BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1230
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Date of Hearing: April 21, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Anthony Portantino, Chair
AB 1230 (Torrico) - As Amended: April 13, 2009
SUBJECT : Public postsecondary education: policies prohibiting
online harassment
SUMMARY : Requires the Trustees of the California State
University (CSU) and the Board of Governors (BOG) of the
California Community Colleges (CCC), and allows the University
of California (UC) Regents, to include in the rules and
regulations governing student behavior, rules and regulations
and applicable penalties that specifically prohibit online
harassment. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires CSU and CCC BOG, and allows UC, to include in the
rules and regulations governing student behavior, rules and
regulations and applicable penalties that specifically
prohibit online harassment.
2)Defines online harassment to include any unlawful,
threatening, or defamatory act of harassment carried out
through campus electronic communication devices or networks.
3)Requires the CSU, CCC, and UC to report to the Legislature by
January 1, 2011, and annually thereafter, the rules and
regulations adopted pursuant to this bill and any actions
taken to enforce policies prohibiting online harassment.
EXISTING LAW
1)Requires the UC, CSU, and CCC to adopt specific rules and
regulations governing student behavior along with applicable
penalties for violations of the rules and regulations.
2)Prohibits "cyber-stalking" by including in laws prohibiting
threats and harassment, communications made by electronic
communication.
3)Provides that any person who uses an electronic communication
device to harass another through the actions of a third party,
as specified, is guilty of a misdemeanor.
AB 1230
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FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Purpose of this bill : The author notes, "There are
close to 1 million students enrolled in California's
institutions of higher education. In this day in age of
Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and other online mediums, the safety
of children, students and young adults is at risk now more than
ever. Recently, the issue of "sexting" which is the name for
the act of sending, receiving or forwarding naked pictures
through your cell phone, has captured media attention throughout
the nation, especially when dealing with teenagers and college
students." The author believes, "We need to ensure that
colleges and universities do more to help protect students and
have stringent policies in place that are easily available to
the public, parents and administrators."
Is legislation necessary ?
1)Existing codes of conduct cover harassment. As noted above,
existing law requires UC, CSU, and CCC to adopt policies
governing student behavior. UC student conduct policies
expressly prohibit students from engaging in physical abuse,
sexual harassment, and hazing, among other outlined
prohibitions. It is not clear, however, that UC's student
code of conduct explicitly extends to online harassment
activities. For CSU, conduct threatening or endangering the
health or safety of any person related to the CSU community,
including physical abuse, threats, intimidation, harassment,
or sexual misconduct, in addition to other outlined
activities, is established as grounds for student discipline.
Additionally, misuse of computer facilities or resources,
including the use of computing facilities and resources to
send obscene or intimidating and abusive messages, is
prohibited by CSU. CCC student behavior policies are
established by the governing boards of the local CCC
districts.
2)Existing laws prohibit online harassment. As noted above,
there are several existing laws that prohibit online
harassment and stalking. These laws cover everyone, including
the students in California attending public institutions.
Clarifications needed should the bill move forward :
AB 1230
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1)This bill defines "online harassment" to include any unlawful,
threatening, or defamatory act of harassment carried out
through campus electronic communication devices or networks.
This bill does not define the terms "threatening" or
"harassment." The author may wish to consider adding
definitions to these terms.
2)This bill prohibits student online harassment if the student
commits the online harassment through campus electronic
communication devices or networks, but does not require the
online harassment to be of another university member. This
language may prove problematic, particularly for CCC, where
existing law provides that "No student shall be removed,
suspended, or expelled unless the conduct for which the
student is disciplined is related to college activity or
college attendance." The author may wish to consider
addressing this issue.
3)This bill requires the CCC BOG to include in the rules and
regulations governing student behavior a prohibition on online
harassment. However, existing law provides the governing
boards of each CCC district with the authority over student
behavior policies. The author may wish to correct this
conflict by requiring the governing boards of each CCC
district to perform the outlined duties.
Previous Legislation : AB 86 (Lieu) Chapter 646, Statutes of
2008, added to the K-12 School Enforcement Partnership Program
provisions related to bullying committed by means of an
electronic act and authorized school officials to suspend or
recommend for expulsion pupils who engage in bullying. AB 919
(Houston) Chapter 583, Statutes of 2008, established every
person who uses an electronic communication device to harass
another through the actions of a third party, as specified, as
guilty of a misdemeanor. SB 129 (Kuehl) Chapter 109, Statutes
of 2008, expanded the crime of making two or more phone calls or
electronic communications with the intent to annoy by
prohibiting making two or more such communications regardless of
where the communication is received. SB 1796 (Leslie) Chapter
825, Statutes of 2008, and AB 2351 (Hertzberg) Chapter 826,
Statutes of 1998, added threats or annoying communications made
by electronic communication to existing statutes prohibiting
threats or annoying communications by other means.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
AB 1230
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Support
None on file
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Laura Metune / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960