BILL NUMBER: AB 2581	CHAPTERED
	BILL TEXT

	CHAPTER  158
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  AUGUST 28, 2006
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR  AUGUST 28, 2006
	PASSED THE SENATE  AUGUST 10, 2006
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  MAY 11, 2006
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 27, 2006

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Members Yee and Nation

                        FEBRUARY 24, 2006

   An act to amend Section 66301 of the Education Code, relating to
postsecondary education.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2581, Yee  Postsecondary education: student conduct.
   Existing law prohibits the Regents of the University of
California, upon their adoption of a specified resolution, and the
Trustees of the California State University and the governing board
of a community college district, from making or enforcing any rule
subjecting a student to disciplinary sanction solely on the basis of
conduct that is speech or other communication that, when engaged in
outside a campus is protected from governmental restriction by
specified provisions of the California Constitution or the United
States Constitution. Existing law provides that nothing in this
provision shall be construed to authorize any prior restraint of
student speech.
   This bill would additionally prohibit any administrator of any
campus of those institutions from making or enforcing any rule
subjecting a student to disciplinary sanction solely on the basis of
conduct that is speech or other communication that, when engaged in
outside a campus, is protected from governmental restriction by
specified provisions of the California Constitution or the United
States Constitution. The bill would also prohibit its provisions from
being construed to authorize any prior restraint of the student
press.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Section 66301 of the Education Code is amended to read:

   66301.  (a) Neither the Regents of the University of California,
the Trustees of the California State University, the governing board
of any community college district, nor any administrator of any
campus of those institutions, shall make or enforce any rule
subjecting any student to disciplinary sanction solely on the basis
of conduct that is speech or other communication that, when engaged
in outside a campus of those institutions, is protected from
governmental restriction by the First Amendment to the United States
Constitution or Section 2 of Article 1 of the California
Constitution.
   (b) Any student enrolled in an institution, as specified in
subdivision (a), that has made or enforced any rule in violation of
subdivision (a) may commence a civil action to obtain appropriate
injunctive and declaratory relief as determined by the court. Upon a
motion, a court may award attorney's fees to a prevailing plaintiff
in a civil action pursuant to this section.
   (c) Nothing in this section shall be construed to authorize any
prior restraint of student speech or the student press.
   (d) Nothing in this section prohibits the imposition of discipline
for harassment, threats, or intimidation, unless constitutionally
protected.
   (e) Nothing in this section prohibits an institution from adopting
rules and regulations that are designed to prevent hate violence, as
defined in subdivision (a) of Section 4 of Chapter 1363 of the
Statutes of 1992, from being directed at students in a manner that
denies them their full participation in the educational process, if
the rules and regulations conform to standards established by the
First Amendment to the United States Constitution and Section 2 of
Article 1 of the California Constitution for citizens generally.