BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 9
Author: Ammiano (D), et al.
Amended: 8/30/11 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 7-2, 6/22/11
AYES: Lowenthal, Alquist, Hancock, Liu, Price, Simitian,
Vargas
NOES: Blakeslee, Huff
NO VOTE RECORDED: Runner, Vacancy
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 6-3, 8/25/11
AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Lieu, Pavley, Price, Steinberg
NOES: Walters, Emmerson, Runner
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 52-26, 6/1/11 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Pupil rights: bullying
SOURCE : American Civil Liberties Union
Equality California
Gay-Straight Alliance Network
National Center for Lesbian Rights
The Trevor Project
DIGEST : This bill (1) requires a school district to
include specific information in its policies and procedures
regarding discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and
bullying, and (2) requires the policies to include
complaint procedures and alternative discipline policies
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for pupils who engage in this behavior.
ANALYSIS : Existing law, the California Student Safety
and Violence Prevention Act, prohibits harassment and other
forms of discrimination, including on the basis of actual
and perceived sexual orientation and gender in educational
instructional services and programs.
The Safe Place to Learn Act (SPLA) requires the California
Department of Education (CDE) to monitor local educational
agencies (LEAs) adherence to antidiscrimination and
antiharassment policies. Under the SPLA, the CDE is
required, as part of its Categorical Program Monitoring
(CPM) process, to assess whether LEAs have done all of the
following:
1. Adopted a policy that prohibits discrimination and
harassment based, as specified, under current law,
including, but not limited to, actual or perceived
gender identity and sexual orientation.
2. Adopted a process for receiving and investigating
complaints of discrimination based on current law, as
specified above.
3. Publicized antidiscrimination and antiharassment
policies, including the manner in which to file a
complaint, to pupils, parents, employees, agents of the
governing board, and the general public.
4. Posted antidiscrimination and antiharassment policies in
the schools and offices, including staff lounges and
pupil meeting rooms.
5. Maintained documentation of complaints and their
resolution for a minimum of one review cycle.
6. Ensured that complainants are protected from retaliation
and the identity of a complainant alleging
discrimination or harassment remains confidential, as
appropriate.
7. Identified a responsible LEA officer for ensuring
district or office compliance with the requirement of
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the uniform complaint process.
The SPLA also requires CDE to display information on
curricula and other resources that specifically address
bias-related discrimination and harassment, as specified
under current law (including, but not limited to, actual or
perceived gender identity and sexual orientation), on the
California Healthy Kids Resource Center Internet Web site.
The CDE is also required to develop a handout describing
the rights and obligations of existing law as it relates to
discrimination and the policies addressing bias-related
discrimination and harassment in schools and post the
handout on the CDE Internet Web site.
Existing law specifies that no person shall be subjected to
discrimination on the basis of disability, gender,
nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual
orientation, or any characteristic that is contained in the
definition of hate crimes set forth in Section 422.55 of
the Penal Code in any program or activity conducted by an
educational institution that receives or benefits from
state financial assistance or enrolls pupils who receive
state financial aid.
This bill, commencing on July 1, 2012:
1. Specifies it is the policy of the state to ensure that
local educational agencies continue to work to reduce
violence, intimidation, and bullying.
2. Requires the CDE, as part of its CPM process, to assess
whether local educational agencies have done all of the
following:
A. Adopted a policy that prohibits discrimination,
harassment, intimidation, and bullying based on
actual or perceived characteristics and disability,
gender, gender identity, gender expression,
nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual
orientation, or association with a person or group
with one or more of these actual or perceived
characteristics. The policy shall include a
statement that the policy applies to all acts related
to school activity or school attendance occurring
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within a school under the jurisdiction of the
superintendent of the school district.
B. Adopted a process for receiving and investigating
complaints of discrimination, harassment,
intimidation, and bullying based on any actual or
perceived characteristics and disability, gender,
gender identity, gender expression, nationality, race
or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or
association with a person or group with one or more
of these actual or perceived characteristics.
