BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2732|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2732
Author: Chang (R) and Low (D)
Introduced:2/19/16
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: 79-0, 5/5/16 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT: Public postsecondary education: mandatory
orientation for students
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill requires the California State University
(CSU) Trustees and requests the University of California (UC)
Regents, to provide, as part of established campus orientations,
educational and preventative information about cyberbullying to
students at all campuses of their respective segments.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Requests the UC Regents, CSU Trustees, and the governing board
of each community college district to adopt and publish
policies on harassment, intimidation, and bullying to be
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Page 2
included within the rules and regulations governing student
behavior within their respective segments of public
postsecondary education. (Education Code § 66302)
2)Requires the governing board of each community college
district and the CSU Trustees, and request the UC Regents to,
in collaboration with campus-based and community-based victim
advocacy organizations, provide, as part of established campus
orientations, educational and preventative information about
sexual violence to students at all campuses of their
respective segments; and, specifies that for a campus with an
existing on-campus orientation program, this information shall
be provided, in addition to the sexual harassment information
required to be provided, as specified, during the regular
orientation for incoming students. (EC § 67385.7)
This bill requires the CSU Trustees and requests the UC Regents,
to provide, as part of established campus orientations,
educational and preventative information about cyberbullying to
students at all campuses of their respective segments.
Comments
1)Need for the bill. According to the author, as frequent users
of social media and digital technology, college students are
vulnerable to cyberbullying. The author asserts that this new
form of harassment has been linked to suicide, alcoholism and
depression among college students. According to a University
of Washington study on college age women, cyberbullying and
its effects have been studied largely in middle and high
school students but attention is needed in the college
population. This bill seeks to ensure the CSU and the UC
students are aware of cyberbullying and its prevention.
2)Existing efforts to address student conduct. CSU and UC have
policies on student conduct and discipline procedures that,
among other things, prohibit harassment, intimidation or
terrorizing conduct, on or off campus. Both CSU and UC
indicate that each campus works to ensure that students become
familiar with their campus' student conduct policies and are
aware of available resources for reporting misconduct. It's
unclear whether this information is provided to students at
the beginning of the year during orientation. However, Senate
Education Committee staff notes that existing law requires CSU
AB 2732
Page 3
and requests UC to include sexual harassment information
during the regular orientation for incoming students. This
bill adds cyberbullying to the list information required at
orientation.
Given that UC and CSU standards for student conduct address
harassment, intimidation and other forms of student behavior,
should efforts solely focus on cyberbullying? Is legislation
necessary to define which issues are covered as part of
college orientation?
3)Efforts to address bullying in K-12 education. Current law
prohibits discrimination in public schools on the basis of
disability, gender, gender expression, nationality, race or
ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or any other
characteristic that is contained in the definition of hate
crimes. Additionally, the California Department of Education
(CDE) is required to monitor whether school districts have
adopted a process for receiving and investigating complaints
relating to discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and
bullying. Existing law authorizes schools to suspend or expel
students for acts of bullying, including communications made
in writing or by means of an electronic act. The CDE is
further required to develop an online training module on
bullying and cyberbullying for school staff, school
administrators, parents, students, and community members.
4)No definition for cyberbullying. This bill does not define
cyberbullying. Existing law, however, defines bullying by an
"electronic act," for K-12 education to mean the creation or
transmission of a communication originated on or off the
school site, by means of an electronic device including but
not limited to a telephone, wireless telephone, or other
wireless communication device, computer, or pager. Although
this bill provides no definition for cyberbullying, college
campuses may need greater flexibility in providing educational
materials to students in order to keep pace with digital
technology as it evolves.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
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Page 4
SUPPORT: (Verified 6/28/16)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
California College and University Police Chiefs Association
California State Student Association
OPPOSITION: (Verified 6/28/16)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 79-0, 5/5/16
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,
Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke,
Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley,
Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier,
Gallagher, 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: Beth Gaines
Prepared by:Olgalilia Ramirez / ED. / (916) 651-4105
6/29/16 15:46:04
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