BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Jack Scott, Chair
2007-2008 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 88
AUTHOR: Lieu
AMENDED: May 21, 2007
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: June 20, 2007
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Lynn Lorber
SUBJECT : Internet Safety
SUMMARY
This bill requires the California Department of Education
to develop, by January 1, 2009, and maintain a
comprehensive list of Internet safety resources for use by
schools.
BACKGROUND
Current law requires:
1) A school district to have a current 3- to 5-year
education technology plan as a precondition to
receiving a technology grant administered by the
California Department of Education (CDE).
2) The Superintendent of Public Instruction to develop,
by July 1, 2007, guidelines and criteria for districts
to use to develop an education technology plan. The
guidelines and criteria must include a component on
Internet safety and topics such as plagiarism and the
significance of a copyright.
The Department of Consumer Affairs has convened the
California Coalition for Children's Internet Safety
(Coalition) to develop policies and pursue efforts to
ensure safety for children using the Internet. The
Department of Consumer Affairs has created the Cyber Safety
for Children website that will soon include the California
Cyber Safety Resource Center to provide an annotated list
and links to Internet safety resources for parents and
schools. The Department of Consumer Affairs will
reportedly work with the Coalition to develop public
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service announcements and printed educational materials and
conduct outreach activities.
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ANALYSIS
This bill requires:
1) The California Department of Education (CDE) to
develop, by January 1, 2009, and maintain a
comprehensive list of Internet safety resources for
use by local educational agencies.
2) The list of Internet safety resources to include, but
are not limited to:
a) Safe and responsible navigation and
communication.
b) Keeping personal information and photographs
private.
c) Recognizing and reporting solicitations by
sexual predators online.
d) Recognizing and avoiding unsolicited
communications.
e) Spyware countermeasures.
f) Copyrights, plagiarism, and illegal file
sharing.
3) The CDE to distribute, and make available on its
Internet website, the list of Internet safety
resources to local educational agencies.
4) The CDE to consult with regional and national experts
and advocates on emerging Internet safety concerns and
educational solutions.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Is this bill necessary ? Nothing prohibits the
Department of Education from compiling a list of
Internet safety resources and schools may currently
gather information about Internet safety resources. A
similar approach with regard to Internet safety
curriculum guidelines was vetoed last year.
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2) Duplicative of current efforts ? According to the
Department of Consumer Affairs' plans for the creation
of the California Cyber Safety Resource Center, the
list of and links to Internet safety resources will
have separate categories for educators and schools,
parents and families, and law enforcement.
Considering that this Resource Center is expected to
be online within one month and will have a category of
resources specifically for schools, and if this
Committee chooses to pass this bill, staff recommends
amendments to delete the requirement that the CDE
develop a list of resources and instead require the
CDE to work with the Resource Center in the
development of the list and links and to ensure that
schools are provided with that information.
3) Fiscal impact . According to the Assembly
Appropriations Committee analysis, this bill would
impose on-going General Fund costs, likely less than
$125,000, to the CDE to designate personnel to develop
Internet safety resources and distribute them to
schools.
4) Prior legislation . AB 1740 (Murray, 2006) would have
required the CDE to develop and maintain Internet
safety curriculum guidelines for use by schools. AB
1740 was vetoed by the Governor, whose message read:
I believe that Internet safety is important,
which is why I signed AB 307 (Chavez, 2006) into
law, which requires the Superintendent of Public
Instruction, by July 1, 2007, to develop
guidelines for information regarding the safe use
of the Internet that should be included in a
school districts education technology plan.
Unfortunately, this bill circumvents the role of
the State Board of Education (SBE) by giving the
authority for the development and dissemination
of curriculum to the California Department of
Education without the approval of the SBE.
The Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) has
already convened the California Coalition for
Children's Internet Safety (CCCIS) and will host
the first statewide Cyber Safety Summit in
October. The Summit will address the dangers our
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children face in cyberspace and provide the
necessary training and resources to keep them
safe. The Summit is intended to target, among
others, parents/PTA organizations, educators,
community leaders, and child safety advocates.
Prior to developing any state wide guidelines, we
should first take the information presented at
the Summit and review recommendations from the
CCCIS to ensure that any approach to Internet
safety is comprehensive and addresses the
individual needs of local education agencies. I
believe this is a proactive, direct approach to
address Internet safety.
SB 338 (Maldonado, 2005) would have authorized the CDE
to identify existing Internet safety programs and make
the information available on its web site for use in
public schools. SB 338 was vetoed by the Governor,
whose message read:
While I believe that Internet safety is
important, this bill does virtually nothing to
ensure districts do more to protect students from
accessing inappropriate websites. The
Superintendent of Public Instruction has the
authority and should already be taking all of the
necessary steps to protect children in schools
even without this bill.
SUPPORT
American Electronics Association
American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees
AOL
California Family Council
California Organization of Police and Sheriffs
California State PTA
Internet Alliance
Microsoft Corporation
Motion Picture Association of America
Symantec Corporation
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OPPOSITION
Department of Finance