Specifies that the complaint process must include but
is not limited to:
(1) A requirement that, if school personnel
witness an act of discrimination, harassment,
intimidation, or bullying, he or she shall take
immediate steps to intervene when safe to do so.
(2) A timeline to investigate and resolve
complaints of discrimination, harassment,
intimidation or bullying that shall be followed by
all schools under the jurisdiction of the school
district.
(3) An appeal process afforded to the
complainant should he/she disagree with the
resolution of a complaint filed.
(4) Forms developed pursuant to this process
must be available in the primary language of
students, as specified.
C. Publicized adopted antidiscrimination,
antiharassment, anti-intimidation, and antibullying
policies.
D. Requires school districts to ensure that
complaints alleging discrimination, harassment,
intimidation, or bullying are confidential.
3. Requires the CDE to include discrimination, harassment,
intimidation, or bullying information in the model
handout.
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4. Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI)
to post, and annually update, on his/her Internet Web
site and provide to each school district, a list of
statewide resources, including community-based
organizations, that provide support to youth who have
been subjected to school-based discrimination,
harassment, intimidation, or bullying, and their
families.
5. Specifies that the act shall not be construed to limit
pupil rights to free speech, as specified.
6. Specifies that the act shall not be construed to require
an exhaustion of any administrative complaint process
before civil law remedies may be pursued.
7. Provides for local educational agencies to be reimbursed
for costs associated with complying with the
requirements of this act if the Commission on State
Mandates determines that the act contains mandated
costs.
Comments
Bullying and harassment . A 2007 report from the National
Association of Attorneys General Task Force on School and
Campus Safety noted that bullying is an important issue in
examining school violence and recommended states continue
to implement and expand bullying prevention measures. A
publication from the United States Department of Justice
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Programs (OJJDP)
notes that bullying can take three forms: physical,
verbal, and psychological and can have short-term and
long-term psychological effects on both those who bully and
those who are bullied. Long-term consequences have also
been linked to increases in criminal behavior and substance
abuse. A 2001 report by the National Institute of Child
Health and Human Development (NICHD) estimated that 1.6
million children in grades 6 through 10 in the United
States are bullied at least once a week and 1.7 million
bully others frequently. According to the OJJDP, a study
of 6,500 middle school students in South Carolina revealed
that 23 percent said they had been bullied regularly during
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the previous three months.
Related and Prior Legislation
SB 453 (Correa), 2011-12 Session, expands the definition of
bullying to include acts motivated by specified actual or
perceived characteristics of the victim, adds bullying, as
specified, to the list of acts for which expulsion may be
recommended, and requires school safety plans to include
policies and procedures relating to bullying. (Held under
submission in Senate Appropriations Committee)
SB 755 (Lieu), 2011-12 Session, makes numerous changes to
the requirement that each school have a school safety plan,
imposes new penalties for schools and districts that fail
to meet these requirements, and requires school districts
and county offices of education to be responsible for the
development of school safety plans, as specified. (Held
under submission in Senate Appropriations Committee)
SB 919 (Lieu), 2011-12 Session, defines sexting as the
sending or receiving of sexually explicit pictures or video
images via an electronic act and adds sexting to the list
of acts for which a pupil may be suspended or expelled.
(Held under submission in Assembly Education Committee)
AB 227 (Hall), 2011-12 Session, adds the prevention of
cyberbullying, content control software, and the
responsible use of mobile communication technology to the
components that are required to be included in existing
guidelines and criteria for developing school district
educational technology plans. (Held under submission in
Senate Education Committee)
AB 630 (Hueso), 2011-12 Session, a two-year bill in the
Assembly Education Committee, encourages school districts
to reduce bullying through training programs that would
educate pupils by increasing their awareness of bullying.
