BILL ANALYSIS Ó
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 302|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 302
Author: Cristina Garcia (D)
Amended: 7/14/15 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 7-1, 7/8/15
AYES: Liu, Hancock, Leyva, Mendoza, Monning, Pan, Vidak
NOES: Runner
NO VOTE RECORDED: Block
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 5-2, 8/27/15
AYES: Lara, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza
NOES: Bates, Nielsen
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 60-17, 6/3/15 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Pupil services: lactation accommodations
SOURCE: American Civil Liberties Union
California Latinas for Reproductive Justice
DIGEST: This bill requires local educational agencies (LEAs) to
provide reasonable accommodations to a lactating pupil on a
school campus to express breast milk, breast-feed an infant
child, or address other needs related to breast-feeding, and
expands the Uniform Complaint Procedures to include complaints
of noncompliance with this requirement.
ANALYSIS:
AB 302
Page 2
Existing federal law:
1) Requires employers to provide a reasonable break time and a
place which is not a bathroom to express breast milk. [The
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act amended the Fair
Labor Standards Act to implement this provision.] (United
States Code, Title 42, 18001, § 4207, et seq.)
2) Prohibits discrimination against any student, or exclusion
of any student from its education program or activity,
including any class or extracurricular activity, on the basis
of such student's pregnancy, childbirth, false pregnancy,
termination of pregnancy or recovery therefrom. Federal law
also requires pregnant students and those recovering from
childbirth-related conditions to be provided with the same
accommodations and support services available to other
students with temporary medical conditions. (Code of Federal
Regulations, Title 34, §106.40)
Existing state law:
1) Requires every employer, including the state and any
political subdivision, to provide a reasonable amount of
break time to accommodate an employee desiring to express
breast milk for the employee's infant child. The break time
must, if possible, run concurrently with any break time
already provided to the employee. Break time for an employee
that does not run concurrently with the rest time authorized
for the employee is to be unpaid. (Labor Code § 1030)
2) Requires employers to make reasonable efforts to provide the
employee with the use of a room or other location, other than
a toilet stall, in close proximity to the employee's work
area, for the employee to express milk in private. The room
or location may include the place where the employee normally
works if it otherwise meets the requirements of this section.
(Labor Code § 1031)
3) Prohibits discriminatory practices in employment or housing
accommodations on the basis of sex, and defines "sex" to
include breast-feeding or medical conditions related to
breast-feeding. (Government Code §12926)
AB 302
Page 3
4) Defines "harassment and other discrimination on the basis of
sex" to include specified practices such as the exclusion of
any person from any program or activity or employment because
of pregnancy or related conditions. (Education Code § 230)
5) Requires LEAs, through regulation, to adopt uniform
complaint procedures through which the public can register
complaints regarding educational programs and rights.
(California Code of Regulations, Title 5, § 4600, et seq.)
This bill:
1) Requires schools operated by school districts, county
offices of education, the California School for the Deaf and
the California School for the Blind, and charter schools to
provide reasonable accommodations to lactating students to
express breast milk, breast-feed, or address other needs
related to breast-feeding.
2) Provides that reasonable accommodations include, but are not
limited to:
a) Access to a private and secure room, other than a
restroom, to express breast milk or breast-feed a child.
b) Permission to bring a breast pump and any other
equipment used to express breast milk onto a high school
campus.
c) Access to a power source for a breast pump or any
other equipment used to express breast milk.
d) Access to a place to store breast milk safely.
3) Requires a lactating student to be provided a reasonable
amount of time to accommodate her need to express breast milk
or breast-feed.
4) Requires LEAs to provide the reasonable accommodations only
if there is at least one lactating student on the school
campus.
5) Authorizes LEAs to use existing facilities to meet the
requirements for providing reasonable accommodations.
AB 302
Page 4
6) Provides that a student is not to incur an academic penalty
as a result of her use, during the schoolday, of the
reasonable accommodations, and requires that the student be
provided the opportunity to make up any work missed due to
such use.
7) Authorizes a complaint of non-compliance with the
requirement to provide reasonable accommodations to be filed
with an LEA under the existing Uniform Complaint Procedures
(UCP).
8) Requires an LEA to respond to a complaint in accordance with
the existing UCP process.
9) Authorizes a complainant who is not satisfied with the
decisions of an LEA to appeal the decision to the California
Department of Education (CDE) through the existing UCP appeal
process, and requires that the complainant receive a written
decision regarding the appeal within 60 days of CDE's receipt
of the appeal.
