BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
195 (Florez)
Hearing Date: 05/26/2009 Amended: 05/06/2009
Consultant: Dan Troy Policy Vote: ED 5-1, Judiciary
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BILL SUMMARY: SB 195 would require a postsecondary institution
to include additional information to an existing annual
assurance relating to the institution's compliance with laws
concerning discrimination on the basis of sex. The bill would
also subject chief administrative officials to a civil penalty
of up to $50,000 for declaring true anything in the assurance
that is known to be false, or anything that with due diligence
should reasonably have known to be false. The civil could be
brought by any person, and half of the penalty would be awarded
to the person bringing suit and the other half would be
deposited to the General Fund.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 Fund
Assurances $284 to $424, annually General
Civil cases Between $50 to $150 per suit, plus
General
potentially up to $50 in civil penalties
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STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Title IX (of the Education Amendments of 1972 to the 1964 Civil
Rights Act) prohibits educational programs or activities that
receive federal assistance from excluding participation or
denying benefits to individuals on the basis of sex. To
demonstrate compliance, schools must meet one of the following
three tests:
1) Athletic participation is of women and girls is
proportionate to enrollment.
2) The school has a history of and continuing practice of
program expansion for women or girls.
3) The school is fully meeting female athletes' interests
and abilities in its present athletic program.
Current law requires a postsecondary educational institution,
prior to receipt of any state financial assistance or state
student financial aid, to provide assurance that each program or
activity conducted by the institution will be in compliance with
state laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex. The
current assurance is essentially a check box and signature line
on a Cal Grant institutional participation agreement required by
the California Student Aid Commission.
This bill would expand the elements to be provided in the
assurance, including campus-specific assurances, the number of
relevant complaints and civil actions filed, and a description
of any information against discrimination provided to students.
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SB 195 (Florez)
Costs for expansion of the elements provided in the assurance
would likely range from $2,000 to $3,000 per campus, resulting
in annual costs of between $284,000 and $426,000 combined for
the University of California (UC), the California State
University (CSU), and the California Community Colleges (CCC).
Additionally, the provision relating to civil penalties would
also create new costs for postsecondary institutions. Current
law provides for public entities to defend employees against
claims made against them in the scope of their employment with
the public entity. Current law also makes the public entity
liable for injury on behalf of the employee. Thus, UC, CSU, and
CCC would incur legal costs for defending an administrative
official against a civil charge and would also be liable for
payment of the penalty if the defense is not successful. Legal
defense costs would likely be in the range of $50,000 to
$150,000 per case. It is unknown how many cases would be filed
in the future, but as suits may be brought by "any person in the
public interest" and not only injured parties, there exists
potential for frivolous as well as merited claims.