BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin Murray, Chairman
606 (Levine)
Hearing Date: 8/17/06 Amended: 6/28/06
Consultant: Bob Franzoia Policy Vote: Ed 8-2
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BILL SUMMARY: AB 606 would enact the Safe Place To Learn Act.
The act would require school districts to establish and
publicize an antidiscrimination and antiharassment policy that
prohibits discrimination and harassment based on the
characteristics set for in the Penal Code and the Education
Code. The bill would require school districts, during the
normal course of reprinting, to update all applicable
publications on school safety, bullying, tolerance,
bias-motivated behavior, and hate-related violence to include
information on bias-related discrimination and harassment. The
bill would authorize the Superintendent of Public Instruction to
withhold all or part of the relevant state fiscal support of a
school district when it is determined the school district is not
complying with the provisions of this bill.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 Fund
State mandated local
program
Anti discrimination/harass- Unknown, estimated $500 to
$1,000 General*
ment policy
Publications updating Minor costs
SDE oversight Minor, absorbable costs ongoing General
* Counts toward meeting the Proposition 98 minimum funding
guarantee
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STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE.
In April 2004, the SPI sent a legal advisory to local
educational agencies reiterating state statutes and regulations
prohibiting the discrimination of students on the basis of sex
and sexual orientation.
The bill would authorize the Superintendent of Public
Instruction to withhold all or part of the relevant state fiscal
support of a school district when it is determined the school
district has not established and publicized an
antidiscrimination and antiharassment policy, updated all
applicable publications, or maintained documentation of all
complaints of discrimination and harassment. Staff notes
whether it is the intent of the Legislature to withhold state
fiscal support because a school district failed to maintain
certain documentation?
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AB 606 (Levine)
By requiring that each school district establish and publicize
an antidiscrimination and antiharassment policy the bill creates
a potentially open ended mandate which will force the Commission
on State Mandates to determine what costs incurred to meet these
requirements are to be reimbursed. Instead, staff recommends
the bill be amended to require the State Department of Education
develop a model policy that can be adopted by school districts.
For the same fiscal reason, the bill should be amended to limit
what constitutes "publicize" to posting on the school district's
website or making a copy of the policy available upon request in
the school district administrative office.
More than 50 percent of the state's 1,000 school districts
actively file claims for reimbursement of state mandated costs
and that percentage is increasing. If each school district
incurred a minimum of $1,000 (the amount required by Government
Code 17564 (a) in order to receive reimbursement) to establish
and publicize an antidiscrimination and antiharassment policy,
the bill would result in reimbursement of potentially $1
million.