BILL ANALYSIS
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 1971
Author: Bonnie Lowenthal (D), et al
Amended: 6/15/10 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 5-0, 6/10/10
AYES: Corbett, Harman, Hancock, Leno, Walters
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 74-0, 4/29/10 (Consent) - See last page
for vote
SUBJECT : California State University and University of
California:
Disclosure of alumni personal information
SOURCE : California State University and University of
California
DIGEST : This bill extends the sunset date on current law
which permits the California State University and the
University of California to disclose the names, addresses,
and e-mail addresses of alumni to their "affinity partners"
(nonaffiliated businesses with whom the university has a
contractual agreement to, among other things, offer
commercial products and services to alumni), subject to
specified privacy requirements. This bill deletes the
Hastings College of Law from these provisions. These
provisions are scheduled to sunset on January 1, 2011, this
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bill extends the provisions to January 1, 2016.
ANALYSIS : Existing law establishes the California State
University (CSU), administered by the Trustees of the CSU,
and the University of California (UC), administered by the
Regents of the UC, as two of the segments of public
postsecondary education in this state. Existing law
establishes the Hastings College of the Law, under the
governance of the Board of Directors of the Hastings
College of the Law, within the University of California.
Existing law prescribes criteria for the disclosure of the
names and addresses of alumni of the CSU, the UC, and the
Hastings College of the Law. Existing law requires that
the names, addresses, and electronic mail addresses of
alumni be disclosed only to provide those persons with
informational materials relating to the CSU, the UC, and
the Hastings College of the Law, and its programs and
activities; to provide those persons, or the trustees,
auxiliary organizations of the CSU, as defined, or the
Regents of the UC, the Board of Directors of the Hastings
College of the Law, or the alumni associations with
beneficial commercial opportunities; or to promote and
support the educational mission of the CSU, the UC, the
trustees, the regents, the Board of Directors of the
Hastings College of the Law, or the alumni associations.
Existing law authorizes this disclosure only if the
trustees, auxiliary organizations, or the alumni
associations, in the case of the CSU, or the regents, the
board of directors, or the alumni associations, in the case
of the UC and the Hastings College of the Law, have a
written agreement with a business, as defined, that
maintains control over this data that requires the business
to maintain the confidentiality of the names, addresses,
and electronic mail addresses of the alumni, that requires
that the university or the college retain the right to
approve or reject any purpose for which the private
information is to be used by the business and to review and
approve the text of mailings sent to alumni, and that
prohibits the business from using the information for any
purposes other than those described, and the disclosure of
alumni names, addresses, and electronic mail addresses does
not include the names and addresses of alumni who have
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directed the trustees, the regents, the board of directors,
or an alumni association or auxiliary organization, not to
disclose their names, addresses, or electronic mail
addresses.
Existing law requires the CSU, the UC, and the Hastings
College of the Law to make available to its alumni a
specified form or an alternative notice, including
specified information, in a mailing or in an Internet
posting, as prescribed, before alumni names, addresses, and
electronic mail addresses may be disclosed.
Under existing law, the above provisions are applicable to
the UC and the Hastings College of the Law only to the
extent that the regents or the board of directors act, by
resolution, to make them applicable.
This bill deletes the Hastings College of the Law from the
above-described provisions. With respect to the form that
these institutions are required to make available to alumni
prior to the disclosure of alumni information, this bill
would require that form to be provided to alumni through a
link on the homepage of the Internet Web site of the alumni
association or in the alumni association's privacy policy.
The bill also expresses the intent of the Legislature that,
by July 1, 2014, the California State University, and the
UC submit reports to the Legislature regarding compliance
with these provisions.
Existing law specifies that the above provisions are
repealed as of January 1, 2011.
This bill extends those repeal dates to January 1, 2016.
