ARTICLE 1. General Provisions [66900. - 66906.]

Cal. Education Code - EDC 1.

in effect

Cal. Education Code - EDC § 66900. Section 66900.

(a) It is the intent of the Legislature that the California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC) be responsible for coordinating public, independent, and private postsecondary education in California and providing independent policy analyses and recommendations to the Legislature and the Governor on postsecondary education issues. In this respect, the Legislature finds as follows: (1) California, in its adoption of the 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education, established the Coordinating Council for Higher Education, the commission’s predecessor as the statewide coordinating and planning board for higher education. (2) In 1973, the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Higher Education reviewed the 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education and ultimately advanced a report that included recommendations for strengthening California’s higher education plan. The committee’s work resulted in the disestablishment of the Coordinating Council for Higher Education and the establishment of the California Postsecondary Education Commission. (3) Assembly Bill 770 (Chapter 1187 of the Statutes of 1973) strengthened the membership of the commission by having a majority of its members represent the general public. That bill also increased the commission’s responsibilities with respect to advising the Legislature and the Governor on issues related to governance, operation, and financing of higher education in California. (4) Since 1974, the commission has served as the state’s independent planning and coordination agency for postsecondary education policy, responsible for providing analyses and recommendations to the Legislature and the Governor related to long-range planning for public postsecondary education and the state policy and programs involving independent and private postsecondary education sectors. (5) In 1990, Senate Bill 1570 (Chapter 1587 of the Statutes of 1990) codified the commission’s mission statement developed by the 1989 Joint Committee for the Review of the Master Plan for Higher Education. (6) The commission has administered specifically designated federal programs and in July 1993, it was named the state’s designated agency to administer the new federal state postsecondary review entity (SPRE). (b) It is the intent of the Legislature that the commission maintain the essential role it plays in coordinating all sectors of postsecondary education, both public and private, given the size, scope, and complexity of California’s higher education system. (c) It is further the intent of the Legislature, as follows: (1) That the education policy recommendations of the commission shall be a primary consideration in developing state policy and funding for postsecondary education. (2) That the commission shall develop and maintain a data collection system capable of documenting the performance of postsecondary education institutions in meeting the post high school education and training needs of California’s diverse population. (3) That the commission, as the state’s planning and coordinating agency, shall ensure the effective utilization of public postsecondary education resources, thereby eliminating waste and unnecessary duplication, and shall promote diversity, innovation, and responsiveness to student and societal needs. (4) That the commission shall encourage the participation of faculty members, students, administrators, and members of the general public in carrying out its duties and responsibilities.

Cal. Education Code - EDC § 66901. Section 66901.

