BILL NUMBER: AB 2181	CHAPTERED  09/14/06

	CHAPTER  273
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  SEPTEMBER 14, 2006
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR  SEPTEMBER 14, 2006
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  AUGUST 14, 2006
	PASSED THE SENATE  AUGUST 10, 2006
	AMENDED IN SENATE  AUGUST 7, 2006

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Salinas

                        FEBRUARY 22, 2006

   An act to amend Section 48293 of the Education Code, relating to
truants, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect
immediately.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2181, Salinas  Truants: parents: court authority.
   (1) Existing law, until January 1, 2006, specifically authorizes a
court to order the parent, guardian, or other person having control
or charge of a pupil, who is convicted of failing to comply with
compulsory attendance laws, as specified, to immediately enroll the
child in the appropriate school or educational program and provide
proof of enrollment to the court. Existing law provides that a
willful violation of that order is punishable as civil contempt with
a fine of up to $1,000.
   This bill would delete the January 1, 2006, limitation thereby
extending indefinitely the authority of a court over a person who
fails to comply with the compulsory attendance laws, as specified.
   The bill would also delete an obsolete provision of existing law.

   (2) The bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately
as an urgency statute.


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


  SECTION 1.  Section 48293 of the Education Code is amended to read:

   48293.  (a) Any parent, guardian, or other person having control
or charge of any pupil who fails to comply with this chapter, unless
excused or exempted therefrom, is guilty of an infraction and shall
be punished as follows:
   (1) Upon a first conviction, by a fine of not more than one
hundred dollars ($100).
   (2) Upon a second conviction, by a fine of not more than two
hundred fifty dollars ($250).
   (3) Upon a third or subsequent conviction, if the person has
willfully refused to comply with this section, by a fine of not more
than five hundred dollars ($500). In lieu of imposing the fines
prescribed in paragraphs (1), (2), and (3), the court may order the
person to be placed in a parent education and counseling program.
   (b) A judgment that a person convicted of an infraction be
punished as prescribed in subdivision (a) may also provide for the
payment of the fine within a specified time or in specified
installments, or for participation in the program. A judgment
granting a defendant time to pay the fine or prescribing the days of
attendance in a program shall order that if the defendant fails to
pay the fine, or any installment thereof, on the date that it is due,
or fails to attend a program on a prescribed date, he or she shall
appear in court on that date for further proceedings. Willful
violation of the order is punishable as contempt.
   (c) The court may also order that the person convicted of the
violation of subdivision (a) immediately enroll or reenroll the pupil
in the appropriate school or educational program and provide proof
of enrollment to the court.  Willful violation of an order under this
subdivision is punishable as civil contempt with a fine of up to one
thousand dollars ($1,000). An order of contempt under this
subdivision shall not include imprisonment.
  SEC. 2.  This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
   In order to ensure that pupils are enrolled or reenrolled in an
appropriate school or educational program for the ensuing 2006-07
school year, it is necessary that this bill take effect immediately.