BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 288
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Date of Hearing: March 15, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Marty Block, Chair
AB 288 (Fong) - As Amended: March 8, 2011
SUBJECT : Public postsecondary education: community colleges:
expulsion hearing.
SUMMARY : Authorizes a California Community College District
(CCCD) governing board to, under specified circumstances, deny
admission to an applicant who has been expelled from a CCCD.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Allows a CCCD governing board to deny enrollment to an
applicant upon finding through a hearing, under rules and
regulations adopted pursuant to existing law requirements,
that the applicant has been expelled within the preceding 5
years or is undergoing expulsion procedures in another CCCD,
for specified offenses, and that the applicant continues to
present a danger to the physical safety of the students and
employees of the CCCD.
2)Defines offenses to include:
a) Committed or attempted to commit murder.
b) Caused, attempted to cause, or threatened to cause
physical injury to another person, as defined in the Penal
Code, except in cases of self-defense.
c) Committed or attempted to commit a sexual assault or
committed sexual battery, as defined in the Penal Code.
d) Committed or attempted to commit kidnapping, or seized,
confined, inveigled, enticed, decoyed, abducted, concealed,
kidnapped, or carried away another person by any means with
the intent to hold or detain that person for ransom or
reward.
e) Committed or attempted to commit robbery or extortion.
f) Committed stalking as defined in the Penal Code.
g) Unlawfully possessed, sold, or otherwise furnished a
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firearm, knife, explosive, or other dangerous object.
3)Provides that a CCCD may request information from another CCCD
in determining whether the applicant continues to pose a
danger to the physical safety of others and, requires the CCCD
receiving such a request to respond within five working days.
4)Requires any applicant who has been previously expelled from a
CCCD for any of the defined offenses to inform the CCCD of
which he/she is seeking admission of his or her prior
expulsion and, provides that failure to do so shall be
considered by the CCCD in determining whether to grant
admission.
5)Allows the CCCD governing board, when making a determination
on whether to enroll an applicant who has been expelled from
another CCCD for one of the defined acts, to consider denying
enrollment, permitting enrollment, or permitting conditional
enrollment.
6)Provides that a CCCD governing board may delegate any
authority under this bill to the superintendent or president
of a CCCD, or his/her designee, or a threat assessment crisis
team pursuant to adopted rules.
7)Provides that a student denied enrollment under the provisions
of this bill may appeal the decision.
8)Establishes that the provisions of this bill shall not be
construed to impose any duty on a CCCD to review applicants
for admission or review previously enrolled students or to
conduct a hearing in response to the receipt of information,
and, releases from liability for an injury resulting from an
exercise of discretion pursuant to this section any CCCD
officials.
EXISTING LAW
1)Provides that a CCC district governing board is authorized to
expel a student for good cause when other means of correction
fail to bring about proper conduct, or when the presence of
the student causes a continuing danger to the physical safety
of the student or others. Provides that the expulsion shall
be accompanied by a hearing.
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2)Provides that a CCC district governing body may exclude
students from attendance for "filthy or vicious habits, or
students suffering from contagious or infectious diseases" as
well as "any student whose physical or mental disability is
such as to cause his or her attendance to be inimical to the
welfare of other students."
3)Provides that if a K-12 pupil is expelled and seeks to enroll
in another school district during or after the period of
expulsion, the second school district is required to hold a
hearing to determine whether the "individual poses a
continuing danger either to the pupils or employees of the
school district."
4)Provides, under federal law, that disciplinary records are
education records protected by the Family Educational Rights
and Privacy Act and are subject to the general requirement
that records regarding identifiable students cannot be shared
without the student's consent or under court order. This
protection of records is also contained in state law. There
are exceptions to this law, including for records pertaining
to discipline for serious offenses and for records being
shared with an institution where the student seeks to enroll.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. However, according to the Assembly
Appropriations Committee's analysis of similar legislation
introduced in 2010, minor non-reimbursable costs for legal
services to districts that conduct the specified hearings.
Assuming up to $5,000 per hearing, costs statewide would
probably not exceed $50,000 to $100,000.
COMMENTS : Purpose of this bill : According to the author,
CCC's are the only public educational segment in California
without the ability to ensure campus safety at one CCCD through
a screening process of students who have been expelled from
another CCCD. Currently, a student who is expelled from one
CCCD for a violent offense can freely enroll in another CCCD
without that CCCD's knowledge of his or her expulsion. This bill
addresses these problems by requiring a student enrolling in a
CCC to disclose that he or she had been expelled for a violent
offense from a CCCD, requiring a CCCD that had expelled a
student for one of the specified reasons to provide the
information to the receiving CCCD upon request, authorizing a
receiving CCCD to conduct a hearing in order to determine if a
student posed a threat to the faculty, staff, or other students,
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and allowing the CCCD to deny enrollment to this student if
deemed necessary to ensure the safety of those on campus.
