BILL ANALYSIS ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1971| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ CONSENT Bill No: AB 1971 Author: Bonnie Lowenthal (D), et al Amended: 6/15/10 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 5-0, 6/10/10 AYES: Corbett, Harman, Hancock, Leno, Walters SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8 ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 74-0, 4/29/10 (Consent) - See last page for vote SUBJECT : California State University and University of California: Disclosure of alumni personal information SOURCE : California State University and University of California DIGEST : This bill extends the sunset date on current law which permits the California State University and the University of California to disclose the names, addresses, and e-mail addresses of alumni to their "affinity partners" (nonaffiliated businesses with whom the university has a contractual agreement to, among other things, offer commercial products and services to alumni), subject to specified privacy requirements. This bill deletes the Hastings College of Law from these provisions. These provisions are scheduled to sunset on January 1, 2011, this CONTINUED AB 1971 Page 2 bill extends the provisions to January 1, 2016. ANALYSIS : Existing law establishes the California State University (CSU), administered by the Trustees of the CSU, and the University of California (UC), administered by the Regents of the UC, as two of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Existing law establishes the Hastings College of the Law, under the governance of the Board of Directors of the Hastings College of the Law, within the University of California. Existing law prescribes criteria for the disclosure of the names and addresses of alumni of the CSU, the UC, and the Hastings College of the Law. Existing law requires that the names, addresses, and electronic mail addresses of alumni be disclosed only to provide those persons with informational materials relating to the CSU, the UC, and the Hastings College of the Law, and its programs and activities; to provide those persons, or the trustees, auxiliary organizations of the CSU, as defined, or the Regents of the UC, the Board of Directors of the Hastings College of the Law, or the alumni associations with beneficial commercial opportunities; or to promote and support the educational mission of the CSU, the UC, the trustees, the regents, the Board of Directors of the Hastings College of the Law, or the alumni associations. Existing law authorizes this disclosure only if the trustees, auxiliary organizations, or the alumni associations, in the case of the CSU, or the regents, the board of directors, or the alumni associations, in the case of the UC and the Hastings College of the Law, have a written agreement with a business, as defined, that maintains control over this data that requires the business to maintain the confidentiality of the names, addresses, and electronic mail addresses of the alumni, that requires that the university or the college retain the right to approve or reject any purpose for which the private information is to be used by the business and to review and approve the text of mailings sent to alumni, and that prohibits the business from using the information for any purposes other than those described, and the disclosure of alumni names, addresses, and electronic mail addresses does not include the names and addresses of alumni who have CONTINUED AB 1971 Page 3 directed the trustees, the regents, the board of directors, or an alumni association or auxiliary organization, not to disclose their names, addresses, or electronic mail addresses. Existing law requires the CSU, the UC, and the Hastings College of the Law to make available to its alumni a specified form or an alternative notice, including specified information, in a mailing or in an Internet posting, as prescribed, before alumni names, addresses, and electronic mail addresses may be disclosed. Under existing law, the above provisions are applicable to the UC and the Hastings College of the Law only to the extent that the regents or the board of directors act, by resolution, to make them applicable. This bill deletes the Hastings College of the Law from the above-described provisions. With respect to the form that these institutions are required to make available to alumni prior to the disclosure of alumni information, this bill would require that form to be provided to alumni through a link on the homepage of the Internet Web site of the alumni association or in the alumni association's privacy policy. The bill also expresses the intent of the Legislature that, by July 1, 2014, the California State University, and the UC submit reports to the Legislature regarding compliance with these provisions. Existing law specifies that the above provisions are repealed as of January 1, 2011. This bill extends those repeal dates to January 1, 2016. Background This bill is a reintroduction of last year's AB 1222 (Lowenthal), which was vetoed by the Governor. In 2005, the Legislature passed and the Governor signed SB 569 (Torlakson), Chapter 498, Statutes of 2005, which expressly allowed CSU, UC, and Hastings College of Law to disclose the names, addresses, and e-mail addresses of alumni