BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2609|
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 2609
Author: Chau (D)
Amended: 5/10/16 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE BUS., PROF. & ECON. DEV. COMMITTEE: 9-0, 6/13/16
AYES: Hill, Bates, Block, Gaines, Galgiani, Hernandez, Jackson,
Mendoza, Wieckowski
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: 7-0, 6/28/16
AYES: Jackson, Moorlach, Anderson, Hertzberg, Leno, Monning,
Wieckowski
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 67-0, 5/27/16 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT: Advertising: educational conferences
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill requires for-profit educational conference
organizations, as defined, that provide solicitation materials
directly to a school for purposes of distribution to a student,
to include specified disclosures in those materials and to
provide the materials in a sealed envelope addressed to the
parent or guardian of the student and to provide the disclosures
on separate documents addressed to the school and to any
employee thereof who is asked to distribute materials to a
student.
ANALYSIS:
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Existing law:
1)Protects, pursuant to the federal Family Educational Rights
and Privacy Act (FERPA), the privacy of student education
records and specifies that it applies to all schools that
receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S.
Department of Education. FERPA requires that schools, with
certain exceptions, obtain a parent or guardian's written
consent prior to the disclosure of personally identifiable
information from a child's education records.
(20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99)
2)Defines an "educational travel organization" (ETO) as a
person, partnership, corporation, or other entity who offers
educational travel programs for students residing, in the
State of California, and included an educational program as a
component, and defines a "student traveler" as a person who is
enrolled in K-12 at a time an educational travel program is
arranged with an ETO. (Business and Professions Code (BPC) §
17552)
3) Prohibits, pursuant to the Student Online Personal
Information Protection Act, an operator of a website, online
service, online application, or mobile application from
knowingly engaging in targeted advertising to students or
their parents or legal guardians, using covered information
to amass a profile about a K-12 student, selling a student's
information, or disclosing covered information, unless
otherwise specified. (BPC § 22584(b))
This bill:
1)Defines an "educational conference" to mean a conference,
forum, camp, or other similar event, intended to develop the
leadership, career or college readiness of a student, or
provide some other form of educational benefit, when
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participation in the event is represented as being limited to
students receiving an award, invitation or nomination to
participate in the event. Defines an "educational conference
organization" (ECO) to mean a person, partnership,
corporation, or other entity that operates in a for-profit
manner and that plans and advertises educational conferences
to students residing in California.
2)Requires an ECO that provides materials related to an
educational conference directly to a school or employee for
purposes of distribution to a student to comply with all of
the following:
a) Provide materials in a sealed envelope or other
packaging addressed to the parent or legal guardian of the
student.
b) Include with the materials all of the following
disclosures, in clear and conspicuous language:
i) That the materials constitute a solicitation for
the sale of a product.
ii) The legal form of the organization making the
solicitation, including the for-profit status of the
organization.
iii) The legal owner, if any, of the organization making
the solicitation.
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iv) The specific eligibility criteria required for
participation in the solicited educational conference
or conferences, if any.
v) An itemized list of the costs to participate in the
educational conference and the total price of
participating in the educational conference, including
estimated expenses not included in the price of the
educational conference.
vi) That attendance at an educational conference may
not affect a student's chances of being admitted to
college, and that a parent or guardian should contact
the student's school counselor for more information.
vii) Whether or not a nomination from a teacher or
school administrator is required to participate in the
educational conference, or if an individual may be
self-nominated or nominated by a parent or guardian.
viii) The total amount, if any, of funding or other
support, including employment or grants for school
supplies, the organization has provided to the
student's school or the school's employees during the
last three years before the date of the solicitation.
ix) A phone number, email address, or website that a
parent or guardian may use to contact a relevant
government agency for purposes of filing a complaint
related to the solicitation or the educational
conference itself.
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1)Requires the ECO to provide the disclosures described above on
separate documents addressed to the school and to any employee
thereof who is asked to distribute materials to a student.
2)Makes legislative findings and declarations pertaining to the
importance of protecting students from false or misleading
advertising, promoting high-quality educational conference
experiences, and encouraging public confidence in youth
leadership conferences by establishing appropriate marketing
restrictions and disclosure requirements on for-profit
educational conference solicitations.
Background
The Educational Conference Industry. Educational conferences go
by a variety of different names: youth leadership camps,
experiential learning programs, and prestige conferences, but
what they all have in common is that they provide school-aged
children who are seeking extra-curricular activities for
personal enrichment, civic engagement or even an advantage with
future college admissions. However, these programs vary widely
from one another in their marketing, admissions criteria,
selection processes, and costs to participate.
