BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 340
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Date of Hearing: May 20, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
340 (Weber) - As Amended May 6, 2015
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
The bill requires the governing boards of the California
Community Colleges (CCC) and the California State University
(CSU), and encourages the University of California (UC) Regents,
to report on the campus climate at their respective systems.
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Specifically, this bill:
1)Defines campus climate as a measure of an individual's
experience within the learning environment, specifically
focusing on the current attitudes, practices, policies, and
behaviors of campus life that impact the success and retention
of all members of a campus community.
2)Requires the reports to include: administrative efforts to
effect campus climate; recent campus program developments
impacting campus climate with respect to gender, race,
ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation,
disability, and gender identity; student demographic data; and
crime data, as specified.
3)Requires the reports to be submitted once every biennium
session of the Legislature, beginning in 2017-18, to the
Governor, the Attorney General, and the Legislature, and to be
posted on the segments' websites.
FISCAL EFFECT:
1)UC and CSU indicate that they can absorb any cost associated
with this bill, as it is generally consistent with their
existing efforts in this regard.
2)The CCC Chancellor's Office, in part due to the system's
decentralized nature, does not currently collect much of the
information required in the report and thus will incur costs
to establish a reporting format and to solicit, obtain,
review, compile and report information from 72 districts and
113 colleges. Initial costs for the first report will be
$200,000 to $250,000, with ongoing costs of $100,000 to
AB 340
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$150,000 every two years thereafter.
COMMENTS:
Background and Purpose. Out of concern regarding recent campus
climate issues at various campuses of higher education, in the
past few years there have been several oversight hearings
convened by the Assembly Higher Education Committee to look at
campus climate issues. In 2014, the Assembly Select Committee
on Campus Climate convened several hearings examining how to
strengthen overall campus climate at the state's postsecondary
educational institutions of higher learning.
The author states, "By requiring a report on recent developments
on campus climate, the three segments of higher education would
keep key policymakers informed about new and ongoing endeavors
and developments in regards to campus climate. It would also
offer a level of oversight to ensure that progress is being made
at California's public higher education institutions as they
work to meet the needs of a changing demographic."
Analysis Prepared by:Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)
319-2081