BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 967 Page 1 ASSEMBLY THIRD READING AB 967 (Williams) As Amended June 1, 2015 Majority vote ------------------------------------------------------------------- |Committee |Votes |Ayes |Noes | | | | | | | | | | | |----------------+------+---------------------+---------------------| |Higher |13-0 |Medina, Baker, | | |Education | |Bloom, Chávez, | | | | |Harper, Irwin, | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Jones-Sawyer, | | | | |Levine, Linder, Low, | | | | |Santiago, Weber, | | | | |Williams | | | | | | | |----------------+------+---------------------+---------------------| |Appropriations |14-0 |Gomez, Bigelow, | | | | |Bonta, Calderon, | | | | |Chang, Daly, Eggman, | | | | |Eduardo Garcia, | | | | |Gordon, Holden, | | | | |Quirk, Rendon, | | | | |Weber, Wood | | | | | | | | | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------- AB 967 Page 2 SUMMARY: Establishes minimum disciplinary standards and reporting requirements for sexual assault complaints received by California Community College districts (CCD), California State University (CSU), the University of California (UC) and independent postsecondary educational institutions. Specifically, this bill: 1)Requires, in order to receive state funds for student financial assistance, the governing board of a CCD, the Trustees of the CSU, the Regents of the UC, and the governing board of each independent postsecondary institution to adopt and carry out a uniform process, applicable to each campus, for disciplinary proceedings related to claims of sexual assault. 2)Requires the policies to conform to the following: a) The institution shall not carry out a different disciplinary process on the same campus for a matter of sexual violence, or alter the uniform process based on the status or characteristics of a student who will be involved in that disciplinary proceeding, including characteristics such as a student's membership on an athletic team, a student's academic major, or any other characteristic or status of a student. b) The institution shall develop and implement a minimum standard of discipline of at least two years suspension, up to expulsion, for students found responsible for rape, forced sodomy, forced oral copulation, or rape by a foreign object. c) Requires minimum standards to provide for specific forms of discipline, to include expulsion, suspension, loss of AB 967 Page 3 financial aid or scholarships, loss of activity privileges, and removal from student housing. 3)Requires, in order to receive state funds for student financial assistance, the governing board of a CCD, the Trustees of the CSU, the Regents of the UC, and the governing board of each independent postsecondary institution to report, by April 1, 2017, and each year thereafter, all of the following from the prior calendar year: a) The number of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking complaints that were received by the institution. b) The number of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking complaints that were investigated by the institution. c) The number of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking complaints that were not investigated by the institution. d) The number of investigations conducted pursuant to 2) above, in which the respondents were found responsible at the disciplinary proceedings of the institution. e) The number of investigations conducted pursuant to 2) above, in which the respondents were not found responsible at the disciplinary proceedings of the institution. f) The number of disciplinary sanctions imposed on respondents who were found responsible, disaggregated by the AB 967 Page 4 type of discipline imposed in, at minimum, the categories of expulsion, suspension of at least two years, suspension of fewer than two years, and probation. 4)Requires the information to be reported in a manner that provides appropriate protections for the privacy of those involved, including, but not necessarily limited to, protection of the confidentiality of the alleged victim and of the alleged perpetrator; and, sunsets the aforementioned reporting requirements on December 31, 2021. EXISTING LAW: 1)Requires, under the Kristen Smart Campus Safety Act, UC Regents, CSU Trustees, CCD governing boards, and independent colleges that meet specified conditions to enter into specific written agreements with local law enforcement agencies regarding the coordination and responsibilities for investigating Part 1 violent crimes which occur on campus. (Education Code (EDC) Section 67381) 2)Requires public and independent postsecondary institutions, as a condition of receipt of student aid funds, to adopt a policy concerning campus sexual violence, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking that includes specified components and standards, including an "affirmative consent" standard for determining whether consent was given by both parties to sexual activity. Establishes a preponderance of evidence as the evidentiary standard for determining if sexual violence/harassment occurred. (EDC Section 67386) 3)Requires, under the federal Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act), public and private postsecondary educational institutions that participate in the federal financial aid program to disclose information about crimes on and around campuses. (20 United AB 967 Page 5 States Code (U.S.C.) Section 1092(f)) 4)Requires, under federal Title IX (20 U.S.C. Sections 1681 to 1688), public and private postsecondary educational institutions that participate in the federal financial aid program to establish certain rights for victims of sexual assault. FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, assuming average costs of around $3,000 per community college district, statewide potential reimbursable state mandated costs would be $216,000 (General Fund-Proposition 98 (1988)) annually. Any costs to UC and CSU will be absorbable. COMMENTS: According to the author, "the state of California has an obligation to provide a safe and secure learning environment at our college and university campuses. Students, families, and the general public need assurance that colleges and universities take campus sexual assault seriously. The Washington Post obtained data from approximately 100 institutions surveyed in 2012 and 2013; in regards to campus sanctions in sexual assault cases they discovered that out of 478 sanctions for sexual assault, only 12% resulted in expulsion and 28% resulted in suspensions." The author believes that in order to address rape culture on college campuses, there needs to be meaningful sanctions that truly serve as a deterrent. This bill is intended to provide clear and consistent direction to colleges and universities on imposing sanctions for sexual assault, and will require reporting of adjudication outcome data to ensure compliance with these standards. Analysis Prepared by: AB 967 Page 6 Laura Metune / HIGHER ED. / (916) 319-3960 FN: 0000736