Perhaps the most well-known example of an educational conference
provider is the American Legion's Boys and Girls State, which
was founded in 1935 to allow students to study the operation of
local, county and state government by participating in
activities such as legislative sessions or court proceedings
during their annual conferences. Legion Posts select high
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school juniors based on recommended guidelines that include
interviews to evaluate merit and ability in
order to attend their program. In most cases, individual
expenses are paid by a sponsoring post, a local business or
another community-based organization.
Rotary International also offers several programs for youth such
as the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, which is a leadership
development program that hosts events that include
presentations, activities, and workshops that cover a variety of
topics. Participants are nominated by their local Rotary clubs,
which often cover all expenses. Both the American Legion and
Rotary programs are organized as non-profits.
There are also programs offered by for-profit companies, such as
the Junior National Young Leaders Conference, the National Youth
Leadership Forum, or the Global Young Leaders Conference. These
programs solicit their participants through a "nomination"
process that relies on teachers to identify potential
participants from among their own students, and can cost
hundreds or even thousands of dollars to participate.
Consumer Protection Concerns about ECOs and their Nomination
Process. According to a New York Times article in April of
2009, "Congratulations! You are Nominated. It's an Honor (It's a
Sales Pitch)", students are receiving conference solicitations
that "looked and sounded more like an Academy Award than a sales
pitch. In fancy script, on weighty card stock adorned by a
giant gold seal . . .[it] promised a 'lifetime advantage' and
'valuable addition' to her resume. It used words like 'elite,'
distinguished,' 'select.'"
Students who receive these offers may be led to believe that
attendance at these conferences is a highly selective honor
because of statements in the solicitation materials that call
nominees "the nation's most highly acclaimed students" and "most
promising young leaders of tomorrow." However, according to the
article, "there are no hard and fast criteria for nominators. .
. .The nomination form asks for nothing beyond the student's
name, address, school year and sex."
Eligibility criteria may also be vague, or even non-existent.
For example, the website of one ECO (Envision EMI) suggests that
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educators nominate students who "show special academic promise,
aspirations, and leadership potential, can meet the challenges
of the program's rigorous curriculum, and will be mature and
confident contributors to group and program activities."
However, no quantifiable criteria, such as grade point average,
are provided, and the nomination process (requiring the
student's name and address) can be completed online.
The cost of for-profit conferences is also raised as an issue.
The Times article describes one program (Envision EMI's
week-long Congressional Youth Leadership Council (CYLC)) that
can costs upwards of $2,200, with airfare and meals not
included, which students are encouraged to pay for through
community fundraising: "Needy students are typically sent a
brochure with fund-raising ideas and success stories of other
students who have tapped friends, family and community to help
pay their way...." In 2006, 1.7% of the revenues for Envision's
CYLC program went to grants and scholarships.
FERPA and Access to Directory Information. Although there are
several federal and state laws in place designed to protect
student privacy, certain exceptions exist that allow a student's
information to be released to outside organizations. For
instance, FERPA permits schools to disclose "directory
information," defined as information that is generally not
considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if released,
without written consent to a third party, which can include
companies that manufacture class rings or publish yearbooks.
Because ECOs are only accessing directory information when
asking teachers to nominate students, a FERPA violation does not
arise.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: Yes
SUPPORT: (Verified8/3/16)
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California Teachers Association
Common Sense Kids Action
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/3/16)
None received
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: Supporters indicate that currently, some
for-profit event planning companies are delivering their
marketing materials for expensive conferences directly through
public schools. By their own description, these solicitations
may appear to be an exclusive nomination to attend a prestigious
youth leadership conference, when in fact they are simply a
sales pitch for a conference that can cost thousands of dollars.
These solicitations are delivered by a trusted source; the
student's teacher. Supporters believe this bill will clear up
any confusion for the teacher about whether the student is
receiving a competitive honor or whether it is in fact a
solicitation for a commercial purpose.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 67-0, 5/27/16
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,
Bigelow, Bonilla, Bonta, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau,
Chávez, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Eggman,
Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Gatto,
Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Harper, Roger
Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder,
Lopez, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Mullin,
Nazarian, Obernolte, Olsen, Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas,
Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond,
Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bloom, Brough, Brown, Chiu, Dodd, Eduardo
Garcia, Grove, Hadley, Jones-Sawyer, Low, Melendez, O'Donnell,
Ting
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Prepared by: Bill Gage / B., P. & E.D. / (916) 651-4104
8/3/16 18:05:06
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