BILL NUMBER: ACA 23	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Hernandez
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members De Leon, Hall, and Salas)

                        MAY 4, 2009

   A resolution to propose to the people of the State of California
an amendment to the Constitution of the State, by amending Section 31
of Article I thereof, relating to public postsecondary education.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   ACA 23, as introduced, Hernandez. Public postsecondary education:
student recruitment and retention.
   The California Constitution prohibits the state from
discriminating against, or granting preferential treatment to, any
individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or
national origin in the operation of public employment, public
education, or public contracting.
   This measure would provide that the above prohibition does not
prevent state institutions of higher education, as defined, from
implementing student recruitment and selection programs permissible
under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment of the United
States Constitution.
   Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.



   Resolved by the Assembly, the Senate concurring, That the
Legislature of the State of California at its 2009-10 Regular Session
commencing on the first day of December 2008, two-thirds of the
membership of each house concurring, hereby proposes to the people of
the State of California, that the Constitution of the State be
amended as follows:
    That Section 31 of Article I thereof is amended to read:
      SEC. 31.  (a) The State shall not discriminate against, or
grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis
of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation
of public employment, public education, or public contracting. 
   (b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), nothing in this section shall
prevent State institutions of higher education from implementing
student recruitment and selection programs that are permissible under
the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the
United States Constitution.  
   (b) 
    (c) This section shall apply only to action taken after
the section's effective date. 
   (c) 
    (d)  Nothing in this section shall be interpreted as
prohibiting bona fide qualifications based on sex which are
reasonably necessary to the normal operation of public employment,
public education, or public contracting. 
   (d) 
    (e)  Nothing in this section shall be interpreted as
invalidating any court order or consent decree which is in force as
of the effective date of this section. 
   (e) 
    (f)  Nothing in this section shall be interpreted as
prohibiting action which must be taken to establish or maintain
eligibility for any federal program, where ineligibility would result
in a loss of federal funds to the State. 
   (f) 
    (g)     (1)    For the
purposes of this section, "State" shall include, but not necessarily
be limited to, the State itself, any city, county, city and county,
public university system, including the University of California,
community college district, school district, special district, or any
other political subdivision or governmental instrumentality of or
within the State. 
   (2) For the purposes of this section, "State institutions of
higher education" shall mean (A) the California Community Colleges;
(B) the California State University, and each campus, branch, and
function thereof; and (C) each campus, branch, and function of the
University of California.  
   (g) 
    (h)  The remedies available for violations of this
section shall be the same, regardless of the injured party's race,
sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin, as are otherwise available
for violations of then-existing California antidiscrimination law.

   (h) 
    (i)  This section shall be self-executing. If any part
or parts of this section are found to be in conflict with federal law
or the United States Constitution, the section shall be implemented
to the maximum extent that federal law and the United States
Constitution permit. Any provision held invalid shall be severable
from the remaining portions of this section.