BILL ANALYSIS Ó SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair 2015 - 2016 Regular Session AB 1778 (Quirk) - Postsecondary education: sexual assault and sexual violence training ----------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Version: May 31, 2016 |Policy Vote: ED. 9 - 0 | | | | |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Urgency: No |Mandate: No | | | | |--------------------------------+--------------------------------| | | | |Hearing Date: August 1, 2016 |Consultant: Jillian Kissee | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File. Bill Summary: This bill requires beginning January 1, 2018, as a condition of receiving student financial assistance, postsecondary institutions to conduct annual training of their employees on their obligations in responding to and reporting incidents of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking involving students. Fiscal Impact: Costs to the California Community Colleges (CCC) districts are unknown as they would vary depending upon current policies, whether training is in place that complies with the AB 1778 (Quirk) Page 1 of ? requirements of this bill, or if not, how each district would deliver the required training. The CCC Chancellor's Office indicates costs could range from $4,000 to $40,000 per district depending upon how the training is delivered. Therefore statewide costs could range from low hundreds of thousands to low millions to train its staff of roughly 89,000. Costs may be reduced somewhat to the extent a significant number of staff are employed at multiple districts and receive training from one campus only. Whether these costs would be required to be reimbursed by the state would be determined by the Commission on State Mandates. Otherwise, these costs would present a cost pressure to the state as community colleges would be required to comply with these requirements in which case less discretionary state funds would be available to meet the existing needs of the colleges. (Proposition 98) The University of California (UC) and the California State University (CSU) indicate no additional costs to implement this bill as their current policies already comply with the requirements of this bill. Background: Existing law requires postsecondary institutions to each adopt, and implement, a written procedure to ensure, to the fullest extent possible, that students, faculty, and staff who are victims of sexual assault committed on grounds maintained by the institution or affiliated student organizations, receive treatment and information. The written procedures must contain specified information, including the college policy regarding sexual assault on campus and personnel on campus who should be notified, and procedures for notification, with the consent of the victim. Existing law also requires postsecondary institutions to adopt a policy concerning campus sexual violence, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking that includes specified components and standards in order to receive state funds for student financial assistance. Institutions must also adopt detailed and victim-centered policies on these topics, including among others, a comprehensive, trauma-informed training program for campus officials involved in investigating and adjudicating sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking cases. Institutions must, to the extent feasible, enter into agreements with existing on-campus and community-based AB 1778 (Quirk) Page 2 of ? organizations to refer students for assistance and implement preventive outreach programs. Existing law also requires each campus of the CCCs and the CSU, and requests each campus of the UC, to develop policies to encourage students to report any campus crimes involving sexual violence. The federal Clery Act requires postsecondary educational institutions that receive federal financial aid to disclose information about crimes on and around campuses as well as establish certain rights for victims of sexual assault. It also requires postsecondary institutions to offer prevention and awareness programs to new students and employees regarding rape, domestic and dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. Proposed Law: This bill requires beginning January 1, 2018, as a condition of receiving student financial assistance, the governing board of each community college district, the CSU Trustees, the UC Regents, and the governing boards of independent postsecondary institution to conduct annual training of their respective employees on the employee's obligations in responding to and reporting incidents of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking involving students. This bill also specifies that an employee trained must be deemed to have satisfied the annual training requirement for each campus or community college district within each segment that the employee is employed at for that year. Related Legislation: AB 1654 (Santiago, 2016) expands existing audit requirements regarding the reporting of crime statistics by California postsecondary education institutions by requiring the State Auditor to include an evaluation of institutions' compliance with state law governing crime reporting and the development and implementation of student safety policies and procedures. AB 1654 is pending in this committee. AB 2018 (Ridley-Thomas, 2016) requires annual training for each AB 1778 (Quirk) Page 3 of ? employee and administrator of a community college district who is a mandated reporter regarding the detection and reporting of child abuse. AB 2018 is pending in this committee. Staff Comments: This bill conditions receipt of state financial aid to segments conducting required annual training. The Commission on State Mandates could determine the training requirement for the CCC to be a state reimbursable mandate based on practical compulsion - that there is no reasonable alternative but to comply. The UC and CSU are ineligible to submit a claim for reimbursement to the Commission on State Mandates. -- END --