There is hereby created the California Postsecondary Education Commission, which shall be advisory to the Governor, the Legislature, other appropriate governmental officials, and institutions of postsecondary education. The commission shall be composed of the following members: (a) One representative of the Regents of the University of California designated by the regents, one representative of the Trustees of the California State University designated by the trustees, and one representative of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges designated by the board. Representatives of the regents, the trustees, and the board of governors shall be chosen from among the appointed members of their respective boards, but in no instance shall an ex officio member of a governing board serve on the commission. (b) One representative of the independent California colleges and universities that are formed and operated as nonprofit corporations in this state and are accredited by a regional association that is recognized by the United States Department of Education. This member shall be appointed by the Governor from a list or lists submitted by an association or associations of those institutions. (c) The chair or the designee of the chair of the Council for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education. (d) The President of the State Board of Education or his or her designee from among the other members of the board. (e) Nine representatives of the general public appointed as follows: three by the Governor, three by the Senate Rules Committee, and three by the Speaker of the Assembly. It is the intent of the Legislature that the commission be broadly and equitably representative of the general public in the appointment of its public members and that the appointing authorities, therefore, shall confer to assure that their combined appointments include adequate representation on the basis of sex and on the basis of the significant racial, ethnic, and economic groups in the state. (f) Two student representatives, each of whom shall be enrolled at a California postsecondary education institution at the time of appointment and during the term of service, except that a student member who graduates from an institution with no more than six months of his or her term remaining shall be permitted to serve for the remainder of the term. The Governor shall appoint the student members from persons nominated by the appropriate student organizations of each of the postsecondary education segments. For each student member of the commission, the appropriate student organization may submit a list of nominees. The list shall specify not less than three and not more than five nominees. The appropriate student organization for each segment shall be a composite group of at least five representative student government associations, as determined by the commission. (g) The student member appointed to the commission shall not be enrolled in the same segment as the outgoing student member or in the same segment of the other sitting student member. (h) No person who is employed by any institution of public or private postsecondary education shall be appointed to or serve on the commission, except that a person who is not a permanent, full-time employee and who has part-time teaching duties that do not exceed six hours per week may be appointed to and serve on the commission. The commission members designated in subdivisions (a), (c), and (d) shall serve at the pleasure of their respective appointing authorities. The member designated in subdivision (b) shall serve a three-year term. The members designated in subdivision (e) shall each serve a six-year term. The members designated in subdivision (f) shall each serve a two-year term. The respective appointing authority may appoint an alternate for each member who may, during the member’s absence, serve on the commission and vote on matters before the commission. When vacancies occur prior to expiration of terms, the respective appointing authority may appoint a member for the remainder of the term. Any person appointed pursuant to this section may be reappointed to serve additional terms. All terms subsequent to the initial appointments, which became effective on January 10, 1974, shall begin on January 1 of the year in which the respective terms are to start. Any person appointed pursuant to this section who no longer has the position that made him or her eligible for appointment may nonetheless complete his or her term of office on the commission. No person appointed pursuant to this section shall, with respect to any matter before the commission, vote for or on behalf of, or in any way exercise the vote of, any other member of the commission. The commission shall meet as often as it deems necessary to carry out its duties and responsibilities. Any member of the commission who in any calendar year misses more than one-third of the meetings of the full commission forfeits his or her office, thereby creating a vacancy. The commission shall select a chair from among the members representing the general public. The chair shall hold office for a term of one year and may be selected to successive terms. There is established an advisory committee to the commission and the director, consisting of the chief executive officers of each of the public segments, or their designees, the Superintendent of Public Instruction or his or her designee, and an executive officer from each of the groups of institutions designated in subdivisions (b) and (c) to be designated by the respective commission representative from these groups. Commission meeting agenda items and associated documents shall be provided to the committee in a timely manner for its consideration and comments. The commission may appoint any subcommittees or advisory committees it deems necessary to advise the commission on matters of educational policy. The advisory committees may consist of commission members or nonmembers, or both, including students, faculty members, segmental representatives, governmental representatives, and representatives of the public. The commission shall appoint and may remove a director in the manner hereafter specified. The director shall appoint persons to any staff positions the commission may authorize. The commission shall prescribe rules for the transaction of its own affairs, subject, however, to all the following requirements and limitations: (1) The votes of all representatives shall be recorded. (2) Effective action shall require the affirmative vote of a majority of all the duly appointed members of the commission, not including vacant commission seats. (3) The affirmative votes of two-thirds of all the duly appointed members of the commission, not including vacant commission seats, shall be necessary to the appointment of the director.

Cal. Education Code - EDC § 66902. Section 66902.

The commission shall have power to require the governing boards and the institutions of public postsecondary education to submit data on plans and programs, costs, selection and retention of students, enrollments, plant capacities and other matters pertinent to effective planning, policy development, articulation and coordination, and shall furnish information concerning such matters to the Governor and to the Legislature as requested by them.

Cal. Education Code - EDC § 66902.5. Section 66902.5.

Unless otherwise specified, reports submitted to the Legislature by the California Postsecondary Education Commission shall be delivered to the Senate and Assembly budget subcommittees on education, the Senate education and Assembly higher education policy committees, the Legislative Analyst’s Office, the Office of the Governor, and the Department of Finance. Unless otherwise specified, these reports may be submitted in PDF format or comparable electronic format.

Cal. Education Code - EDC § 66903. Section 66903.

