By Julia Thompson

SB 895 (Roth), as amended August 22, 2024, and AB 2104 (Soria), as amended May 16, 2024, would add and repeal Article 3.3 of Chapter 1 of Part 48 of Division 7 of Title 3 of the Education Code to require the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to develop a Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing Pilot Program that authorizes select community college districts to offer a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree.

SB 895 and AB 2104 both intend to address the nursing shortage in California. California is ranked 40th out of 50 states in nurses per capita, with 995 registered nurses for every 100,000 people. During the 2021–2022 school year, California Nursing programs turned away 74.2% or 47,687 qualified applicants. The goal is to allow for a higher capacity of nursing students to be enrolled in qualified educational programs.

Currently, community colleges are only permitted to award Associate Degrees in Nursing. Both bills would add article 3.3, beginning with section 78045, to California’s Education Code, expanding the educational availability for community colleges. Section 78045 would require the Chancellor to develop a pilot program allowing select community colleges to award Bachelor of Science in nursing. The Senate and Assembly have concurred on both bills, which have been presented to the Governor for approval as of September 2024.

Both bills set their pilot program to a limited 10 community college districts statewide, and both require criteria for selection of eligible community college districts by whether there is equitable access between the northern, central, and southern parts of the state for underserved nursing areas. SB 895 goes further in the stated criteria, which requires the Chancellor to give positive consideration to a given community college district if the community colleges have concurrent educational enrollment partnership with a California State University, University of California, or independent institution of higher education for an associate degree in nursing to Bachelor of Science in nursing.

SB 895 provides a more detailed accounting of the evaluations. The Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) would evaluate the program using 11 set criteria, including, but not limited to, the number of community colleges that applied for the program, the time-to-degree rate and completion rates for each pilot program, and the cost charged to students, including tuition and additional fees. LAO would submit the evaluation results on or before July 1, 2031.

The Board of Registered Nursing (BRN) discussed and voted to support SB 895 during its June 20, 2024, meeting. In its bill analysis, BRN stated that the bill would have little fiscal impact and listed 80 supporting entities, with nine in opposition.

The Governor has until September 30, 2024, to either sign or veto the bills.