BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2654|
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 2654
Author: Bonilla (D)
Amended: 3/28/16 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 9-0, 6/8/16
AYES: Liu, Block, Hancock, Huff, Leyva, Mendoza, Monning, Pan,
Vidak
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 5/12/16 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT: Postsecondary education: Equity in Higher Education
Act
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill expands the information to be included in a
postsecondary educational institutions' written policy on sexual
harassment to include information regarding complaint processes
and timelines, and on and off-campus resources, and further
requires that the written policy be made available on the
institution's Web site.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
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1)Establishes the Equity in Higher Education Act to prohibit a
person from being subjected to discrimination on the basis of
disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression,
nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation,
or any other characteristic that is contained in the statutory
definition of hate crimes, in any program or activity
conducted by an educational institution that receives, or
benefits from, state financial assistance or enrolls pupils
who receive state student financial aid. (Education Code §
66270)
2)Establishes state policy that all persons, regardless of their
sex should enjoy freedom from discrimination of any kind in
the postsecondary educational institution of the state and
requires each such institution to have a written policy on
sexual harassment, to display the policy in a prominent
location, as specified, to provide the policy to students and
faculty, as specified, and to require that the policy appear
in any publication of the institution setting forth the rules,
regulations, procedures and standards of conduct for the
institution. (Education Code § 66281.5)
This bill:
1)Expands the notice requirements relative to written policies
on sexual harassment required of postsecondary educational
institutions in California. It requires that the written
policy:
a) Include information on the complaint process.
b) Include information on the timeline for the complaint
process.
c) Include information on resources both on and off campus.
d) Be available on the institution's Internet Web site.
2)Identifies potential mandated costs, likely associated with
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the application of the bill's provisions to the California
Community Colleges.
Comments
1)Need for the bill. According to the author, it is important
that students and faculty have easy access to each higher
education institution's policy. A simple posting of such
policies online can markedly improve access. This bill also
recognizes that students should be made aware of community
resources and organizations which assist with issues of sexual
harassment. This is especially important in the event that a
student does not feel comfortable pursuing campus established
remedies or finds those avenues ineffective. According to the
author, in light of recent incidences of sexual misconduct at
the University of California (UC), it is important that both
students and employees are aware of campus harassment policies
and resources.
2)Related state audit. In June 2014, the Bureau of State Audits
(BSA) issued a report, Sexual Harassment and Sexual Violence:
California Universities Must Better Protect Students by Doing
More to Prevent, Respond to, and Resolve Incidents. The BSA
examined two UC (UC Berkeley and UCLA) and two California
State University (CSU) (CSU Chico and CSU San Diego) campuses
and found that while staff in key roles receive adequate
training on this topic, other employees who may be the first
point of contact do not. In addition, none of the
universities provided its sexual harassment policy to all
employees at the start of each year nor is the policy posted
where large numbers of students can see them. The report
included recommendations that the universities post their
policies in additional prominent locations frequented by
students and properly distribute and post their policy on
sexual harassment.
This bill specifically requires posting of the sexual
harassment policy on the institution's Web site and the
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provision of information on related complaint processes,
timelines and on and off-campus resources.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: Yes
SUPPORT: (Verified6/27/16)
UAW Local 5810
OPPOSITION: (Verified6/27/16)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 5/12/16
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,
Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Calderon,
Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper,
Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines,
Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson,
Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger
Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, 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: Burke, Jones-Sawyer
Prepared by:Kathleen Chavira / ED. / (916) 651-4105
6/29/16 15:50:50
**** END ****
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