10)Requires the LEA to provide a remedy to the affected student
if the LEA or the Superintendent of Public Instruction finds
merit in a complaint.
Comments
Existing rights for employees but not for students. Both state
and federal law require employers to provide reasonable
accommodations to lactating employees, including break time and
the provision of private space (other than a restroom stall) in
which to express breast milk or breast-feed. Existing law
prohibits discriminatory practices in employment or housing
accommodations on the basis of sex, and defines "sex" to include
breast-feeding or medical conditions related to breast-feeding.
Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in all
aspects of education, but does not explicitly reference
breast-feeding.
This bill generally mirrors state and federal requirements that
employees be provided reasonable accommodation to express breast
milk or breast-feed. This bill authorizes LEAs to use an
existing facility to meet the requirements of this bill.
AB 302
Page 5
Therefore, schools should not have to designate a space for
students beyond what they have already established for
employees.
Uniform Complaint Procedures. Required by federal law, the UCP
was established in 1991 as a means of creating a "uniform system
of complaint processing" for educational programs. The
authority for this process is located in regulations, not state
statute. These regulations require the adoption of the UCP by
school districts, county offices of education, charter schools
receiving federal funds, and local public or private agencies
which receive direct or indirect state funding to provide school
programs or special education or related services. The UCP
process generally involves the following steps:
a) The filing of a complaint by an individual, agency, or
organization.
b) The investigation and written response by the LEA within 60
days.
c) An appeal by the complainant to the CDE within 15 days of
receiving the LEA response.
d) The response by the CDE to the appeal, with the
investigation completed within 60 days.
e) A request for reconsideration by the complainant or LEA
within 35 days of receiving CDE's response to the appeal.
f) A response by the CDE within 35 days.
Complaints regarding pupil fees, harassment, discrimination,
bullying, intimidation, local control accountability plans and
some charter school requirements generally follow the UCP, but
differ slightly in terms of timelines, anonymity of
complainants, confidentiality, and with whom a complaint can be
filed.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
AB 302
Page 6
New lactation mandate: Unknown, potentially significant
reimbursable state mandate costs for schools to provide
required accommodations for breastfeeding needs. This bill
allows for broad interpretation of accommodation requirements
which could result in a broad range of activities determined
to be reimbursable under state mandate law. (Proposition 98)
The CDE anticipates the need for one full-time position and
one part-time position and about $147,000 to address a
potential increase in appeals due to adding a new category of
potential complaints. Costs will depend on actual complaints
received and appeals filed. (General Fund)
Expansion of existing UCP mandate: Unknown, potentially
significant reimbursable state mandate costs related to
developing procedures and local investigation of complaints.
To the extent the Commission on State Mandates determines this
bill to impose a new or expansion of an existing state
mandate, this could create pressure to increase the K-12
Mandate Block Grant to reflect their inclusion. (Proposition
98)
SUPPORT: (Verified8/28/15)
American Civil Liberties Union (co-source)
California Latinas for Reproductive Justice (co-source)
American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
Black Women for Wellness
Breastfeeding Coalition of San Joaquin County
Breastfeeding Task Force of Santa Clara Valley
BreastfeedLA
California Breastfeeding Coalition
California WIC Association
Citizens for Choice
Community Medical Centers
LiquidGoldConcept
Maternal and Child Health Access
National Council of La Raza
National Women's Law Center
Physicians for Reproductive Health
AB 302
Page 7
Public Health Foundation Enterprises
URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity
Individuals
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/28/15)
None received
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to California Latinas for
Reproductive Justice, "although lactating students' right to
accommodations is protected under current law, in practice,
student requests for these accommodations may be denied because
administrators are ill-informed or unaware of lactating
students' rights. Failure to provide adequate lactation
accommodations at one school site may result in a student's
decision to forego breastfeeding altogether or enroll in a
school site exclusively based on the ability to pump or
breastfeed during school hours."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 60-17, 6/3/15
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brown, Burke,
Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley,
Cooper, Dababneh, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Gallagher,
Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez,
Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin,
Jones-Sawyer, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein,
McCarty, Medina, Mullin, Nazarian, O'Donnell, Perea, Quirk,
Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth,
Mark Stone, Ting, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins
NOES: Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Brough, Dahle, Beth Gaines,
Grove, Hadley, Harper, Jones, Kim, Mathis, Melendez,
Obernolte, Patterson, Wagner, Waldron
NO VOTE RECORDED: Mayes, Olsen, Thurmond
Prepared by:Lynn Lorber / ED. / (916) 651-4105
8/31/15 8:31:49
**** END ****
AB 302
Page 8