BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 668 Page 1 Date of Hearing: May 11, 2011 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Felipe Fuentes, Chair AB 668 (Block) - As Amended: March 29, 2011 Policy Committee: Higher EducationVote:9-0 Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable: SUMMARY This bill defines "undue hardship," for purposes of denying a California State University (CSU) student a religious accommodation for a test, as: 1)The expense in administering the test at a different time creates a substantial financial burden for the institution, or 2)Administering the test in a different location results in a substantial disruption to the CSU campus's educational mission. FISCAL EFFECT One-time costs of around $130,000 ($5,000 per campus and $15,000 for the Chancellor's Office) to provide guidelines and notification to faculty in order to comply with the bill's requirements. (About 60% of CSU's budget is General Fund, with most of the remainder from student tuition revenues.) COMMENTS 1)Purpose . According to the author, as a professor and lawyer at San Diego State University, he observed a lack of definition as to what constitutes an undue hardship for the university and a lack of guidance for students. There were instances when a student was denied accommodation, and no reasonable justification was given as to why the test could not be given at an alternate time. Accordingly, the author believes "undue hardship" should be defined as 1) a substantial cost to the institution or 2) substantial disruption to the institution's AB 668 Page 2 educational mission. 2)Prior Legislation . In 2009, AB 24 (Block) included a provision removing the ability of professors to deny a student's request for a religious accommodation. The Senate Education Committee noted this would require CSU campuses to accommodate all requests, regardless of the reasonableness of the request and suggested instead that the author define "undue hardship." That definition, which was the same as in AB 668, was subsequently removed from AB 24. Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081