to regulation by the bureau.
  (2) A public member shall not, within the five years immediately preceding his or her appointment, have engaged in pursuits on behalf of an institution or institutional accreditor or have provided representation to the postsecondary educational industry or a profession regulated by the bureau, if he or she is employed in the industry or a member of the profession, respectively, and he or she shall not engage in those pursuits or provide that representation during his or her term of office.
  (c) The advisory committee shall examine the oversight functions and operational policies of the bureau and advise the bureau with respect to matters relating to private postsecondary education and the administration of this chapter, including annually reviewing the fee schedule and the equity of the schedule relative to the way institutions are structured, and the licensing and enforcement provisions of this chapter. The advisory committee shall make recommendations with respect to policies, practices, and regulations relating to private postsecondary education, and shall provide any assistance as may be requested by the bureau.
  (d) The bureau shall actively seek input from, and consult with, the advisory committee regarding the development of regulations to implement this chapter prior to the adoption, amendment, or repeal of its regulations, and provide the advisory committee with sufficient time to review and comment on those regulations. The bureau shall take into consideration and respond to all feedback provided by members of the advisory committee.
  (e) The bureau chief shall attend all advisory committee meetings and shall designate staff to provide ongoing administrative support to the advisory committee.
  (f) Until January 1, 2017, the director shall personally attend, and testify and answer questions at, each meeting of the advisory committee.
  (g) The advisory committee shall have the same access to records within the Department of Consumer Affairs related to the operation and administration of this chapter as do members of constituent boards of the department in regard to records related to their functions.
  (h) Advisory committee meetings shall be subject to the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act (Article 9 (commencing with Section 11120) of Chapter 1 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code). Advisory committee meeting materials shall be posted on the Internet.
  (i) The advisory committee shall meet at least quarterly and shall appoint a member of the committee to represent the committee for purposes of communicating with the Legislature.
  (j) The Department of Consumer Affairs shall review, and revise if necessary, the department's conflicts of interest regulations to ensure that each advisory committee member is required to disclose conflicts of interest to the public.

(a) (1) The bureau shall establish a task force no later than March 1, 2015, to review standards for educational and training programs specializing in innovative subject matters and instructing students in high-demand technology fields for which there is a demonstrated shortage of skilled employees. The members of the task force may include postsecondary education experts, owners of institutions, consumer advocates focused on education, high technology employers, students of short-term focused high technology training programs, and providers of high technology training in subjects including, but not necessarily limited to, programming, software development, computer science, and coding.
  (2) At least two members of the task force shall be members of the advisory committee. One of these members shall serve as chair of the task force.
  (3) The task force shall transmit a report with its recommendations and findings to the advisory committee no later than January 1, 2016. The task force's report shall include, but not necessarily be limited to, all of the following:
  (A) Whether students attending institutions should receive certain disclosures prior to enrolling in an educational program offered by those institutions.
  (B) Whether the means of reporting student outcomes and the content of those reports are appropriate.
  (C) The steps the state may take to promote the growth of high-quality training programs in skills for high technology occupations.
  (b) The advisory committee shall review and approve, modify, or reject the report prepared pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (a). The bureau shall provide the approved report to the Legislature no later than July 1, 2016.
  (c) The requirement for submitting a report imposed under this subdivision is inoperative on January 1, 2017, pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code.
  (d) The report to be submitted to the Legislature pursuant to subdivision (c) shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.

The bureau may conduct workshops to provide applicants and institutions information on application processes, compliance with this chapter, best practices for providing postsecondary educational programs, and other subjects concerning postsecondary education.

The bureau may empanel visiting committees to assist in evaluating an institution's application for an approval to operate. The members of visiting committees shall serve at no expense to the state, except that the bureau may reimburse the members of visiting committees for actual travel and per diem expenses incurred during the evaluation. The bureau may seek reimbursement for the travel and per diem costs from the institution that is the subject of an evaluation.

(a) Any individual serving on a visiting committee who provides information to the bureau, or its staff, in the course of evaluating any institution, or who testifies in any administrative hearing arising under this chapter, is entitled to a defense and indemnification in any action arising out of the information or testimony provided as if he or she were a public employee.
  (b) Any defense and indemnification shall be solely with respect to the action pursuant to Article 4 (commencing with Section 825) of Chapter 1 of Part 2 of, and Part 7 (commencing with Section 995) of Division 3.6 of Title 1 of, the Government Code.

The bureau is subject to Section 27 of the Business and Professions Code.