Amended in Assembly February 22, 2016

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly BillNo. 1654


Introduced by Assembly Member Santiago

January 13, 2016


An act to amend Section 67382 of the Education Code, relating to student safety.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1654, as amended, Santiago. Studentbegin delete Safety:end deletebegin insert safety:end insert crime reporting.

The federal Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Actbegin insert (Clery Act)end insert requires eligible institutions of higher education participating in federal student assistance financial grant programs or federal work study programs to collect and annually prepare, publish, and distribute to current students and employees, and to applicants for enrollment or employment upon request, an annual security report containing information with respect to the campus security policies and campus crime statistics of that institution. The federal act further requires that the institutions annually file statistics concerning the occurrence of crimes on campus or on noncampus buildings or property, with the United States Secretary of Education.

The federal Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 requires each of these institutions to include in these reports a statement of policy regarding the institution’s programs to prevent domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, and the procedures the institution will follow once an incident of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault,begin delete andend deletebegin insert orend insert stalking has been reported, as specified.

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Existing law requires the State Auditor, every 3 years, to report the results of an audit of a sample of not less than 6 institutions of postsecondary education that receive federal student aid, to evaluate the accuracy of their statistics and the procedures used by the institutions to identify, gather, and track data for publishing, disseminating, and reporting accurate crime statistics in compliance with the Clery Act and to report the results of those audits to the respective chairs of the Assembly Committee on Higher Education and the Senate Committee on Education.

end insert
begin insert

This bill would require the State Auditor to include in this audit an evaluation of the institutions’ compliance with state law governing crime reporting and the development and implementation of student safety policies and procedures.

end insert

This bill would require the Department of Justice to provide guidance, commencing January 1, 2017, to California’s public and private institutions of higher education and systemwide officesbegin insert of public institutions of higher educationend insert regarding compliance with these federal laws.begin insert The bill would also require the Department of Justice to provide guidance to and develop model protocols for California’s public and private institutions of higher education and systemwide offices of public institutions of higher education regarding student safety state laws.end insert

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Existing law requires the California Postsecondary Education Commission, which has been defunded in recent budget years, to provide on its Internet Web site a link to the Internet Web site of each California institution of higher education that includes on that Web site the institution’s criminal statistics information.

end insert
begin insert

This bill would assign this responsibility to the Department of Justice.

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Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

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SECTION 1.  

Section 67382 of the Education Code is amended
2to read:

3

67382.  

(a) (1)  On or before January 1, 2004, and every three
4years thereafter, the State Auditor shall report the results of an
5audit of a sample of not less than six institutions of postsecondary
6education in California that receive federal studentbegin delete aid, to evaluateend delete
7begin insert aid. The audit shall do both of the following:end insert

P3    1begin insert(A)end insertbegin insertend insertbegin insertEvaluate end insertthe accuracy ofbegin delete theirend deletebegin insert the institutionsend insertbegin insertend insert statistics and
2the procedures used by the institutions to identify, gather, and track
3data for publishing, disseminating, and reporting accurate crime
4statistics in compliance with the requirements of the Jeanne Clery
5Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics
6Act (20 U.S.C. Sec. 1092 (f)(1) and (5)).

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7(B) Evaluate the institutions’ compliance with state law
8governing crime reporting and the development and
9implementation of policies and procedures pursuant to this chapter.

end insert

10(2) The results of the annual audits described in paragraph (1)
11shall be submitted to the respective chairs of the Assemblybegin delete Higher
12Educationend delete
Committeebegin insert on Higher Educationend insert and the Senate
13begin delete Education Committee.end deletebegin insert Committee on Education.end insert

14(b) Thebegin delete California Postsecondary Education Commissionend delete
15begin insert Department of Justiceend insert shall provide on its Internet Web site a link
16to the Internet Web site of each California institution of higher
17education that includes on that Web site the institution’s criminal
18statistics information.

19(c) The Legislature finds and declares that institutions of higher
20education that are subject to the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus
21Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (20 U.S.C. Sec.
221092(f)(1) and (5)) should establish and publicize a policy that
23allows victims or witnesses to report crimes to the campus police
24department or to a specified campus security authority, on a
25voluntary, confidential, or anonymous basis.

26(d) Commencing January 1, 2017, the Department of Justice
27shallbegin delete provideend deletebegin insert do both of the following:end insert

28begin insert(A)end insertbegin insertend insertbegin insertProvideend insert guidance to California’s public and private
29institutions of higher education, the office of the Chancellor of the
30California Community Colleges, the office of the Chancellor of
31the California State University, and the office of the President of
32the University of California regarding compliance with the Jeanne
33Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime
34Statistics Act (20 U.S.C. Sec. 1092(f)(1) and (5)) and the Violence
35Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 1092
36(f)(8)).

begin insert

37(B) Provide guidance to and develop model protocols for
38California’s public and private institutions of higher education,
39the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges,
40the office of the Chancellor of the California State University, and
P4    1the office of the President of the University of California regarding
2the requirements of this chapter.

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