BILL NUMBER: SCA 5	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Hernandez

                        DECEMBER 3, 2012

   A resolution to propose to the people of the State of California
an amendment to the Constitution of the State, by amending Section 31
of Article I thereof, relating to public postsecondary education.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SCA 5, as introduced, Hernandez. Public postsecondary education:
student recruitment and selection.
   The California Constitution prohibits the state from
discriminating against, or granting preferential treatment to, any
individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or
national origin in the operation of public employment, public
education, or public contracting.
   This measure would provide that the above prohibition does not
prevent state institutions of higher education, as defined, from
implementing student recruitment and selection programs permissible
under the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the United
States Constitution.
   Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.



   Resolved by the Senate, the Assembly concurring, That the
Legislature of the State of California at its 2013-14 Regular Session
commencing on the third day of December 2012, two-thirds of the
membership of each house concurring, hereby proposes to the people of
the State of California, that the Constitution of the State be
amended as follows:
    That Section 31 of Article I thereof is amended to read:
      SEC. 31.  (a) The State shall not discriminate against, or
grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis
of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation
of public employment, public education, or public contracting. 
   (b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), this section does not prevent
state institutions of higher education from implementing student
recruitment and selection programs that are permissible under the
equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United
States Constitution.  
   (b) 
    (c)  This section shall apply only to action taken after
the section's effective date. 
   (c) Nothing in this 
    (d)     This  section shall  not
 be interpreted as prohibiting bona fide qualifications based on
sex which are reasonably necessary to the normal operation of public
employment, public education, or public contracting. 
   (d) Nothing in this 
    (e)     This  section shall  not
 be interpreted as invalidating any court order or consent
decree  which   that  is in force as of the
effective date of this section. 
   (e) Nothing in this 
    (f)     This  section shall  not
 be interpreted as prohibiting action which must be taken to
establish or maintain eligibility for any federal program, 
where   if  ineligibility would result in a loss of
federal funds to the State. 
   (f) 
    (g)     (1)  For the purposes of this
section, "State" shall include, but not necessarily be limited to,
the State itself, any city, county, city and county, public
university system, including the University of California, community
college district, school district, special district, or any other
political subdivision or governmental instrumentality of or within
the State. 
   (2) For the purposes of this section, "state institutions of
higher education" shall mean: (A) the California Community Colleges;
(B) the California State University, and each campus, branch, and
function thereof; and (C) each campus, branch, and function of the
University of California.  
   (g) 
    (h)  The remedies available for violations of this
section shall be the same, regardless of the injured party's race,
sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin, as are otherwise available
for violations of then-existing California antidiscrimination law.

   (h) 
    (i)  This section shall be self-executing. If any part
or parts of this section are found to be in conflict with federal law
or the United States Constitution, the section shall be implemented
to the maximum extent that federal law and the United States
Constitution permit. Any provision held invalid shall be severable
from the remaining portions of this section.