BILL ANALYSIS
AB 506
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 20, 2005
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Jackie Goldberg, Chair
AB 506 (Monta?ez) - As Introduced: February 16, 2005
SUBJECT : Teen dating violence: prevention and education.
SUMMARY : Establishes the Teen Dating Violence Prevention
Program. Specifically, this bill :
1) Defines "teen dating violence" as: a pattern of behavior
where one person uses threats of, or actually uses,
physical, sexual, verbal, or emotional abuse to control his
or her dating partner, where one or both of the partners is
a teenager.
2) Makes findings and declarations as to the occurrence of
physical violence perpetrated by teen dating partners.
3) Expresses legislative intent to encourage school
districts to educate pupils, counselors, and administrators
regarding teen dating violence, and to work with local law
enforcement agencies, domestic violence shelters, and rape
crisis centers that are trained to provide domestic
violence prevention training.
4) Requires each school district, by an unspecified date,
to establish a policy and protocol, including reporting
procedures and response requirements, for dealing with teen
dating
violence, as defined, in middle schools and in high schools.
5) Recommends that each school district provide teen dating
violence prevention instruction that is age-appropriate to
pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive.
6) Allows a pupil's parent or guardian to exempt his or her
child from receiving instruction in teen dating violence
prevention.
7) Recommends that each school district provide training to
school counselors and administrators with respect to teen
dating violence dynamics and the available resources in
order to ensure that school counselors and administrators
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are able to respond appropriately to incidents of teen
dating violence that occur on campus or that involve
pupils.
8) Recommends that school districts use existing resources
within organizations such as domestic violence shelters or
rape crisis centers, which are trained to provide domestic
violence prevention training to the community at no cost.
9) Requires that each school's comprehensive safety plan
include teen dating violence reporting procedures and
response requirements.
10) Requires the State Department of Education to
incorporate teen dating violence education curriculum into
the health curriculum framework at its next revision.
11) Provides that the program or the incorporation of the
teen dating violence education curriculum into the health
education framework may not result in any redirection of
funding from core academic programs.
EXISTING LAW
1) Establishes various school safety programs, including,
among others, the Carl Washington School Safety and
Violence Prevention Act, which requires the Superintendent
of Public Instruction to provide funds to school districts
serving pupils in any of grades 8 to 12, inclusive, for the
purpose of promoting school safety and reducing school site
violence.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Young women between the ages of 16 to 24 are the
most vulnerable to domestic violence, experiencing the highest
rates of non-fatal intimate partner violence, according to the
U.S. Department of Justice. The latest California Student
Survey found that 8.2 percent of pupils in 11th grade, both male
and female, said they have been "hit, slapped, or physically
hurt on purpose" by their partner in the last 12 months.
According to Break the Cycle, a national group that works to
empower youth to end domestic violence, the prevalence of dating
violence among teens is alarming. Studies indicate that as many
as one in three teens will experience abuse in a dating
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relationship.
The Attorney General's Office and the Department of Education
are undertaking an initiative to work with schools and their
communities to address teen dating violence. The touchstone of
this initiative is prevention. In a report they released in
October 2004, they have stated that they believe there is a need
for policies that districts can adopt to reduce teen dating
violence and mitigate its ill effects.
Staff notes that currently, some schools will let domestic
violence and rape advocates come in to the classroom and give
presentations on teen dating violence prevention. Other schools
have refused to let advocates into the classroom because they
say teen dating violence "is not a problem" in their community.
By requiring that school districts have an official policy,
schools will have a greater incentive to discuss this important
issue.
The authors' office is working with stakeholder groups towards
specifying a date regarding when school districts should comply
with the creation of the policy and protocol requirement.
Prior related legislation .
AB 558 (Jackson) of 2000, authorized, beginning with the
2001-2002 school year, age-appropriate instruction in domestic
violence prevention in grades 1-12 and required the State
Department of Education (SDE) to identify and distribute
information and a model curriculum to school districts and
county offices of education relative to domestic violence
prevention instruction. The bill was vetoed by Governor Davis.
AB 578 (Honda) of 2000, required the Superintendent of Public
Instruction to develop training standards for teachers on
domestic violence and sexual assault recognition and appropriate
prevention responses. This bill stipulated the use of these
standards as optional for school districts. The bill died in
Senate Appropriations.
AB 819 (Jackson and Shelley), Chapter 735, Statutes of 2001.
Amended the intent language of the School Safety and Violence
Prevention Act to include age-appropriate instruction in
domestic violence, dating violence, and interpersonal violence
prevention for public schools serving pupils any of grades 8 to
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12, inclusive, receiving funds to promote school safety.
Arguments in support . The author states: "This bill addresses
a critical need to raise awareness of teen dating violence and
encourages a greater role for schools in the prevention and
reduction of such violence. With relationship violence so
common among young people, it is critical to focus on education,
prevention, and intervention strategies for that age group.
Young people must learn that dating violence is unacceptable if
we are ever going to break the cycle of domestic violence."
"This bill will create greater partnership between schools and
the community to help educate students about teen dating
violence and ensure the safety of young victims of dating
violence."
The sponsors of this bill, the Los Angeles Commission on
Assaults Against Women, state, "When a student is a victim of
teen dating violence, her academic life suffers and her safety
at school is jeopardized. Among 9th graders in California, teen
dating violence victims were almost twice as likely to have
grades of mostly Ds and Fs, and more than six times as likely to
have carried a gun to school as other 9th graders."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women (Sponsors)
Break the Cycle
California Alliance Against Domestic Violence
California State PTA
California Women's Law Center
Commission on the Status of Women
Domestic Violence Policy and Law Working Group
Girl Scouts Council of California
Junior Leagues of California
Lambda Letters Project
Planned Parenthood
Statewide California Coalition for Battered Women (SCCBW)
Sweatshop Watch
Opposition
None on file
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Analysis Prepared by : Josefina Ramirez / ED. / (916) 319-2087