republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20112012/ab-2296.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "California Private Postsecondary Education Act of 2009."
description: "(1) Existing law, the California Private Postsecondary Education Act of 2009, provides, among other things, for student protections and regulatory oversight of private postsecondary schools in the state. The act is enforced by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education within the Department of Consumer Affairs. The act prohibits an institution, as defined, from, among other things, offering an unaccredited doctoral degree program without disclosing to prospective students prior to enrollment that the degree program is unaccredited, whether the degree issued is in a field that requires licensure in California, and any known limitation of the degree, including, but not limited to, whether the degree is recognized for licensure or certification in California and other states."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "AB 2296"
citation: "California AB 2296 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["California Private Postsecondary Education Act of 2009."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Block"]
version_count: 9
action_count: 34
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2012-02-24"
last_action: "2012-09-26"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/73cd3293-45ce-4a23-9847-c7df61eca410"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2296"
source_hash: "f818e881eb84ad23a6c88cfdfd87ffe2295f68cf1049cfc18de4a8f424d655c4"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California AB 2296 (20112012) — California Private Postsecondary Education Act of 2009.

(1) Existing law, the California Private Postsecondary Education Act of 2009, provides, among other things, for student protections and regulatory oversight of private postsecondary schools in the state. The act is enforced by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education within the Department of Consumer Affairs. The act prohibits an institution, as defined, from, among other things, offering an unaccredited doctoral degree program without disclosing to prospective students prior to enrollment that the degree program is unaccredited, whether the degree issued is in a field that requires licensure in California, and any known limitation of the degree, including, but not limited to, whether the degree is recognized for licensure or certification in California and other states.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **02/24/12 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2296&version=20110AB229699INT)
2. **04/09/12 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2296&version=20110AB229698AMD)
3. **06/13/12 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2296&version=20110AB229697AMD)
4. **06/27/12 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2296&version=20110AB229696AMD)
5. **08/06/12 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2296&version=20110AB229695AMD)
6. **08/21/12 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2296&version=20110AB229694AMD)
7. **09/26/12 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2296&version=20110AB229692CHP)
8. **AB2296** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2296)
9. **09/06/12 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB2296&version=20110AB229693ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations. — **6–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, and re-refer to the Committee on Business, Professions and Economic Development. — **7–2** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading AB2296 Block By Lowenthal — **24–14** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended, and re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. — **6–2** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **5–2** (pass) · upper
- AB 2296 BLOCK Assembly Third Reading — **47–26** (pass) · lower
- AB 2296 BLOCK Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **52–28** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **10–5** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Business, Professions and Consumer Protection. — **5–2** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Block — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2012-02-24** Introduced. To print. `introduction`
- **2012-02-26** From printer. May be heard in committee March 27.
- **2012-02-27** Read first time. `reading-1`
- **2012-03-15** Referred to Coms. on HIGHER ED. and B., P. & C.P. `referral-committee`
- **2012-03-27** In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
- **2012-04-09** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on HIGHER ED. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2012-04-10** Re-referred to Com. on HIGHER ED. `referral-committee`
- **2012-04-17** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2012-04-23** Assembly Rule 56 suspended. (Page 4477.)
- **2012-04-23** Joint Rule 62(a), file notice suspended. (Page 4477.)
- **2012-04-23** (Pending re-referral to Com. on B., P. & C.P.)
- **2012-04-23** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on B., P. & C.P. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (April 23). Re-referred to Com. on B., P. & C.P. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-04-25** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (April 24). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-05-09** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 10. Noes 5.) (May 9). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-05-10** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-05-14** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 47. Noes 26. Page 4826.) `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-05-14** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2012-05-24** Referred to Coms. on ED. and B., P. & E.D. `referral-committee`
- **2012-06-13** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on ED. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2012-06-26** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on B., P. & E.D. (Ayes 7. Noes 2.) (June 20). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-06-27** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on B., P. & E.D. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2012-07-06** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 2.) (July 2). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-08-06** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2012-08-07** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (August 6). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-08-08** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-08-21** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-3, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2012-08-22** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-08-23** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 24. Noes 14. Page 4753.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-08-24** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 28 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2012-08-27** Assembly Rule 77 suspended. (Page 6357.)
- **2012-08-28** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 52. Noes 28. Page 6416.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2012-09-10** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 5:10 p.m.
- **2012-09-26** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2012-09-26** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 585, Statutes of 2012.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/73cd3293-45ce-4a23-9847-c7df61eca410`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).