California lawmakers look to settle turf war over community college bachelor’s degrees

CSU objections – California lawmakers are weighing Senate Bill 960 and Assembly Bill 2694 to limit when California State University campuses can object to new community college bachelor’s degree programs, especially when the four-year schools are far away. Supporters say the c

The delay had become a kind of background noise for San Diego Mesa College—approve it locally. then watch it stall across the finish line for years. For the Mesa campus. the fight over whether its proposed physical therapy assistant bachelor’s degree duplicated a CSU offering became a lesson in how geography can turn into a gate. not a guide.

Now, California lawmakers are trying to settle that tug-of-war. Two bills—Senate Bill 960 and Assembly Bill 2694—would bar California State University and other four-year universities from objecting to new community college bachelor’s degree programs unless they are located in the same geographic area as the community college proposing the degree.

Under existing law. California community colleges are permitted to create bachelor’s degrees that address workforce needs. but only if they don’t duplicate what’s offered at California’s four-year universities. That condition has fueled an ongoing turf war between the state’s two largest higher education systems. California State University campuses have frequently lodged objections to new community college degrees. and those protests have delayed final approvals for years.

Community college officials have argued that CSU campuses shouldn’t be able to claim duplication when they aren’t located close to the community college. Legislation being considered would force a different standard: duplication objections would become a regional concern. tied to the community college’s geographic area.

Assemblymember David Alvarez, D-San Diego, framed the goal in access terms. “The north star here is providing more access to bachelor’s degree programs to students who don’t have access to many of our CSUs up and down the state. ” he said. Alvarez is the author of Assembly Bill 2694, while Senate Bill 960 is authored by Sen. Christopher Cabaldon, D-West Sacramento.

Both bills would also limit another pressure point for community colleges: even when a new degree is similar to a nearby CSU offering, colleges could still proceed if they can demonstrate a workforce need not being filled by the four-year university’s program.

Alvarez’s bill has support from dozens of community college districts and campuses, including some of the state’s largest districts such as the San Diego Community College District and some of the state’s smallest and most remote colleges, including College of the Siskiyous.

Carole Goldsmith. chancellor of the State Center Community College District—which includes four colleges in the San Joaquin Valley—said her system has been trying to navigate a process with unclear boundaries. “We’re trying to navigate this process. and there has not always been a clear and consistent definition of what constitutes duplication. We just want some clear boundaries,” Goldsmith said.

CSU officials were not available for an interview for this story. But CSU did make its position clear in a letter to lawmakers. arguing that the state should focus on improving transfer pathways between community colleges and CSU campuses rather than expanding community college bachelor’s degrees. Christopher Morales. a senior legislative advocate at CSU. wrote that “Existing pathways. particularly the Associate Degree for Transfer and the Transfer Success Pathway. are the most affordable. proven and scalable route to a bachelor’s degree. offering a clear two-year community college to two-year CSU pathway with guaranteed admission.”.

The immediate legislative trajectory reflects how quickly this fight may shift from campuses to committees. Alvarez’s bill cleared the Assembly last month and is scheduled to be heard by the Senate Education Committee on July 1. SB 960, which similarly sailed through the Senate, will be heard Tuesday in the Assembly Higher Education Committee. It is likely that at some point the two bills will merge.

Still, the question that may decide the timeline for students and employers is political as well as procedural: whether Gov. Gavin Newsom will sign the final measure. Newsom has previously vetoed other bills that aimed to expand community college bachelor’s degree programs. Last year, he vetoed AB 1400, which would have authorized 10 community college districts to create bachelor’s degrees in nursing. In that veto message, Newsom encouraged community colleges to “focus on implementing” degrees that existing law already permits.

That existing law is already structured to permit growth—AB 927. signed in 2021. allows community colleges to create up to 30 new bachelor’s degrees annually. provided they don’t duplicate what’s offered at CSU. the University of California. or the state’s private four-year colleges. Across the state. more than 60 community college bachelor’s degree programs have been created for majors including respiratory care. cyberdefense. and water resource management.

The problem is that “permitted” doesn’t always mean “approved on time.” For at least some programs, CSU objections have kept degrees stuck in limbo for years.

San Diego Mesa College’s physical therapy assistant degree is one of the clearest examples described here. The program was locally approved in 2023, then its final statewide approval was delayed after an objection by CSU San Bernardino. CSU San Bernardino offers a degree in kinesiology.

In Mesa’s case. community college officials argued that CSU San Bernardino did not have a genuine claim of duplication because the two campuses are located about 95 miles apart. That argument was backed by a WestEd report published last year. The community college system contracted WestEd, a nonprofit organization, to analyze CSU’s duplication objections to 16 proposed degrees.

For the Mesa program. WestEd found that very few students transfer from Mesa to San Bernardino. suggesting the two campuses aren’t competing for the same students. CSU San Bernardino never formally dropped its objection to Mesa’s degree. but state community college officials approved the program anyway earlier this year.

For Greg Smith, chancellor of the San Diego Community College District—which includes the Mesa campus—the delay is both personal and practical. He said he’s grateful the degree was finally approved, but he lamented the length of time it took.

“We could have been graduating our first cohort this year if we’d had a timely process for getting it approved,” Smith said. “The harm that was caused in the short term, for our students and for our local employers, you can’t go back and undo that.”

Smith said he’s hopeful one of the two bills under consideration will become law and prevent similar delays in the future. “Making duplication a regional concern. not a statewide concern. makes a ton of policy sense and would accelerate the pace with which our colleges could propose and then actually implement degree programs to serve their area. ” he said.

For Mesa, the timeline has now shifted to what comes next. The physical therapy assistant bachelor’s degree is set to be tailored to licensed physical therapist assistants who want to learn additional skills, and the program is scheduled to enroll its first cohort in fall 2027.

In the end, the bills being considered in Sacramento are aimed at something simple to name but hard to live with: a process where one system’s objections can freeze a community college program long after local approval is already won.

California community colleges CSU objections bachelor’s degree programs Senate Bill 960 Assembly Bill 2694 duplication rules higher education policy WestEd report AB 927 Gov. Gavin Newsom veto