The commission has the following functions and responsibilities in its capacity as the statewide postsecondary education planning and coordinating agency and adviser to the Legislature and the Governor: (a) It shall require the governing boards of the segments of public postsecondary education to develop and submit to the commission institutional and systemwide long-range plans in a form determined by the commission after consultation with the segments. (b) It shall prepare a state plan for postsecondary education that shall integrate the planning efforts of the public segments with other pertinent plans. The commission shall seek to resolve conflicts or inconsistencies among segmental plans in consultation with the segments. If these consultations are unsuccessful, the commission shall report the unresolved issues to the Legislature with recommendations for resolution. In developing the plan, the commission shall consider at least the following factors: (1) The need for, and location of, new facilities. (2) The range and kinds of programs appropriate to each institution or system. (3) The budgetary priorities of the institutions and systems of postsecondary education. (4) The impact of various types and levels of student charges on students and on postsecondary education programs and institutions. (5) The appropriate levels of state-funded student financial aid. (6) The access and admission of students to postsecondary education. (7) The educational programs and resources of independent and private postsecondary institutions. (8) The provisions of this division differentiating the functions of the public systems of higher education. (c) It shall update the plan periodically, as appropriate. (d) It shall participate in appropriate stages of the executive and the legislative budget processes as requested by the executive and the legislative branches, and shall advise the executive and the legislative branches as to whether segmental programmatic budgetary requests are compatible with the state plan. It is not intended that the commission hold independent budget hearings. (e) It shall advise the Legislature and the Governor regarding the need for, and location of, new institutions and campuses of public higher education. (f) It shall review proposals by the public segments for new programs, the priorities that guide them, and the degree of coordination with nearby public, independent, and private postsecondary educational institutions, and shall make recommendations regarding those proposals to the Legislature and the Governor. (g) In consultation with the public segments, it shall establish a schedule for segmental review of selected educational programs, evaluate the program approval, review, and disestablishment processes of the segments, and report its findings and recommendations to the Legislature and the Governor. (h) It shall serve as a stimulus to the segments and institutions of postsecondary education by projecting and identifying societal and educational needs and encouraging adaptability to change. (i) It shall periodically collect or conduct, or both collect and conduct, studies of projected manpower supply and demand, in cooperation with appropriate state agencies, and disseminate the results of those studies to institutions of postsecondary education and to the public in order to improve the information base upon which student choices are made. (j) It shall periodically review and make recommendations concerning the need for, and availability of, postsecondary programs for adult and continuing education. (k) It shall develop criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of all aspects of postsecondary education. ( l ) It shall maintain and update annually an inventory of all off-campus programs and facilities for education, research, and community services operated by public and independent institutions of postsecondary education. (m) (1) It shall act as a clearinghouse for postsecondary education information and as a primary source of information for the Legislature, the Governor, and other agencies. It shall develop and maintain a comprehensive data base that does all of the following: (A) Ensures comparability of data from diverse sources. (B) Supports longitudinal studies of individual students as they progress through the state’s postsecondary educational institutions, based upon the commission’s existing student data base through the use of a unique student identifier. (C) Is compatible with the California School Information System and the student information systems developed and maintained by the public segments of higher education, as appropriate. (D) Provides Internet access to data, as appropriate, to the sectors of higher education. (E) Provides each of the educational segments access to the data made available to the commission for the purposes of the data base, in order to support, most efficiently and effectively, statewide, segmental, and individual campus educational research information needs. (2) The commission, in implementing paragraph (1), shall comply with the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 1232g) relating to the disclosure of personally identifiable information concerning students. (3) The commission may not make available any personally identifiable information received from a postsecondary educational institution concerning students for any regulatory purpose unless the institution has authorized the commission to provide that information on behalf of the institution. (4) The commission shall provide 30-day notification to the chairpersons of the appropriate legislative policy and budget committees of the Legislature, to the Director of Finance, and to the Governor prior to making any significant changes to the student information contained in the data base. (n) It shall establish criteria for state support of new and existing programs, in consultation with the public segments, the Department of Finance, and the Joint Legislative Budget Committee. (o) It shall comply with the appropriate provisions of the federal Education Amendments of 1972 (P.L. 92-318), as specified in Section 67000. (p) It shall consider the relationship among academic education and vocational education and job training programs, and shall actively consult with representatives of public and private education. (q) It shall review all proposals for changes in eligibility pools for admission to public institutions and segments of postsecondary education and shall make recommendations to the Legislature, the Governor, and institutions of postsecondary education. In carrying out this subdivision, the commission periodically shall conduct a study of the percentages of California public high school graduates estimated to be eligible for admission to the University of California and the California State University. The changes made to this subdivision during the 2001–02 Regular Session of the Legislature shall be implemented only during those fiscal years for which funding is provided for the purposes of those provisions in the annual Budget Act or in another measure. (r) It shall report periodically to the Legislature and the Governor regarding the financial conditions of independent institutions, their enrollment and application figures, the number of student spaces available, and the respective cost of utilizing those spaces as compared to providing additional public spaces. The reports shall include recommendations concerning state policies and programs having a significant impact on independent institutions. (s) Upon request of the Legislature or the Governor, it shall submit to the Legislature and the Governor a report on all matters so requested that are compatible with its role as the statewide postsecondary education planning and coordinating agency. Upon request of individual Members of the Legislature or personnel in the executive branch, the commission shall submit information or a report on any matter to the extent that sufficient resources are available. From time to time, it also may submit to the Legislature and the Governor a report that contains recommendations as to necessary or desirable changes, if any, in the functions, policies, and programs of the several segments of public, independent, and private postsecondary education. (t) In consultation with the public segments, it shall consider the development of facilities to be used by more than one segment of public higher education, commonly called “joint-use facilities.” It shall recommend to the Legislature criteria and processes for different segments to utilize bond funds for these intersegmental, joint-use facilities. (u) It may undertake other functions and responsibilities that are compatible with its role as the statewide postsecondary education planning and coordinating agency.