to businesses with whom the university has an affinity partner CONTINUED AB 1971 Page 4 agreement. Tax-exempt organizations use affinity programs to generate revenue by permitting the use of their name or logo to endorse products or services. Both CSU and UC use affinity programs to partner with commercial entities so that alumni organizations can offer various financial products and services to alumni. As part of the agreement, the affinity partner pays a fee to the alumni association in return for allowing access to alumni association mailing lists. Under SB 569, alumni information may only be shared for particular purposes, and the universities must meet specified privacy requirements including that they have a written contractual agreement with the affinity partner business that contains certain privacy protections. CSU, UC, and Hastings College of Law may not disclose alumni information to affinity partners without first offering alumni an opportunity to opt out of the disclosure. Existing law provides a statutory notice form for this purpose and requires that the form be provided to alumni in certain communications, such as the alumni association magazine and Web site. These provisions sunset on January 1, 2011; this bill extends this sunset date to January 1, 2016, and removes Hastings College of Law from these provisions. This bill also contains related reporting requirements. Prior Legislation AB 1222 (Lowenthal), passed the Senate with a 39-0 vote on August 24, 2009, which would have extended the sunset date on current law permitting CSU, UC, and Hastings College of Law to disclose alumni personal information. This bill was vetoed, the Governor stated, "I am returning Assembly Bill 1222 without my signature. This bill extends the sunset date on a statute that is not expiring until January 1, 2011. Therefore, this bill is premature and unnecessary. For these reasons, I am unable to sign this bill." FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No SUPPORT : (Verified 6/29/10) CONTINUED AB 1971 Page 5 California State University (co-source) University of California (co-source) ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author's office writes, "Campus alumni associations have been established at all 23 California State University (CSU) campuses as well as the 10 University of California (UC) campuses. The primary purpose of these associations is to maintain relationships and build long-term connections to graduates with the ultimate goal to support the University in the form of donations, scholarships, and involvement. It is common practice among public universities throughout the country, and private institutions in California, to offer benefits and services through affinity partnerships with commercial vendors to alumni as one way to stay connected to their university. Examples of these affinity partnerships include group rates and discounts for home and auto insurance, mortgage programs and travel programs. "In light of California's recent revenue shortfalls and budget reductions to public universities, the role of alumni associations and the need for private funding of public universities is more critical then ever to help University leaders get non-state dollars necessary to maintain program quality. . . . "Affinity programs must continue to support CSU and UC with donations, scholarships, and community involvement. All 23 CSU campus associations currently use the funding they receive from these programs to further their programming and outreach to alumni as well as to provide both general and athletic scholarships to students." Co-sponsor the University of California writes that "affinity programs generated approximately $3.6 million for UC campuses in 2007-08. Revenues generated from UC campus affinity partnerships generally provide funding to supplement the operational costs of campus alumni programs. The revenues are also used by UC campus alumni associations to provide services and benefits to students. An example is the UC Irvine alumni association's affinity partnership revenues, of which almost 35 percent are used to support the cost of student programs and scholarships. CONTINUED AB 1971 Page 6 The funds generated by affinity partnerships allow the UC campus alumni association to provide services and events to alumni and students that the campuses would otherwise not be able to offer." In support of last year's AB 1222 (Lowenthal), an identical bill, co-sponsor California State University noted that "[t]hroughout the first three years of implementation of this statute both public universities have held the privacy of their alumni in the highest regard, keeping meticulous record of all opt-out information obtained from alumni as well as continually following the letter of the law by ensuring ample opportunities for alumni to have their information removed from records." ASSEMBLY FLOOR : AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, 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, Knight, Lieu, Logue, Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, Norby, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Tran, Villines, Yamada, John A. Perez NO VOTE RECORDED: Bass, Caballero, Jones, Bonnie Lowenthal, Torrico, Vacancy RJG:do 6/30/10 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED