BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 329
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Date of Hearing: April 22, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Patrick O'Donnell, Chair
AB 329
Weber - As Amended April 13, 2015
SUBJECT: Pupil instruction: sexual health education
SUMMARY: Makes instruction in sexual health education a
requirement, revises HIV prevention education content, expands
topics covered in sexual health education, requires this
instruction to be inclusive of different sexual orientations,
and clarifies parental consent policy. Specifically, this bill:
1)Renames the Comprehensive Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS
Prevention Education Act as the California Healthy Youth Act.
2)Adds to the intended purposes of the Act, to:
a) promote understanding of sexuality as a normal part of
human development
b) provide students with integrated, comprehensive,
accurate, and unbiased sexual health and HIV prevention
instruction
c) provide educators with clear tools and guidance to
accomplish that end
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d) provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary
to have healthy, positive, and safe relationships and
behaviors
1)Replaces the term HIV/AIDS with "HIV and AIDS," and replaces
"sexually transmitted disease" with "sexually transmitted
infection" throughout.
2)Defines the qualifications of instructors to include knowledge
of "healthy relationships."
3)Requires instruction under this act to:
a) affirmatively recognize that people have different
sexual orientations and, when discussing or providing
examples of relationships and couples, shall be inclusive
of same-sex relationships.
b) teach pupils about gender, gender expression, gender
identity, and explore the harm of negative gender
stereotypes.
1)Revises a requirement that instruction and materials encourage
students to communicate with their parents or guardians to
also encourage that students communicate with "other trusted
adults," and that this instruction also provide students with
the knowledge and skills necessary to do so.
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2)Revises a requirement that instruction and materials teach
respect for marriage to read: "prepare pupils to have and
maintain committed relationships such as marriage."
3)Requires that instruction and materials provide students with
knowledge and skills they need to form healthy relationships
that are based on mutual respect and affection, and are free
from violence, coercion, and intimidation.
4)Revises a requirement and makes it apply to all sexual health
education (currently in HIV/AIDS prevention education) that
instruction and materials provide students with "negotiation"
skills (in addition to refusal skills) to assist them in
overcoming peer pressure.
5)Requires that instruction on sexual health in grades 7-12
occur at least once during junior high school and once during
high school (in addition to HIV prevention education). This
includes the requirements in existing law for comprehensive
sexual health education and HIV/AIDS prevention education,
while also requiring as part of this instruction:
a) The effectiveness and safety, as one federal Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) approved method to prevent or
reduce the risk of contracting HIV and other sexually
transmitted infections, of the use of antiretroviral
medication, consistent with the federal Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.
b) The effectiveness and safety of reducing the risk of HIV
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transmission as a result of injection drug use by
decreasing needle use and needle sharing.
c) The treatment of HIV and other sexually transmitted
infections, including how antiretroviral therapy can
dramatically prolong the lives of many people living with
HIV and reduce the likelihood of transmitting HIV to
others.
d) The facts that successfully treated HIV-positive
individuals have a normal life expectancy, all people are
at some risk of contracting HIV, and the only way to know
if one is HIV-positive is to get tested.
e) Information on students' legal rights to access local
resources for sexual and reproductive health care such as
testing and medical care for HIV and other sexually
transmitted infections and pregnancy prevention and care,
as well as local resources for assistance with sexual
assault and intimate partner violence.
f) Information on pregnancy, including an objective
discussion of all legally available pregnancy outcomes,
including all of the following:
1. parenting, adoption, and abortion
2. information on the law on surrendering physical
custody of a minor child 72 hours of age or younger
3. the importance of prenatal care
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a) Information on sexual harassment, sexual assault,
adolescent relationship abuse, intimate partner violence,
and sex trafficking.
1)Expands, by increasing the topics taught in sexual health
education, the number of topics which may be taught to
students earlier than grade 7 in an age appropriate and
medically accurate manner.
2)Removes the requirements that HIV instruction:
a) accurately reflect the recommendations of the U.S.
Surgeon General and the National Academy of Sciences
b) emphasize compassion for persons living with HIV/AIDS
c) emphasize monogamy and avoidance of multiple sexual
partners as among the most effective means of preventing
HIV infection
1)Requires that outside consultants and guest speakers have
knowledge of the most recent medically accurate research on
the relevant topics covered in their instruction.
2)Adds sexual health to the requirements for in-service training
for teachers of HIV prevention education.
3)Clarifies that active parental consent ("opt in") policies for
sexual health instruction and for research and evaluation
tools are prohibited.
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EXISTING LAW:
1)Permits school districts to provide comprehensive sexual
health education, and places a number of requirements on
districts choosing to provide that instruction. Among, these
requirements, instruction must be age appropriate, medically
accurate and objective, teach respect for committed
relationships and marriage, encourage students to speak with
their parents or guardians about human sexuality, be
appropriate and accessible for use with students with
disabilities, and be appropriate for students of all races,
genders, sexual orientations, and ethnic and cultural
backgrounds.
2)Requires school districts to provide HIV/AIDS prevention
education, and specifies what is to be included in that
instruction.
3)Permits instruction to be provided by outside consultants and
guest speakers at assemblies and requires that this
instruction conform to the requirements for school district
instruction.
4)Requires in-service training of instructors providing HIV/AIDS
prevention education.
5)States that a parent or guardian of a student has the right to
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excuse their child from all or part of comprehensive sexual
health education, HIV/AIDS prevention education, and related
assessments, and requires that parents be notified of this
right.
FISCAL EFFECT: This bill has been keyed a state-mandated local
program by the Office of Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS:
Components of this bill. The author explains that this bill is
intended to address five areas of policy by:
Updating the HIV and AIDS prevention education to reflect
today's understanding of HIV and AIDS
Ensuring that students are receiving comprehensive and
accurate prevention information for HIV, other sexually
transmitted infections, and unintended pregnancy, as well as
information about local health resources
Clarifying and bolstering existing requirements that
instruction and materials be appropriate for students of all
sexual orientations and genders
Clarifying the existing passive consent policy for parental
consent
Including new language relating to adolescent relationship
abuse and sex trafficking, and reinforcing a focus on healthy
attitudes, healthy behaviors, and healthy relationships
Need for the bill. The author's office states, "HIV prevention
education is mandated in California schools. But the law,
written in 1992, is outdated and doesn't address the broader
context of HIV prevention. For example, instruction that
addresses relationship skills and preventing other sexually
transmitted infections (STIs) and unintended pregnancy is
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fundamental to equipping students to understand and prevent HIV.
However, this instruction is currently relegated in the
Education Code to non-mandated comprehensive sexual health
education. Ninety-three percent of schools teach combined HIV
prevention and sexual health education, but the distinction
between them in the Education Code generates confusion by
schools that often results in students being denied critical
information.
More than 60% of teens are sexually active at age 18. Rates of
STIs are growing in California and are highest in young people
ages 15-24. California's teen birth rate remains higher than
that of other industrialized countries, and over 80% of births
to teens are unintended. Our schools are a critical
environment for providing young people with the knowledge and
skills that they will need to protect their sexual health at
whatever age they become sexually active.
Comprehensive sexual health and HIV prevention education has
been shown to be effective in both delaying sexual activity and
increasing condom and contraceptive use among youth who are
already sexually active. LGBT-inclusive education has also been
shown to have a positive effect on school climate and make LGBT
youth feel safer in school. Research also shows that health
education can improve students' academic outcomes, including in
reading and math."
Making comprehensive sexual health education mandatory. Current
law does not mandate sexual health education, but places
requirements on instruction that is voluntarily provided to
students. While this instruction is voluntary, research has
shown that nearly all (96%) school districts offer a program of
sexual health education. In contrast, HIV/AIDS prevention
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education has been mandated since 1992.
This bill proposes to combine sexual health education and the
HIV/AIDS prevention education statutes into a single, mandatory
program of instruction. Proponents of this bill argue that AB
329 reflects the way that sexual health and HIV prevention
education is actually provided in schools - as an integrated
program of instruction. Research has found that 93% teach the
two topics as one class.
Outdated HIV/AIDS provisions. The HIV/AIDS Prevention Education
sections of the Education Code were enacted in 1992, when HIV
infection was the leading cause of death for men aged 25-44
years (accounting for 20% of all deaths among men that age
group) and the fourth leading cause of death for women in that
age group. New infections were still rising dramatically in
that year - 1992 had the highest annual rate mortality rate
recorded to that time, an 11% increase over the prior year.
Current law still reflects that context by, for example,
combining HIV and AIDS into a single abbreviation, and by
encouraging "compassion for those persons living with HIV/AIDS,"
and by including no mention of antiretroviral treatments.
This bill aims to revise the HIV/AIDS prevention statute to
reflect advances in prevention and treatment that have occurred
since 1992. The bill updates these sections to emphasize that
these advances have dramatically prolonged the lives of many
people living with HIV and that successfully treated
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HIV-positive people have a normal life expectancy.
From prohibiting bias to affirmative recognition. Current law
prohibits bias in sexual health instruction against people on
the basis of sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, and
gender expression. This bill seeks to additionally require
affirmative recognition of different sexual orientations,
require instruction to include topics of gender, gender
expression, gender identity, and explore the harm of negative
gender stereotypes. Proponents of this bill argue that these
requirements are necessary because in practice current
instruction does not recognize different sexual orientations. A
2011 study (described below) found, for example, that only 30%
of school districts report discussing sexual orientation in both
middle and high school. Proponents point to research showing
that affirmative recognition of different sexual orientations
has a positive effect on school climate, improves student
achievement, and makes LGBT youth safer in school.