(In Assembly Education Committee)
AB 1156 (Eng), 2011-12 Session, requires the training of
schoolsite personnel in the prevention of bullying, allows
a child who is a victim of an act of bullying to meet
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residence requirements in another district, and expands the
definition of bullying to include various specified acts.
(On Senate Third Reading File)
AB 86 (Lieu), Chapter 646, Statutes of 2008, defined
bullying to mean acts that are committed personally or
electronically, acts directed against another pupil that
constitutes sexual harassment, hate violence, severe or
pervasive intentional harassment, threats, or intimidation
and gave school officials grounds to suspend a pupil or
recommend a pupil for expulsion for bullying. Passed the
Senate with a vote of 21-12 on August 11, 2008.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 Fund
Mandate:
anti-bullying policies Potentially significant
reimbursable mandate General
complaint process Potentially substantial
reimbursable mandate General
publicize policy Potentially substantial
reimbursable mandate General
Professional development -------Substantial cost
pressure ------- Local/
General
CDE monitoring/reporting $87-$100
$175-$200$175-$200 General
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/30/11)
ACLU (co-source)
Equality California (co-source)
Gay-Straight Alliance Network (co-source)
National Center for Lesbian Rights (co-source)
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The Trevor Project (co-source)
The Honorable Gavin Newsom, Lieutenant Governor
The Honorable Betty Yee, State Board of Equalization Member
Advancement Project
AIDS Legal Referral Panel
Anti-Defamation League
Asian Pacific American Legal Center
CA Foundation for Independent Living Centers
California Association of School Councilors
California Coalition for Youth
California Communities United Institute
California Faculty Association
California NOW
California Police Chiefs Association Inc.
California Psychological Association
California School Health Centers Association
California State Independent Living Council
California State PTA
Californian's For Justice Education Fund
City of Los Angeles
City of West Hollywood
Communities United Against Violence
Developmental Disabilities Area Board 10
Disability Rights California
Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
Equal Rights Advocates
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, San Francisco
Legal Services for Children
Los Angeles Unified School District
MALDEF
National Council of La Raza
Oakland Unified School District
Peace Builders
Public Council Law Center
Regional Human Rights/Fair Housing Commission
Sacramento Gay & Lesbian Center
Safe Passages
San Diego Unified School District
San Francisco Japanese American Citizens League
San Francisco Unified School District
The ARC
The Center Orange County
United Cerebral Palsy in California
Youth Law Center
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OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/30/11)
Department of Finance
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
"California has taken some steps to address discrimination,
harassment, intimidation, and bullying, but we must do more
to remedy the glaring gaps in existing law. AB 9 draws
upon tested approaches and best practices to ensure that
schools have adequate policies and procedures in place to
prevent discrimination and harassment and respond to
incidents quickly."
The bill's sponsor, Equality California, details the story
of Seth Walsh, a 13-year-old boy in Tehachapi, California
who committed suicide in September 2010 after experiencing
persistent and long-term bullying due to his sexual
orientation and gender expression. Specifically, Equality
California states, "Seth's mother and close friends report
that teachers and school administrators were aware that
Seth was being harassed and, in some instances,
participated in the harassment. Yet Seth's mother's pleas
to the school for help were brushed aside."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 52-26, 6/1/11
AYES: Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Block,
Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan,
Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos, Carter, Cedillo,
Chesbro, Davis, Dickinson, Eng, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong,
Fuentes, Furutani, Galgiani, Gatto, Gordon, Hall,
Hayashi, Roger Hernández, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman,
Lara, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning,
Pan, Perea, Portantino, Skinner, Solorio, Swanson,
Torres, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez
NOES: Achadjian, Bill Berryhill, Conway, Cook, Donnelly,
Beth Gaines, Garrick, Grove, Hagman, Halderman, Harkey,
Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Logue, Mansoor, Miller, Morrell,
Nestande, Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Silva, Smyth, Valadao,
Wagner
NO VOTE RECORDED: Gorell, V. Manuel Pérez
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CPM:mw 8/30/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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