BILL ANALYSIS Ó Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair AB 668 (Block) Hearing Date: 06/27/2011 Amended: 03/29/2011 Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-HernandezPolicy Vote: Education 8-0 _________________________________________________________________ ____ BILL SUMMARY: AB 668 defines an "undue hardship" on the California State University (CSU), for the purpose of denying a request to reschedule a test or examination by a student for whom the test time violates the student's religious creed. _________________________________________________________________ ____ Fiscal Impact (in thousands) Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 Fund CSU exam reschedule policy $65 General _________________________________________________________________ ____ STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File. Existing law requires CSU campuses, in administering any test or exam, to permit any student to take the test or exam without penalty, at a time when that activity would not violate the student's religious creed. Existing law provides an exception to the accommodation requirement if administering the test or exam at an alternate time would impose an "undue hardship" on the university. Under existing law, should there be a legal challenge, the burden of proof is on the institution to prove an undue hardship. This bill specifies that only either of the following conditions constitutes an undue hardship: 1) Expense in administering the test at a different time creates a substantial financial burden for the institution; or 2) substantial disruption to the educational mission of the institution is caused by administering the test at a different location. By defining undue hardship as a "substantial financial burden" or "substantial disruption to the educational mission of the > (>) Page 1 institution", this bill will likely require the CSUs to honor virtually all requests for accommodation pursuant to these provisions. In a legal proceeding, the CSU would have to meet one of the defined criteria in its burden of proof. Currently, CSU students arrange with individual faculty members to reschedule specific exams for religious or other reasons. Implementing this bill would require that the CSU communicate the enhanced requirement to all CSU personnel engaged in scheduling and administering tests (e.g. full and part-time faculty, graduate teaching assistants). The CSU would also likely have to develop written guidelines for campuses, including student request procedures and instructions for faculty on alternative arrangement, as well as faculty non-compliance procedures. CSU has estimated that one-time costs related to these activities would be approximately $65,000.