BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 1653 (Weber) - Postsecondary education: campus climate
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|Version: June 28, 2016 |Policy Vote: ED. 9 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: Yes |
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|Hearing Date: August 1, 2016 |Consultant: Jillian Kissee |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: This bill requires the California Community Colleges
(CCC) Board of Governors (BOG), the California State University
(CSU) Trustees, the governing body of each private postsecondary
educational institution in the state and encourages each
University of California (UC) campus, to generate a report every
two years, as specified, pertaining campus climate. This bill
also requires the CSU Trustees and community college district
governing boards, and requests the UC Regents, to adopt and
publish policies on harassment, intimidation, and bullying, as
specified.
Fiscal
Impact:
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The CCC indicates that costs related to reporting are
anticipated to be minor. Additional costs would be incurred
of up to $216,000 system wide to adopt and publish policies on
harassment, intimidation, and bullying. These costs could be
interpreted by the Commission on State Mandates to impose a
reimbursable state mandate. See staff comments. (Proposition
98)
One-time cost pressure to UC of up to $100,000 update the
campus climate reporting portal to collect data and allow for
data analysis to the extent they choose to comply with the
requirements of the bill. In addition, every two years the UC
would incur costs of $420,000 system wide related to
collecting and analyzing data to generate a campus climate
report. (General Fund)
CSU anticipates costs to implement this bill would be minor.
Background: Existing law provides that it is the state's policy to afford
all persons, regardless of disability, gender, gender identity,
gender expression, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion,
sexual orientation, or any other basis that is contained in the
prohibition of hate crimes, as specified, equal rights and
opportunities in the postsecondary institutions of the state.
(Education Code § 66251)
Existing law also declares that, consistent with specified
federal law provisions, all students have the right to
participate fully in the educational process, free from
discrimination and harassment. In addition, it declares that
the state's postsecondary educational institutions have an
affirmative obligation to combat racism, sexism, and other forms
of bias, and a responsibility to provide equal educational
opportunity. It declares the Legislature's intent that each
postsecondary educational institution undertake educational
activities to counter discriminatory incidents on school grounds
and, within constitutional bounds, to minimize and eliminate a
hostile environment on school grounds that impair access to
equal educational opportunities. (EC § 66252)
Existing law requires under the federal Title IX and the Jeanne
Clery Act (Clery Act), colleges and universities, as a condition
of federal student aid program participation, to publish annual
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campus security reports, maintain crime logs, provide timely
warnings of crimes that present a public safety risk, maintain
ongoing crime statistics, establish certain rights for victims
of sexual assault, and include certain security policies. The
Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act amended the Clery Act
to provide additional rights to campus victims of sexual
assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking. Part
of the changes include expanding the campus crime statistics
required to be reported beyond the Clery Act, to include
domestic violence, dating violence and stalking, and crimes
motivated by gender identity or national origin.
This bill is reflective of the efforts of the Assembly Select
Committee on Campus Climate. The committee issued a report with
its recommendations in October 2014 which included that the UC,
CSU, and CCC provide an annual report to the Legislature on
recent challenges and developments related to campus climate.
This bill implements the 2014 report recommendations and
information from two follow-up hearings in 2015 with the intent
that there be a certain level of oversight and that the
Legislature be kept informed of any major changes at California
colleges and universities. Also, the author indicates that,
existing law does not specifically address campus climate and
that this measure would be the appropriate next step in creating
some type of oversight of campus climate.
Proposed Law:
This bill requires the CCC Board of Governors, the CSU
Trustees, and the governing body of each private postsecondary
educational institution in the state, and encourages each UC
campus, to each generate and post online a report, as specified,
pertaining to campus climate. This report is required to be
submitted to the Governor, Attorney General, and the
Legislature.
The biennial report must include:
Recent administrative efforts intended to affect campus
climate;
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Recent campus program developments that impact campus climate
related to gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, religion,
sexual orientation, disability, and gender identity; and
Recent administrative efforts to reduce student food
insecurity and student homelessness.
In addition, this bill requires the CCC Board of Governors, CSU
Trustees, and the governing body of each independent institution
of higher education, and encourages the UC Regents to create,
review every two years, and update as necessary, policies
regarding compliance with the federal Jeanne Clery Disclosure of
Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics and the
federal Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act.
This bill defines "campus climate" as a measure of an
individual's experience within a 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. This bill
also requires that if the CSU Trustees and the governing board
of each community college district expend funds to support
campus climate, they are required to adopt and publish policies
on harassment, intimidation, and bullying to be included within
the rules governing student behavior within their respective
segments. The UC Regents are requested to adopt such policies.
Related
Legislation: AB 340 (Weber, 2015) similar to this bill, would
have also required the CSU and the CCC, and encouraged the UC to
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report on campus climate efforts. AB 340 was vetoed by the
Governor whose veto message indicated that the segments are
already taking steps aimed at achieving the goals of the bill
and that codifying a biennial report is not necessary.
Staff
Comments: This bill requires each segment to generate a
biennium report on campus climate. It specifically requires the
BOG to only request, not require, information from community
college districts, making any information provided to the BOG
voluntary and therefore not a reimbursable activity under state
mandate law.
This bill also requires that if community college districts and
the CSU expend funds to support activities related to campus
climate, they must adopt and publish policies on harassment,
intimidation, and bullying. Campus climate is defined in the
bill as a measure of an individual's experience within a
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. This broad definition could capture a wide range of
activities for which community college districts expend funds
which would trigger the requirement to adopt and publish
required policies. If enacted, the requirements included in
this bill could be viewed as "activities related to campus
climate". Therefore, it is possible that the Commission on
State Mandates could determine this to be a reimbursable state
mandate based on practical compulsion - that there is no
reasonable alternative but to comply. At an estimated cost of
$2,000 to $3,000 per district to develop required policies,
reimbursable state mandated costs could be $144,000 to $216,000
statewide.
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