BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1778|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1778
Author: Quirk (D)
Amended: 5/31/16 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 9-0, 6/22/16
AYES: Liu, Block, Hancock, Huff, Leyva, Mendoza, Monning, Pan,
Vidak
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 8/11/16
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, McGuire, Mendoza, Nielsen
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 75-0, 6/2/16 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Postsecondary education: sexual assault and sexual
violence training
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill requires the governing board of each
community college district (CCD), the Trustees of the California
State University (CSU), the Regents of the University of
California (UC), and the governing board of independent
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.
ANALYSIS:
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Existing law:
1)Requires the governing board of each CCD, the Trustees of the
CSU, the Board of Directors of the Hastings College of the
Law, and the Regents of the UC to each adopt, and implement at
each campus or other facilities, a written procedure or
protocols 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 or protocols 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.
2)Provides that each victim of sexual assault should receive
information about the existence of at least the following
options: criminal prosecutions, civil prosecutions, the
disciplinary process through the college, the availability of
mediation, alternative housing assignments, and academic
assistance alternatives. (Education Code § 67385)
3)Requires the governing board of each CCD, the Trustees of the
CSU, the Regents of the UC, and the governing boards of
independent postsecondary institutions, as specified, 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. (EC § 67386)
4)Requires the governing board of each CCD and the Trustees of
the CSU, and requests the Regents of the UC, in collaboration
with campus- and community-based victim advocacy
organizations, to provide as part of campus orientations,
educational and preventive information about sexual violence.
5)Requires each campus of the California Community Colleges
(CCCs) and the CSU, and requests each campus of the UC, to
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post sexual violence prevention and education information on
its campus Web site. The information must include specific
components including how to file a complaint, and the
availability and contact information for resources for
victims.
6)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. (EC § 67385.7)
This bill requires, commencing January 1, 2018, in order to
receive state funds for student financial assistance, the
governing boards of the community colleges, the CSU Trustees,
the UC Regents, and the governing boards of independent
postsecondary institutions to conduct annual training of their
employees on the employee's obligations in responding to and
reporting incidents of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating
violence, and stalking involving students, and provides that
this training shall satisfy the annual training requirement for
the employee.
Comments
Need for the bill. According to the author's office, "when
students experience sexual violence they are likely to report
the incident to a trusted coach or resident advisor at their
campus, unaware that this person may not be adequately trained
to appropriately report and support the victim. The unfortunate
truth is that although certain staff is trained to respond to
and report student incidents of sexual violence to the
appropriate officials, not all college campuses suitably train
every staff member who will interact with a student to do this.
The lack of all-inclusive, annual training may lead to
mismanagement of these incident reports, or worse, may
inadvertently discourage students from reporting these
incidents."
California State Auditor report. The State Auditor released a
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report in June 2014, Sexual Harassment and Sexual Violence:
California Universities Must Better Protect Students by Doing
More to Prevent, Respond to, and Resolve Incidents, related to
the handling of sexual harassment and sexual violence incidents
at the state's public postsecondary institutions. As part of
this audit, the State Auditor reviewed UC Berkeley and UCLA's
sexual assault policies and procedures and concluded that
California's educational institutions were not properly
educating students and training faculty and staff sufficiently
on response and reporting of incidents on campus as mandated by
Title IX and the Clery Act. The State Auditor made a series of
recommendations to include the expansion of staff training, the
improvement of access and content for student education, the
enhancement of communication with students, and the evaluation
of summary data collected in order to better identify trends and
inform strategies to address incidents on campus.
Campus policies consistent with this bill. California's
postsecondary education institutions have taken steps to address
the concerns raised in the audit reports and to respond to
statutory changes and regulatory guidance by improving processes
and outcomes on their campuses. Both the UC and CSU have
updated their sexual harassment and assault policies, initiated
mandatory prevention and response trainings for all students and
employees, and established confidential victim advocate offices
on every campus. The CSU and UC have appointed system wide
officers charged with ensuring Title IX compliance.
The UC Policy on Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment issued on
January 1, 2016, requires, among other provisions, for each
campus to conduct "mandatory annual training and education,
about prohibited conduct and how conduct can be reported, to all
students, faculty, and other academic appointees, and staff in
accordance with applicable state and federal law, and University
policies." Previously, the UC updated its policies relative to
sexual harassment and violence effective February 25, 2014.
These policies included a process for reporting incidents,
identification of on- and off-campus resources for victims, and
providing prompt and effective response to reports of incidents.
CSU Executive Order 1096, revised June 23, 2015, requires, among
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other provisions, mandatory annual training for all employees
that includes the rights and responsibilities of each employee
relating to the CSU policy and the employee's duty to report.
Prior to that, the CSU updated its policies to reflect the
changes to the federal Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act
and related guidance from the U.S. Department of Education,
Office for Civil Rights.
Federal law. Federal statutes addressing sexual assault on or
around institutions of higher education include Title IX and the
Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus
Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act).
The Clery Act requires public and private 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.
Those rights include notification to victims of the right to
file criminal charges, available counseling services, the
results of disciplinary proceedings, and the option for victims
to change their academic schedule or living arrangements.
The federal Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act amended the
Clery Act to, among other things, require postsecondary
institutions to offer prevention and awareness programs to new
students and employees regarding rape, domestic and dating
violence, sexual assault, and stalking. Programs must include a
definition of those offenses and consent with reference to
sexual offenses. Institutions are also required to compile
statistics of incidents of sexual assault, domestic violence,
dating violence and stalking. This Act also requires the Annual
Security Report to contain additional information such as
prevention programs, procedures once incidents are reported, and
possible sanctions following an institutional disciplinary
procedure.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
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According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Costs to the CCDs are unknown as they would vary depending
upon current policies, whether training is in place that
complies with the 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 UC and CSU indicate no additional costs to implement this
bill as their current policies already comply with the
requirements of this bill.
SUPPORT: (Verified8/12/16)
California State Student Association
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/12/16)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 75-0, 6/2/16
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AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,
Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang,
Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle,
Daly, Dodd, Frazier, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto,
Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper,
Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim,
Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis,
Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte,
O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez,
Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting,
Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bigelow, Brough, Eggman, Beth Gaines,
Gallagher
Prepared by:Lenin DelCastillo / ED. / (916) 651-4105
8/15/16 20:26:56
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