BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1400
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Date of Hearing: April 29, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
AB 1400 (Fong) - As Amended: April 15, 2009
Policy Committee: Higher
EducationVote:9-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill, as proposed to be amended , authorizes the governing
board of a community college district to deny admission to
someone expelled from another district within the previous 10
years, under specified circumstances. Specifically, this bill:
1)Allows the denial of enrollment upon a finding, through a
hearing, that an individual expelled within 10 years for
specified actions continues to present a danger to the
physical safety of the district's students and employees.
2)Requires a student expelled for one of the specified actions
to inform the community college district of their prior
expulsion when seeking admission to the district. Failure of
the student to do so is to be considered by the district in
determining whether to grant admission.
3)Allows the governing board, upon making a determination
regarding a previously expelled student, may deny enrollment,
permit enrollment, or permit conditional enrollment.
FISCAL EFFECT
Minor nonreimbursable costs for legal services to districts who
conduct the specified hearings. Assuming up to $5,000 per
hearing, costs statewide would probably not exceed $50,000 to
$100,000.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . According to the author, the California Community
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Colleges (CCCs) are the only public educational segment in
California without the ability to ensure campus safety at one
community college district through a screening process of
students who have been expelled from another district.
Currently, a student who is expelled from one district for a
violent offense can freely enroll in another district without
that district's knowledge of his or her expulsion from the
first district. In addition, a CCC district that expels a
student for a violent act is not compelled to provide the
information surrounding the expulsion of the student even upon
the request of the receiving CCC district. Finally, a CCC
district may not conditionally enroll or deny enrollment to a
student based on a hearing that finds that the student poses a
continuing threat to the students, faculty, and staff on the
campus. According to the sponsor, the Peralta Community
College District, this bill is intended to address these
problems.
The bill applies to expulsions for the following offenses:
a) Murder or attempted murder.
b) Causing, attempting to cause, or threatening to cause
physical injury to another person.
c) Committing or attempting to commit a sexual assault.
d) Committing or attempting to commit kidnapping.
e) Committing or attempting to commit robbery or extortion.
f) Committing stalking.
g) Possessing, selling, or otherwise furnishing a firearm,
knife, explosive, or other dangerous object, unless in the
case of possession of any object of this type, the student
has obtained permission to possess the item from an
authorized college employee.
2)Recent CCC expulsions : According to a survey of 55 CCC
campuses provided by the sponsor, 29 individuals in the
2007-2008 academic year and 17 in the 2009-10 academic year
were expelled from CCCs. Reasons identified for expulsion
include harassment of students and faculty, vandalism of
school property, and falsifying college transcripts and
instructor signatures, among other activities.
3)Efficacy Question . Districts will mainly be relying on
students to self-report that they have previously been
expelled from another district. It seems that a more certain
approach would be to have districts report their expulsions,
including the reasons, to the Chancellor's Office, who could
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then disseminate this information out to all districts.
4)Amendments . The author's amendments are clarifying in nature
and are reflected in this analysis.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081