BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1390|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1390
Author: Blumenfield (D)
Amended: 7/23/09 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 9-0, 7/8/09
AYES: Romero, Huff, Alquist, Hancock, Liu, Maldonado,
Padilla, Simitian, Wyland
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 7-0, 7/14/09
AYES: Leno, Benoit, Cedillo, Hancock, Huff, Steinberg,
Wright
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-1, 6/2/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : School safety: school security and police
departments
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill requires a school principal or the
principals designee to report any act involving either the
possession, sale, or furnishment of a firearm, as
specified, or the possession of an explosive, as specified
committed by a pupil or nonpupil on a schoolsite to the
city police or county sheriff with jurisdiction over the
school and the school security department or the school
police department, as applicable.
CONTINUED
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ANALYSIS : Current law authorizes any school district to:
(1) establish a security department under the supervision
of a chief of security or a police department under the
supervision of a chief of police. Current law further
delineates minimum qualifications and conditions of
employment, such training approved by the Commission on
Peace Officer Standards and Training relating directly to
the role of school police reserve officers; (2) employ
personnel to ensure the safety of school district personnel
and pupils and the security of the real and personal
property of the school district; and (3) assign a school
police reserve officer who is deputized to a schoolsite to
supplement the duties of school police personnel. Current
law states legislative intent that a school district police
or security department is supplementary to city and county
law enforcement agencies and is not vested with general
police powers.
Current law also:
1. Requires the principal of a school or the principal's
designee to notify the appropriate law enforcement
authorities of the county or city in which the school is
situated of any acts a pupil may have violated, as
follows: (a) assault with a deadly weapon likely to
result in great bodily injury. Notification is to occur
prior to the suspension or expulsion; (b) possession,
use, selling of a controlled substance, within one
school day after suspension or expulsion; (c) offering,
arranging or negotiating to sell a controlled substance,
alcohol or any intoxicant, within one school day after
suspension or expulsion; and (d) acts that may involve
possession or sale of a controlled substance, a
violation of the Gun Free Zone (within 1,000 of a
school), or possession of a dirk, dagger, ice pick,
knife with a blade over 2 inches, folding knife, razor,
taser, stun gun, BB or pellet gun, or spot marker gun.
2. Imposes a maximum fine of $500 for willful failure to
report any violations described above, to be paid by the
principal or principal's designee who is responsible for
the failure.
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3. Provides that a principal, the principal's designee, or
any other person reporting a known or suspected act
described above is not civilly or criminally liable as a
result of making the report unless it can be proven that
a false report was made deliberately.
4. Requires the principal or the principal's designee
reporting a criminal act committed by a school age
individual with exceptional needs to ensure that copies
of the special education and disciplinary records of the
pupil are transmitted (to the extent permitted by the
federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) for
consideration by the appropriate authorities to whom he
or she reports the criminal activity.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/25/09)
Los Angeles Attorney's Office (source)
California district Attorney's Association
Crime Victims United of California
Los Angeles School Police Department
Los Angeles Unified School District
OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/25/09)
California Public Defenders Association
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT :
The Los Angeles City Attorney's Office states, "Prompt,
accurate and transparent reporting of school related crimes
is a critical first step toward the development of
effective early warning, prevention and intervention
strategies for at-risk youth. This is particularly
important in large urban settings where school police and
city police departments share some concurrent
responsibilities and one or both may be involved in the
investigation of a school incident depending on the nature
of the crime. To effectively address school crime,
districts must first acknowledge it exists (transparency)
and principals and school police must cross report all
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serious crime to local law enforcement at the earliest
possible stage to assist in early intervention strategies.
This bill seeks to clarify and strengthen reporting
requirement to have the school office to notify local law
enforcement agencies of serious crime incidents on campus.
This, in turn, leads to the identification of patterns and
behaviors within the broader context of the community
around the school and makes it possible to more immediately
identify opportunities to work collaboratively on effective
prevention and intervention strategies. This bill does not
require or trigger prosecution, it merely a reporting
requirement.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The California Public Defenders
Association states, "Requiring a report when a firearm is
either seized or surrendered might indeed discourage
students from surrendering or reporting the presence of a
firearm at school. Schools already have the discretion, in
appropriate situations, to contact law enforcement. In
fact, research shows that the drastic limitation on the
school officials' discretion to respond to incidents
-'zero-tolerance policies' -have done damage to youth and
contributed to 'the school to prison pipeline.'"
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Tom
Berryhill, Blakeslee, Blumenfield, Brownley, Buchanan,
Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter, Chesbro, Conway,
Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, DeVore,
Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes,
Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gilmore,
Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber,
Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Krekorian, Lieu, Logue,
Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nava,
Nestande, Niello, John A. Perez, V. Manuel Perez,
Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Silva,
Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson,
Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada, Bass
NOES: Nielsen
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bill Berryhill, Block, Duvall
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DLW:do 8/26/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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