Background
This bill is a reintroduction of last year's AB 1222
(Lowenthal), which was vetoed by the Governor. In 2005,
the Legislature passed and the Governor signed SB 569
(Torlakson), Chapter 498, Statutes of 2005, which expressly
allowed CSU, UC, and Hastings College of Law to disclose
the names, addresses, and e-mail addresses of alumni to
businesses with whom the university has an affinity partner
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agreement. Tax-exempt organizations use affinity programs
to generate revenue by permitting the use of their name or
logo to endorse products or services. Both CSU and UC use
affinity programs to partner with commercial entities so
that alumni organizations can offer various financial
products and services to alumni. As part of the agreement,
the affinity partner pays a fee to the alumni association
in return for allowing access to alumni association mailing
lists.
Under SB 569, alumni information may only be shared for
particular purposes, and the universities must meet
specified privacy requirements including that they have a
written contractual agreement with the affinity partner
business that contains certain privacy protections. CSU,
UC, and Hastings College of Law may not disclose alumni
information to affinity partners without first offering
alumni an opportunity to opt out of the disclosure.
Existing law provides a statutory notice form for this
purpose and requires that the form be provided to alumni in
certain communications, such as the alumni association
magazine and Web site. These provisions sunset on January
1, 2011; this bill extends this sunset date to January 1,
2016, and removes Hastings College of Law from these
provisions. This bill also contains related reporting
requirements.
Prior Legislation
AB 1222 (Lowenthal), passed the Senate with a 39-0 vote on
August 24, 2009, which would have extended the sunset date
on current law permitting CSU, UC, and Hastings College of
Law to disclose alumni personal information. This bill was
vetoed, the Governor stated, "I am returning Assembly Bill
1222 without my signature. This bill extends the sunset
date on a statute that is not expiring until January 1,
2011. Therefore, this bill is premature and unnecessary.
For these reasons, I am unable to sign this bill."
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/29/10)
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California State University (co-source)
University of California (co-source)
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author's office writes,
"Campus alumni associations have been established at all 23
California State University (CSU) campuses as well as the
10 University of California (UC) campuses. The primary
purpose of these associations is to maintain relationships
and build long-term connections to graduates with the
ultimate goal to support the University in the form of
donations, scholarships, and involvement. It is common
practice among public universities throughout the country,
and private institutions in California, to offer benefits
and services through affinity partnerships with commercial
vendors to alumni as one way to stay connected to their
university. Examples of these affinity partnerships
include group rates and discounts for home and auto
insurance, mortgage programs and travel programs.
"In light of California's recent revenue shortfalls and
budget reductions to public universities, the role of
alumni associations and the need for private funding of
public universities is more critical then ever to help
University leaders get non-state dollars necessary to
maintain program quality. . . .
"Affinity programs must continue to support CSU and UC with
donations, scholarships, and community involvement. All 23
CSU campus associations currently use the funding they
receive from these programs to further their programming
and outreach to alumni as well as to provide both general
and athletic scholarships to students."
Co-sponsor the University of California writes that
"affinity programs generated approximately $3.6 million for
UC campuses in 2007-08. Revenues generated from UC campus
affinity partnerships generally provide funding to
supplement the operational costs of campus alumni programs.
The revenues are also used by UC campus alumni
associations to provide services and benefits to students.
An example is the UC Irvine alumni association's affinity
partnership revenues, of which almost 35 percent are used
to support the cost of student programs and scholarships.
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The funds generated by affinity partnerships allow the UC
campus alumni association to provide services and events to
alumni and students that the campuses would otherwise not
be able to offer."
In support of last year's AB 1222 (Lowenthal), an identical
bill, co-sponsor California State University noted that
"[t]hroughout the first three years of implementation of
this statute both public universities have held the privacy
of their alumni in the highest regard, keeping meticulous
record of all opt-out information obtained from alumni as
well as continually following the letter of the law by
ensuring ample opportunities for alumni to have their
information removed from records."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield,
Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Charles Calderon, Carter,
Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon,
DeVore, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong,
Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick,
Gilmore, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill,
Huber, Huffman, Jeffries, Knight, Lieu, Logue, Ma,
Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande, Niello,
Nielsen, Norby, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Ruskin,
Salas, Saldana, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra
Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Tran, Villines,
Yamada, John A. Perez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bass, Caballero, Jones, Bonnie
Lowenthal, Torrico, Vacancy
RJG:do 6/30/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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