BILL NUMBER: SB 29	ENROLLED
	BILL TEXT

	PASSED THE SENATE  AUGUST 20, 2008
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  AUGUST 18, 2008
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  AUGUST 12, 2008
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JUNE 5, 2007

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Simitian

                        DECEMBER 4, 2006

   An act to add and repeal Section 46001 of the Education Code,
relating to pupils.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 29, Simitian. Pupil attendance: electronic monitoring.
   Existing law requires that attendance in all schools and classes
shall be recorded and kept according to regulations prescribed by the
State Board of Education or as specified.
   This bill would require a public school, school district, and
county office of education that issues a device that uses radio
frequency identification for the purpose of recording attendance or
establishing or tracking the location of a pupil to notify and obtain
written consent from the pupil's parent or guardian before the radio
frequency identification device may be issued to the pupil. The bill
would require a public school, school district, or county office of
education that implements radio frequency identification to take
certain steps to ensure that the privacy interests of the pupil under
state and federal law are protected. The bill would repeal these
provisions as of January 1, 2011.


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

  SECTION 1.  Section 46001 is added to the Education Code, to read:
   46001.  (a) If a local educational agency chooses to issue to a
pupil a device that uses radio frequency identification (RFID) for
the purpose of recording attendance or establishing or tracking the
location of the pupil, the local educational agency shall notify and
obtain written consent from the pupil's parent or guardian before the
RFID device may be issued to the pupil.
   (b) A local educational agency shall not condition privileges or
opportunities for a pupil on whether the pupil's parent or guardian
consents to the issuance of an RFID device, and shall not retaliate
against a pupil or the pupil's parent or guardian for refusing to
consent to the issuance of an RFID device.
   (c) The consent form shall be a separate document that is used
solely for the purpose of obtaining consent for the issuance of an
RFID device, and shall not be used to obtain consent for any other
matter. The consent form may be attached to other documents,
including other consent forms.
   (d) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:

   (1) "Local educational agency" means a public school, school
district, or county office of education.
   (2) "Notify" means providing a notice written in plain language
that is provided at the beginning of each school year pursuant to
subdivision (a) of Section 48980, that contains the following:
   (A) A description of how RFID will be used by the local
educational agency, and how the RFID technology operates, including
the fact that the device uses radio waves to transmit data or enable
information to be read remotely.
   (B) The kinds of information about, or associated with, a pupil
that the local educational agency may collect, maintain, or transmit
with the RFID device.
   (C) The location of RFID readers under the control of the local
educational agency, on and off of school grounds.
   (D) The location of RFID tags issued to pupils, such as those
incorporated into pupil identification cards.
   (E) An explanation of the privacy and security risks commonly
associated with the use of RFID technology, and measures a pupil may
use to help control the risk that his or her information will be read
remotely without the pupil's knowledge.
   (F) A general description of the steps the local educational
agency has taken to ensure that its use of RFID for pupil attendance
or location tracking purposes is consistent with a pupil's privacy
rights under state and federal laws.
   (3) "Information about, or associated with, a pupil" includes, but
is not limited to, name, address, telephone number, e-mail address,
date of birth, religion, ethnicity, photograph, fingerprint or other
biometric identifier, school identification number, state student
identification number, driver's license number, California
identification card number, social security number, or any other
unique identifier of the pupil.
   (4) "Radio frequency identification" or "RFID" means the use of
electromagnetic radiating waves or reactive field coupling in the
radio frequency portion of the spectrum to communicate to or from a
tag or reader through a variety of modulation and encoding schemes.
   (5) "Reader" means a scanning device that is capable of using RFID
to communicate remotely with a tag.
   (6) "Remotely" means that no physical contact between a tag and a
reader is necessary in order to transmit information.
   (7) "Tag" means either an RFID device having the ability to
produce a radio signal or an RFID device that recouples,
backscatters, or reflects, depending on the type of device, and
modulates a carrier signal received from a reader.
   (e) In implementing this section the local educational agency
shall do all of the following:
   (1) Take steps to ensure that the privacy rights of the parent,
guardian, and pupil under state and federal law are protected.
   (2) When seeking consent of the parent or guardian pursuant to
this section, takes steps to ensure that the privacy interests of the
pupil are protected when those interests diverge from the interests
of the parent or guardian pursuant to principles set forth generally
in In re S. (1977) 19 Cal.3d 921 and Am. Acad. of Pediatrics v.
Lungren (1997) 16 Cal.4th 307.
   (f) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2011, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2011, deletes or extends
that date.