Assembly Bill 1051, which promotes the recruitment and retention of nursing faculty, passed the Higher Education Committee on Tuesday.
Authored by Assemblywoman Christy Smith, D-Santa Clarita, AB 1051 seeks to allow community colleges to employ temporary faculty members, who are serving as full-time clinical nursing faculty, for up to four semesters or six quarters.
“Existing law prohibits part-time, temporary faculty from teaching more than 67 percent of a full-time teaching assignment,” the bill’s analysis states, adding, this often leads to a high turnover rate for instructors and loss of continuity in the classroom.
“With our growing baby boomer population and the rise in chronic diseases, California is poised to experience a dramatic growth in demand for nurses — at the same time, our community college nursing programs are impacted across the state,” Smith said in a news release Tuesday. “AB 1051 will help us meet the healthcare needs of our state, while connecting Californians to in-demand jobs in an always growing and needed industry.”
