BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1230
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Date of Hearing: May 13, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
AB 1230 (Torrico) - As Amended: May 6, 2009
Policy Committee: Higher
EducationVote:9-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill requires the adoption of policies regarding online
harassment within the state's public higher education
institutions:
1)Requires the Trustees of the California State University (CSU)
and the governing board of each community college district,
and requires the Regents of the University of California (UC),
to include in their rules and regulations on student behavior
applicable rules, regulations and penalties prohibiting online
harassment.
2)Defines online harassment, for purposes of the above, as a
knowing and willful course of conduct carried out through
campus electronic communication devices or networks, directed
at a campus student, member of the faculty, an administrator,
or nonacademic staff by a campus student, member of the
faculty, an administrator, or nonacademic staff, that a
reasonable person would consider as seriously alarming,
annoying, tormenting, or terrorizing, which serves no
legitimate purpose.
3)Requires each institution to report to the Legislature by
January 1, 2011 and annually thereafter on implementation of
the above and any actions taken to enforce the new policy.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Minor one-time GF costs to UC and CSU of $5,000 to $10,000
each to adopt the new policy.
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2)Minor on-going GF costs of about $10,000 to UC and $20,000 to
CSU for the annual report.
3)One-time state reimbursable Proposition 98 costs of $144,000
to $360,000 (assuming $2,000 to $5,000 per district) for the
72 community college districts to adopt the new policy, and
ongoing reimbursable costs of $36,000 (assuming $500 per
campus) for the annual reports.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . The author notes, "There are close to 1 million
students enrolled in California's institutions of higher
education. In this day and 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?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."
2)UC believes that the bill's language defining online
harassment, including such terms as "seriously annoying"
raises obvious first amendment issues. UC also notes that the
bill, which adds a new section to a chapter in the Education
Code related to rules of student conduct, also governs the
conduct of faculty, administrators and nonacademic staff.
This could raise faculty and employee contract issues.
3)Prior Legislation : AB 919 (Houston)/Chapter 583 of 2008,
established that 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 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 of 2008 and AB 2351
(Hertzberg)/Chapter 826 of 1998, added threats or annoying
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communications made by electronic communication to existing
statutes prohibiting threats or annoying communications by
other means.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081