Compliance problems. A 2011 report from the University of
California, San Francisco, titled Uneven Progress: Sex Education
in California Schools, found that since the last major reform in
this area SB 71 (Kuehl), Chapter 650, Statutes of 2003, there
have been improvements in instruction, there remain problems
regarding school district compliance with current law. Among the
findings:
25% of districts discussed the required topic of
emergency contraception
58% of districts included required information about
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contraception in both middle and high school
25% of districts omitted required HIV prevention topics
16% of districts taught students that condoms are not an
effective way to prevent pregnancy and transmission of STIs
19% of districts reported that birth control methods are
mentioned but that most of the instructional time was spent
on the benefits of abstinence
30% of districts addressed sexual orientation
37% of districts did not provide required teacher
training
39% of districts failed to provide required materials in
languages other than English
27% of districts failed to provide required materials to
make content accessible to students with disabilities
The study also found that "materials and curricula used by
school districts are often fragmented, outdated, and presented
without fidelity or a sufficient amount of instructional time."
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CDE changing its interpretation of parental consent law.
Contrary to significant Legislative history on this issue, the
CDE has advised school districts that the law permits them to
adopt an "opt in" policy regarding comprehensive sexual health
instruction. The CDE website states, "Districts shall not adopt
an active consent or "opt-in" policy for parental consent for
required HIV/AIDS prevention instruction. Districts may use
either a passive consent ("opt-out") or active consent
("opt-in") policy for comprehensive sexual health education."
The CDE has recently informed staff that it is in the process of
changing this interpretation, and will be advising that "opt in"
policies are prohibited.
Charter schools not subject to current law or this bill.
Current law regarding sexual health education and HIV/AIDS
prevention education (including parental rights to opt out of
instruction) does not apply to charter schools, and this bill
does not propose to change that. AB 1600 (Kuehl) of the 2007-08
Session proposed to apply these provisions to charter schools.
That bill died in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Related legislation. SB 695 (De Leon) of this Session requires
the Instructional Quality Commission to consider, when the
health curriculum framework is next revised, including a content
for grades 9 to 12 on sexual harassment and violence. This bill
also requires school districts which require a course in health
education to include instruction on sexual assault and violence,
including information on the affirmative consent standard.
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AB 517 (Gallagher) of this Session, which was heard by this
Committee on April 8th, would have prohibited the participation
of a student in comprehensive sexual health education or
HIV/AIDS prevention education which is taught by outside
consultants or through guest speakers at assemblies unless prior
written permission of the student's parent or guardian had been
provided. This bill failed on a vote of 1-5, and reconsideration
was granted.
Previous legislation. AB 629 (Brownley), Chapter 602, Statutes
of 2007, enacted the Sexual Health Education Accountability Act
and requires sexual health education programs to provide
information that is medically accurate, current, and objective,
include content that is age appropriate for its targeted
population, be culturally and linguistically appropriate for its
targeted populations, and provide information about the
effectiveness and safety of at least one or more drug or device
approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration for
preventing pregnancy and for reducing the risk of contracting
sexually transmitted diseases.
AB 1600 (Kuehl) of the 2007-08 Session proposed to apply sexual
health education and HIV/AIDS prevention education requirements
to charter schools. That bill died in the Senate Appropriations
Committee.
SB 71 (Kuehl), Chapter 650, Statutes of 2003, established the
California Comprehensive Sexual
Health and HIV/AIDS Prevention Education Act which consolidated
various provisions relating
to the instruction in the public schools on AIDS prevention,
venereal disease and other sexually
transmitted diseases, sex, and abstinence from sexual activity,
and the manner in which parents
or guardians may excuse their children from this instruction.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
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Support
American Civil Liberties Union of California (sponsor)
California Latinas for Reproductive Justice (sponsor)
Equality California (sponsor)
Forward Together (sponsor)
Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California (sponsor)
ACCESS Women's Health Justice
ACT for Women and Girls
American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, District
IX
Black Women for Wellness
California Association of School Health Educators
California Family Health Council
California Pan-Ethnic Health Network
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California Teachers Association
Gay-Straight Alliance Network of California
California Family Health Council
California Women's Law Center
Cardea Services
Center on Reproductive Rights and Justice, UC Berkeley School of
Law
Citizens for Choice
Guam Communications Network
Health Connected
Health Initiatives for Youth
Khmer Girls in Action
NARAL Pro-Choice California
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National Center for Youth Law
National Council of Jewish Women - California
Oakland Unified School District
Physicians for Reproductive Health
Public Health Institute, Center for Research on Adolescent
Health and Development
San Francisco Unified School District
Teen Success, Inc.
1 individual
Opposition
California Right to Life Committee, Inc.
Analysis Prepared by:Tanya Lieberman / ED. / (916) 319-2087
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