Cal. Education Code - EDC § 66903.1. Section 66903.1.

To the extent that the functions and tasks assigned to the California Postsecondary Education Commission by state law cannot all be performed with the funding provided in the annual Budget Act, it is the intent of the Legislature that the commission prioritize its workload to ensure, at a minimum, that the following responsibilities are completed in a timely manner: (a) All reviews and recommendations of the need for new institutions for the public higher education segments, inclusive of community colleges, pursuant to subdivision (e) of Section 66903. (b) All reviews and recommendations of the need for new programs for the public higher education segments, inclusive of community colleges, pursuant to subdivision (f) of Section 66903. (c) Consistent with the role of the commission pursuant to Section 67002, serve as the designated state educational agency to carry out federal education programs, pursuant to subdivision (o) of Section 66903. (d) All data management responsibilities pursuant to subdivision (m) of Section 66903 and data reporting pursuant to the adoption of legislation that establishes a higher education accountability framework.

Cal. Education Code - EDC § 66903.2. Section 66903.2.

The Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development shall consult with the commission in the development by the office of its Health Manpower Plan and recommendations for meeting the needs in California for health science personnel. This consultation shall focus on whether health science education enrollment levels are adequate to meet the state’s health manpower needs by category and specialty within each category.

Cal. Education Code - EDC § 66903.3. Section 66903.3.

The commission may delegate to the executive director any power, duty, purpose, function, or jurisdiction that the commission may lawfully delegate, including the authority to enter into and sign contracts on behalf of the commission. The executive director may redelegate any of those powers, duties, purposes, functions, or jurisdictions to his or her designee, unless by statute, or rule or regulation, the executive director is expressly required to act personally.

Cal. Education Code - EDC § 66904. Section 66904.

It is the intent of the Legislature that sites for new institutions or branches of the University of California and the California State University, and the classes of off-campus centers as the commission shall determine, shall not be authorized or acquired unless recommended by the commission. It is further the intent of the Legislature that California community colleges shall not receive state funds for acquisition of sites or construction of new institutions, branches, or off-campus centers unless recommended by the commission. Acquisition or construction of nonstate-funded community college institutions, branches, and off-campus centers, and proposals for acquisition or construction shall be reported to, and may be reviewed and commented upon by, the commission. It is further the intent of the Legislature that existing or new institutions of public education, other than those described in subdivision (a) of Section 66010, shall not be authorized to offer instruction beyond the 14th grade level. All proposals for new postsecondary educational programs shall be forwarded to the commission for review together with supporting materials and documents that the commission may specify. The commission shall review the proposals within a reasonable length of time, which time shall not exceed 60 days following submission of the program and the specified materials and documents. For the purposes of this section, “new postsecondary educational programs” means all proposals for new schools or colleges, all series of courses arranged in a scope or sequence leading to (1) a graduate or undergraduate degree, or (2) a certificate of a type defined by the commission, which have not appeared in a segment’s or district’s academic plan within the previous two years, and all proposals for new research institutes or centers which have not appeared in a segment’s or district’s academic plan within the previous two years. It is further the intent of the Legislature that the advice of the commission be utilized in reaching decisions on requests for funding new and continuing graduate and professional programs, enrollment levels, and capital outlay for existing and new campuses, colleges, and off-campus centers.

Cal. Education Code - EDC § 66905. Section 66905.

It is the intent of the Legislature that the California Postsecondary Education Commission annually review and fix the salary of its director according to a methodology established by the commission. This methodology shall take into consideration the salary of directors of coordinating boards for higher education in states with postsecondary education systems comparable to California’s in size, complexity, and level of state expenditures. The comparison states shall include seven major industrial states, including Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Texas. The commission shall notify the Chairperson of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee of this annual salary amount. Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 19825 of the Government Code, the salary shall become effective no sooner than 30 days after written notice of the salary is provided to the chairperson of the committee, or no sooner than a lesser time as the chairperson, or his or her designee, may determine.

Cal. Education Code - EDC § 66906. Section 66906.

Each member of the commission shall receive a stipend of fifty dollars ($50) for each day in which he or she attends any meeting of the commission or any meeting of any committee or subcommittee of the commission, of which committee or subcommittee he or she is a member, and which committee or subcommittee meeting is conducted for the purpose of carrying out the powers and duties of the commission and, in addition, shall receive his or her actual and necessary traveling expenses incurred in the course of his or her duties.

Source: CA Legislative Counsel Bulk DataURL: https://downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/pubinfo_2025.zipFetched: 6/27/2026