BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 665 (Block) - Postsecondary education: preventing and
addressing incidents of rape and sexual assault
-----------------------------------------------------------------
| |
| |
| |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|--------------------------------+--------------------------------|
| | |
|Version: May 6, 2015 |Policy Vote: ED. 7 - 0 |
| | |
|--------------------------------+--------------------------------|
| | |
|Urgency: No |Mandate: Yes |
| | |
|--------------------------------+--------------------------------|
| | |
|Hearing Date: May 18, 2015 |Consultant: Jillian Kissee |
| | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: This bill requires, as a condition of receiving state
funds for financial assistance, (1) the Attorney General to
establish a statewide Title IX Oversight Office; (2)
postsecondary educational institutions to report specific data
to this office; (3) each student to complete training on rape
and sexual assault awareness and prevention annually; and (4)
informational posters to be placed in buildings that are most
frequented by students.
Fiscal
Impact:
Significant state costs of up to approximately $10 million.
These costs are attributable to reimbursable state mandated
costs for activities required of the California Community
Colleges (CCC) and the establishment of the Attorney General's
Title IX Oversight Office required by this bill. See staff
comments.
SB 665 (Block) Page 1 of
?
Cost pressure at each independent postsecondary educational
institution to make available, 24-hour, 7-day per week victim
support services to assist victims of rape or sexual assault.
Background:
Federal Law
The federal Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy
and Campus Crime Statistics Act (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. The Clery Act requires institutions
to collect and classify county crime statistics, publish an
Annual Security Report with crime statistics and security
policies, and report crime statistics to the United States
Department of Education. The Clery Act requires reporting of
crimes in seven major categories.
The 2013 reauthorization of the federal Violence Against Women
Act, which includes the 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. 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.
State Law
Current state law requires postsecondary institutions to adopt a
policy concerning campus sexual violence, domestic violence,
dating violence and stalking that includes specified components,
including the affirmative consent standard. (Education Code §
67386)
It also requires postsecondary intuitions, including Hastings
College of the Law, to each adopt and implement at each campus
SB 665 (Block) Page 2 of
?
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. (EC § 67385)
Current law requires the governing board of each community
college district and the Trustees of the California State
University, and requests the Regents of the University of
California, in collaboration with campus and community-based
victim advocacy organizations, to provide educational and
preventive information about sexual violence as part of campus
orientations. (EC § 67385.7)
Each campus of the California Community Colleges and the
California State University are required, and each campus of the
University of California is requested, to post sexual violence
prevention and education information on its campus website. The
information must include specific components including dating
violence, rape, sexual assault, domestic violence and stalking
crimes, how to file a complaint, and the availability and
contact information for resources for victims. (EC § 67385.7)
Finally, each campus of the California Community Colleges and
the California State University are required, and each campus of
the University of California is requested, to develop policies
to encourage students to report any campus crimes involving
sexual violence. (EC § 67385.7)
Proposed Law:
This bill includes legislative intent that each public and
independent postsecondary educational institution make
available, 24-hour, 7-day per week victim support services to
assist a victim of rape or sexual assault who is enrolled at one
of their respective campuses.
This bill requires the Attorney General to establish a statewide
Title IX Oversight Office to serve as a point of contact for
students who are dissatisfied with the campus-based policies or
investigative procedures designed to prevent or address
SB 665 (Block) Page 3 of
?
incidents of rape and sexual assault at their respective
campuses. The office is required to receive complaints from
students regarding their campus' noncompliance with any aspect
of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. Sec.
1681, et seq.). The office is authorized to establish a process
to investigate campus-based policies and investigative
procedures related these complaints.
This bill requires postsecondary educational institutions to
annually report to the Title IX Oversight Office the following:
1. Each incident of rape or sexual assault that involves
one or more of their respective enrolled students;
2. The number of those incidents that were investigated by
the institution;
3. The timelines and outcomes of those investigations;
4. The sanctions that were imposed by the institution on
students who were involved;
5. Whether criminal charges were filed; and
6. The outcomes of those criminal proceedings.
The bill authorizes the Title IX Oversight Office to investigate
the institutions' policies, procedures, or campus-based
investigations following an incident of rape or sexual assault
and make recommendations to the Attorney General, district
attorney, or city attorney, as appropriate, to the extent that
doing so is in compliance with state and federal law.
This bill also requires that at the beginning of the year, each
incoming student of a postsecondary educational institution
complete comprehensive training on rape and sexual assault
awareness and prevention. Specified students, such as student
athletes and members of fraternities or sororities, are required
to take this training at the beginning of every academic year.
All other students are required to complete a refresher training
annually. If these trainings are not completed by the end of
the first term of the academic year, the student will not be
able to register for courses until the training is completed.
SB 665 (Block) Page 4 of
?
Finally this bill requires institutions to ensure that each of
their respective campuses place informational posters in
buildings that are most frequented by students that include: (1)
summaries of the campus' policies on rape and sexual assault;
(2) contact information for police and campus and local rape and
crisis center offices who respond to incidents of rape and
sexual assault; (3) campus, civil, and criminal penalties for
committing these acts; and references to the Clery Act and other
relevant law.
Related
Legislation: AB 967 (Williams, 2015) establishes minimum
disciplinary standards and reporting requirements for sexual
assault complaints received by community colleges, CSU, UC and
independent postsecondary educational institutions, including
reporting specific to complaints involving sexual assault,
domestic violence, dating violence and stalking. AB 967 is
pending in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
SB 967 (De León, Ch. 748, 2014) requires the governing board of
each community college district, the Trustees of the California
State University, the Regents of the University of California,
and the governing boards of independent postsecondary
institutions to adopt a policy concerning campus sexual
violence, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking that
includes specified components.
AB 1433 (Gatto, Ch. 798, 2014) requires governing boards of each
public and private postsecondary educational institution to
adopt and implement policies and procedures to ensure that any
report of a violent crime (as specified), sexual assault, or
hate crime is immediately forwarded to the appropriate law
enforcement agency.
Staff Comments: The following are anticipated costs that will
be incurred by the entities impacted by this bill.
Department of Justice (DOJ): The DOJ indicates that the
requirement for the Attorney General to establish a Title IX
Oversight Office and carry out required activities would cost
between $1 million to $2 million annually for 10 positions.
CCC: The CCC indicates that this bill would increase costs
SB 665 (Block) Page 5 of
?
ranging from $6.6 million to $8 million and these costs would be
reimbursable if the Commission on State Mandates deemed the
requirements to be a reimbursable state mandate. Most of these
costs are attributable to additional staffing to enforce the
registration hold for students that fail to complete the
required training as well as implementing the specified training
statewide.
CSU: The CSU indicates that it is already implementing the
training requirements of this bill. Additional activities
required by this bill such as reporting to the Attorney General
and the creation and dissemination of posters are expected to be
minor and absorbable.
UC: The UC indicates that this bill largely reflects existing
efforts. However, in their view, it is unclear how the
university might have to work with the new Attorney General's
office and not enough information exists to be able to identify
specific costs associated with that workload.
All Segments: The bill's legislative intent that each of the
state's postsecondary educational institutions make victim
support services available 24-hours per day and 7 days per week,
creates a major cost pressure to do so.
-- END --