BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Gloria Romero, Chair
2009-2010 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 188
AUTHOR: Runner
INTRODUCED: February 18, 2009
FISCAL COMM: No HEARING DATE: April 29, 2009
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Lynn Lorber
NOTE: This bill has been referred to the Committees on
Education and Judiciary. A "do pass" motion should include
referral to the Committee on Judiciary.
SUBJECT : Temporary Restraining Orders: schools.
SUMMARY
This bill gives schools, colleges, universities, and
technical institutes the ability to seek one temporary
restraining order to restrict a person's right to enter the
campus, rather than seeking a temporary restraining order
on behalf of each staff and student of the school, college,
university, or technical institute.
BACKGROUND
Current law:
1) Authorizes any employer, whose employee has suffered
unlawful violence or a credible threat of violence
from any individual, to seek a temporary restraining
order and an injunction on behalf of the employee and,
at the discretion of the court, any number of other
employees at the workplace, and, if appropriate, other
employees at other workplaces of the employer.
2) Defines "employee" as:
a) Every person, including aliens and minors,
rendering actual service in any business for an
employer.
b) Members of boards of directors of private,
public, and quasi-public corporations and elected
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and appointed public officers.
c) A volunteer or independent contractor who
performs services for the employer at the
employer's worksite.
3) Defines "employer" as:
a) Every person engaged in any business or
enterprise in this state that has one or more
persons in service under any appointment,
contract of hire, or apprenticeship.
b) A federal agency, the state, a state agency,
a city, county or district.
c) A private, public, or quasi-public
corporation, or any public agency thereof or
therein.
A temporary restraining order may be granted (ex parte) for
up to 15 days, at which time a hearing is held to review
the appropriateness of the order. At that hearing, the
restraining order may be extended for up to three years. A
restraining order restricts a person's right of movement,
and typically prohibits a person from coming within a
specific distance or location, or having any form of
contact with, another person or people identified in the
restraining order.
Any willful disobedience of a temporary restraining order
should result in immediate arrest and is a misdemeanor.
Current law provides several options that schools,
colleges, universities and technical institutes may use to
protect students and staff from a person making threats,
harassing students or staff, trespassing, or other display
of disruptive behavior. See Comment #3.
ANALYSIS
This bill gives schools, colleges and universities the
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ability to seek one temporary restraining order to restrict
a person's right to enter the campus, rather than seeking a
temporary restraining order on behalf of each staff and
student of the school, college or university.
Specifically, this bill:
1) Expands the definition of "employee" to include
students and staff at an educational site, such as a
school, college, university, or technical institute.
2) Expands the definition of "employer" to include an
educational site, such as a school, college,
university, or technical institute.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) What's the problem ? This bill was introduced at the
request of a private proprietary postsecondary
educational institution that sought a restraining
order against a former student to prohibit that person
from entering the campus, but learned that a separate
temporary restraining order would be required for each
student and staff of that campus. The institution
would have had to seek about 375 restraining orders to
accomplish its goal of prohibiting the former student
from entering the campus. Instead, the institution
wants the authority to seek one temporary restraining
order covering the entire campus.
2) What schools are affected ? All of them. This bill
affects public and private K-12 schools, public and
private colleges and universities, and technical
institutes. Should this bill include a cross
reference to an existing definition of school,
college, university and technical institute? Should
child care centers and after school programs be
included in this bill? Should off-campus
school-sponsored activities be included in this bill?
3) Remedies currently available to schools . There are
several options in current law that schools, colleges,
universities and technical institutes may use to
protect students and staff from a person making
threats, harassing students or staff, trespassing, or
other display of disruptive behavior, including but
not limited to, the following:
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a) Every student or employee who has been
suspended or dismissed for disrupting the orderly
operation of the campus or facility, and as a
condition of the suspension or dismissal has been
denied access to the campus or facility, who
willfully and knowingly enters the campus or
facility is guilty of a misdemeanor. Penal Code
626.2.
b) The chief administrative officer, or a
designee, may notify a person that consent to
remain on the campus or facility has been
withdrawn whenever there is reasonable cause to
believe that such person has willfully disrupted
the orderly operation of such campus or facility.
Willfully and knowingly entering or remaining on
campus or in the facility is a misdemeanor.
Penal Code 626.4.
c) If a person who is not a student or employee
of a college or university and who is not
required by his or her employment to be on the
campus or any facility, and it reasonably appears
to the chief administrative officer or designee
that the person is committing any act likely to
interfere with the peaceful conduct of the
activities of the campus or facility, the chief
administrative officer or designee may direct the
person to leave the campus or facility. If that
person fails to do so or if the person willfully
and knowingly reenters the campus or facility
within seven days, he or she is guilty of a
misdemeanor. Penal Code 626.6.
d) If a person who is not a student or employee
of a public school, and who is not required by
his or her employment to be on the campus or in
any facility, enters a campus or facility outside
of the common areas where public business is
conducted, and it reasonably appears to the chief
administrative officer or designee that the
person is committing any act likely to interfere
with the peaceful conduct of the activities of
the campus or facility, the chief administrative
officer or designee may direct the person to
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leave the campus or facility. If that person
fails to do so or if the person returns without
following the posted requirements to contact the
administrative offices of the campus, he or she
is guilty of a misdemeanor. Penal Code 626.7.
e) Any person who comes into any school
building or upon any school ground, or street,
sidewalk, or public way adjacent thereto, without
lawful business thereon, and whose presence or
acts interfere with the peaceful conduct of the
activities of the school or disrupt the school or
its pupils or school activities, is guilty of a
misdemeanor if the person remains after being
asked to leave, reenters within seven days, or
has otherwise established a continued pattern of
unauthorized entry. Penal Code 626.8.
f) Every person who, by physical force and with
the intent to prevent attendance or instruction,
willfully obstructs or attempts to obstruct any
student or teacher seeking to attend or instruct
classes at any of the campuses or facilities of
the University of California, California State
University or a community college district shall
be punished by a fine of up to $500, by
imprisonment in a county jail for up to one year,
or both. Penal Code 602.10.
Given that schools and colleges currently have the
ability to address situations where a person makes
threats, trespasses or disrupts the operation of a
campus, do schools and colleges also need the
authority to seek a campuswide restraining order?
SUPPORT
Los Angeles Unified School District
San Francisco Unified School District
Western Beauty Institute
OPPOSITION
None received.