A professional or applied doctoral degree program established pursuant to this article shall comply with all of the following limitations:

(a) A CSU campus seeking authorization to offer a doctoral degree program pursuant to this article shall submit all of the following for review by the chancellor‘s office, and approval by the trustees:

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(1) Documentation verifying that the proposed doctoral program does not duplicate a UC doctoral degree program that is offered or under review by the UC. The CSU shall, in consultation with the Academic Senate of the CSU, and the UC is requested to, in consultation with the Academic Senate of the UC, develop and agree on criteria for assessing duplication. This criteria shall include both of the following:

(A) Curricular and academic elements of the proposed doctoral program.

(B) Postgraduate professional job objectives for recipients of the proposed doctoral degree.

(2) Enrollment projections for the proposed doctoral program.

(3) An administrative plan for the proposed doctoral program, including, but not limited to, the funding plan for the program.

(4) Statewide workforce data relevant to the proposed doctoral program.

(b) The chancellor shall ensure all of the following for a CSU campus seeking to offer a proposed doctoral program:

(1) The chancellor notifies, in writing, and sends relevant materials on the proposed doctoral program to the president’s office and the President of the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities to allow for consultation on issues of duplication. Proposed doctoral programs shall be submitted for consultation once per year pursuant to a timeline that is mutually agreed upon by the CSU and the UC.

(2) The trustees shall not approve for implementation a proposed doctoral program if the president’s office has, within 120 days of being notified and receiving materials for the proposed doctoral program pursuant to paragraph (1), provided written objections on the basis of duplication.

(3) A proposed doctoral program that receives written objections from the president’s office in compliance with paragraph (1) shall not be approved for implementation by the trustees unless and until a letter indicating a resolution of the written objections and a mutual agreement, signed by both the chancellor and the president, in support of the CSU offering the proposed doctoral program is submitted to the Assembly Committee on Higher Education and the Senate Committee on Education.

(c) (1) Doctoral degree programs that are approved for implementation by the trustees pursuant to this article may be implemented at any CSU campus.

(2) The trustees shall not approve more than 10 new doctoral degree disciplines pursuant to this article per academic year.

(3) The total number of professional or applied doctoral degree programs offered by a CSU campus pursuant to this article shall not, at any time, exceed 25 percent of the total number of undergraduate, graduate through the master’s degree, and professional and teacher education programs offered by the CSU campus.

(Added by Stats. 2023, Ch. 663, Sec. 1. (AB 656) Effective January 1, 2024.)