BILL NUMBER: SB 1370 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senator Yee
FEBRUARY 21, 2008
An act to amend Sections 48907, 48950, and 66301 of the Education
Code, relating to education.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1370, as introduced, Yee. Education: Journalism Teacher
Protection Act.
(1) Existing law grants to public school pupils the right to
exercise freedom of speech and of the press, as specified. Existing
law also prohibits school districts operating one or more high
schools and private secondary schools from making or enforcing a rule
that subjects a high school pupil to disciplinary sanctions solely
on the basis of conduct that is speech or other communication that is
protected by specified provisions of the United States Constitution
and the California Constitution.
This bill would prohibit an employee from being dismissed,
suspended, disciplined, reassigned, transferred, or otherwise
retaliated against for acting to protect a pupil's conduct authorized
or protected pursuant to those provisions.
(2) Existing law prohibits the Regents of the University of
California, the Trustees of the California State University, and the
governing board of a community college district from making or
enforcing a rule subjecting a student to disciplinary sanction solely
on the basis of conduct that is speech or other communication that
is protected by specified provisions of the United States
Constitution and the California Constitution.
This bill would prohibit an employee from being dismissed,
suspended, disciplined, reassigned, transferred, or otherwise
retaliated against for acting to protect a student's conduct
protected pursuant to those provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the
Journalism Teacher Protection Act.
SEC. 2. Section 48907 of the Education Code is amended to read:
48907. Students (a)
Pupils of the public schools shall have the right to exercise
freedom of speech and of the press including, but not limited to, the
use of bulletin boards, the distribution of printed materials or
petitions, the wearing of buttons, badges, and other insignia, and
the right of expression in official publications, whether or not
such the publications or other means of
expression are supported financially by the school or by use of
school facilities, except that expression shall be prohibited which
is obscene, libelous, or slanderous. Also prohibited shall be
material which so incites students pupils
as to create a clear and present danger of the commission of
unlawful acts on school premises or the violation of lawful school
regulations, or the substantial disruption of the orderly operation
of the school.
Each
(b) Each governing board of a
school district and each county board of education shall adopt rules
and regulations in the form of a written publications code, which
shall include reasonable provisions for the time, place, and manner
of conducting such activities within its respective jurisdiction.
Student
(c) Pupil editors of official
school publications shall be responsible for assigning and editing
the news, editorial, and feature content of their publications
subject to the limitations of this section. However, it shall be the
responsibility of a journalism adviser or advisers of
student pupil publications within each school to
supervise the production of the student
pupil staff, to maintain professional standards of English and
journalism, and to maintain the provisions of this section.
There
(d) There shall be no prior
restraint of material prepared for official school publications
except insofar as it violates this section. School officials shall
have the burden of showing justification without undue delay prior to
any a limitation of student
pupil expression under this section.
"Official
(e) "Official school publications"
refers to material produced by students
pupils in the journalism, newspaper, yearbook, or writing
classes and distributed to the student body either free or for a fee.
Nothing
(f) Nothing in this section shall
prohibit or prevent any the governing
board of a school district from adopting otherwise valid rules and
regulations relating to oral communication by students
pupils upon the premises of each school.
(g) An employee shall not be dismissed, suspended, disciplined,
reassigned, transferred, or otherwise retaliated against for acting
to protect a pupil engaged in the conduct authorized under this
section, or conduct that is protected by the First Amendment to the
United States Constitution or Section 2 of Article I of the
California Constitution.
SEC. 3. Section 48950 of the Education Code is amended to read:
48950. (a) School districts operating one or more high schools
and private secondary schools shall not make or enforce any
a rule subjecting any a
high school pupil to disciplinary sanctions solely on the basis
of conduct that is speech or other communication that, when engaged
in outside of the campus, is protected from governmental restriction
by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution or Section 2
of Article 1 I of the California
Constitution.
(b) Any A pupil who is
enrolled in a school that has made or enforced any
a rule in violation of subdivision (a) may commence a
civil action to obtain appropriate injunctive and declaratory relief
as determined by the court. Upon motion, a court may award attorney's
fees to a prevailing plaintiff in a civil action pursuant to this
section.
(c) This section does not apply to any a
private secondary school that is controlled by a religious
organization, to the extent that the application of this section
would not be consistent with the religious tenets of the
organization.
(d) Nothing in this section prohibits the imposition of discipline
for harassment, threats, or intimidation, unless constitutionally
protected.
(e) Nothing in this section shall be construed to supersede, or
otherwise limit or modify, the provisions of Section 48907.
(f) The Legislature finds and declares that free speech rights are
subject to reasonable time, place, and manner regulations.
(g) An employee shall not be dismissed, suspended, disciplined,
reassigned, transferred, or otherwise retaliated against for acting
to protect a pupil engaged in conduct authorized under this section,
or conduct that is protected by the First Amendment to the United
States Constitution or Section 2 of Article I of the California
Constitution.
SEC. 4. 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 a community college district,
nor any an administrator of any campus
of those institutions, shall make or enforce any
a rule subjecting any a
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 I of the
California Constitution.
(b) Any A student enrolled in an
institution, as specified in subdivision (a), that has made or
enforced any a 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 a 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 I of the California
Constitution for citizens generally.
(f) An employee shall not be dismissed, suspended, disciplined,
reassigned, transferred, or otherwise retaliated against for acting
to protect a student engaged in conduct authorized under this
section, or conduct that is protected by the First Amendment to the
United States Constitution or Section 2 of Article I of the
California Constitution.