BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 1439 (Block) - Postsecondary education: academic and
administrative employees: disclosure of allegations of sexual
harassment
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|Version: March 28, 2016 |Policy Vote: ED. 9 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: Yes |
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|Hearing Date: April 18, 2016 |Consultant: Jillian Kissee |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: This bill provides that the governing board of a
community college district and the Trustees of the California
State University (CSU) shall require an application for
appointment to an academic or administrative position to
disclose any substantiated allegation of sexual harassment.
Fiscal
Impact: Direct costs to the state in the low hundreds of
thousands related to reimbursable mandate costs. Additional
unknown cost pressures related to potential investigations and
liability resulting from an applicant's disclosure of
substantiated allegations of sexual harassment.
Mandate costs: The California Community Colleges Chancellor's
Office (CCCCO) estimates costs of up to $3,000 per district to
make the necessary changes to its application forms, resulting
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in statewide costs of up to $216,000. To the extent the
Commission on State Mandates determined this requirement to be
a reimbursable state-mandated activity, there would be
pressure to increase the mandate block grant for community
colleges. (Proposition 98)
Investigations: Though not explicitly required, this bill
creates a cost pressure to investigate the disclosures on
applications. The CCCCO and the CSU estimate costs related to
investigations of new employees of up to $30,000 per
investigation. It is unknown how many investigations would
occur as a result of these disclosures and how many applicants
will actually self-report this information.
Liability costs: Both segments cite unknown, potentially
significant, costs related to liability resulting from
potential lawsuits pursued by applicants who disclosed the
required information. The CSU estimates costs of $50,000 per
case related to hiring outside counsel.
Background: 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
Clery Act also requires postsecondary institutions to compile
statistics of incidences of rape, domestic and dating violence,
sexual assault, and stalking and offer prevention and awareness
programs to new students and employees on these subjects.
Current law requires the state's public postsecondary
institutions to each adopt, and implement a written procedure or
protocols to ensure, to the fullest extent possible, that
students, faculty, and staff who are victims of sexual assault
receive treatment and information.
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Current law also requires the governing board of each community
college district and the Trustees of the CSU, and requests the
Regents of the University of California, to: (1) provide as part
of campus orientations, educational and preventive information
about sexual violence; (2) to post sexual violence prevention
and education information on its campus website; (3) to develop
policies to encourage students to report any campus crimes
involving sexual violence; and (4) to eliminate barriers for
victims who come forward to report sexual assaults. (Education
Code § 67385.7)
The author's office indicates that professors and instructors
currently can avoid the consequences of their actions by moving
from one university to the next since their history does not
follow them, and that the information as to their misconduct
should be considered when hiring decisions are being made.
Proposed Law:
This bill requires the governing board of a community college
district and the Trustees of the CSU to require that an
application for appointment to an academic or administrative
position include a requirement that the applicant disclose any
allegations of workplace sexual harassment against him or her
that resulted in a final judicial or administrative decision
substantiating the allegation.
This bill also requires that before a decision related to the
continued employment of a contract employee, the governing board
of a community college must have knowledge of any allegations of
workplace sexual harassment against the employee that resulted
in a final judicial or administrative decision determining that
the employee committed sexual harassment.
Related
Legislation: AB 1433 (Gatto, Chapter 798, Statutes of 2014)
requires postsecondary educational institutions to establish
policies regarding the reporting of specified crimes to local
law enforcement.
SB 967 (De Leon, Chapter 748, Statutes of 2014) requires the
governing board of each community college district, the Trustees
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of the CSU, the Regents of the University of California, and the
governing board of independent postsecondary institutions to
adopt a policy concerning campus sexual violence, domestic
violence, dating violence, and stalking that includes specified
components.
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