Background : In September of 2007, the CCC Chancellor's Office
(CCCCO) responded to a request from Mt. San Antonio College for
a legal opinion regarding the CCCD's interactions with students
who have criminal records, sharing student disciplinary
information, and disciplining students. The CCCCO opined, among
other findings, that current admission laws do not allow a CCCD
to deny admission based on discipline imposed by a different
CCCD. According to the sponsor, this bill was introduced to
establish a process whereby CCCDs can deny admission to
individuals who pose a safety threat to others on campuses.
Practices of the K-12 system : As noted above, existing law
requires a school district to hold a hearing to determine
whether an individual continues to pose a danger to other pupils
or employees if a pupil was expelled from another school
district. According to the sponsor, this bill was modeled on
the K-12 process.
Circumstances under which a student may be expelled from a CCC :
Existing law requires CCCs to adopt rules for student conduct
standards and related penalties for violating those standards.
A student's history (prior criminal activity) or speculations
about what a student might do in the future are not a basis for
imposing discipline. Existing law authorizes a CCCD to expel a
student for good cause, which is defined to include:
1)Continued disruptive behavior, continued willful disobedience,
habitual profanity or vulgarity, or the open and persistent
defiance of the authority of, or persistent abuse of, college
personnel;
2)Assault, battery, or any threat of force or violence upon a
student or college personnel;
3)Willful misconduct that results in injury or death to a
student or college personnel or that results in cutting,
defacing, or other injury to any real or personal property
owned by the district;
4)The use, sale, or possession on campus of, or presence on
campus under the influence of, any controlled substance or
specified poisons;
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5)Willful or persistent smoking in any area where smoking has
been prohibited by law or by regulation of the governing
board; and,
6)Persistent, serious misconduct where other means of correction
have failed to bring about proper conduct.
Existing law also provides that, "No student shall be removed,
suspended, or expelled unless the conduct for which the student
is disciplined is related to college activity or college
attendance." However, in a 1966 opinion, the Attorney General
determined that if a CCCD could identify a link between the
conduct and school activities or attendance, then conduct that
occurred away from school could be considered for disciplinary
purposes. However, as the CCCCO opined, if a college student
commits a crime that has nothing to do with a college activity
or with college attendance, the college will be hard-pressed to
suspend or expel the student for that conduct, based on existing
law.
Recent expulsion data from CCCs : 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.
Expulsion records retention : Under existing law, there is no
specific statutory requirement on the length of time that a
student's expulsion record is kept by the CCCD. According to
the sponsor, if a CCCD expels a student they generally place an
electronic tag on the registration so that the student is
flagged if he or she attempts to reregister at that CCCD.
Additionally, the decision to expel a student is a CCCD
governing board decision, therefore, the name and student
expulsion information would be kept as a permanent record with
all records of governing board public meetings.
Other public higher education policies regarding expulsion :
Executive Order No. 970 governs student conduct procedures at
California State University (CSU) and affords students due
process and provide guidance to campuses to address student
misconduct. According to CSU, if a student is expelled from
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CSU, they are expelled from their home campus and the entire CSU
system. At University of California (UC) readmission to UC
following an expulsion requires the specific approval of the
Chancellor of the campus to which an expelled student has
applied and readmission after expulsion may be granted only
under exceptional circumstances.
Suggested amendment : This bill provides that any student denied
enrollment under the provisions of this bill may appeal the
decision to the governing board of the CCCD, however, the bill
does not outline any appeal process should include. The
Committee may want to amend the bill to clarify that any CCCD
that chooses to utilize this process must have a defined appeals
process in place prior to taking action to deny enrollment.
Governor's Veto of Prior Legislation : AB 1400 (Fong, 2010) was
substantially similar to this bill. In his veto of AB 1400,
Governor Schwarzenegger wrote, in part, "As drafted, the bill
creates an uneven standard between students who could be denied
admission because of criminal acts they may have committed in
the past. Since I am committed to having community colleges be
both safe places for quality education, as well as open
institutions of hope for all students, I am asking the CCC Board
of Governors to work in collaboration with CCC Chancellor Scott
to work on a policy that will most effectively address this
issue for the campuses." According to the CCC Chancellors
Office (CCCCO), discussions have occurred in response to the
Governor's request, however it appears that new statute would be
required in order for the CCCCO to issue regulations on this
matter.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office
Community College League of California
Kern Community College District
Rio Hondo Community College District
San-Jose Evergreen Community College District
Peralta Community College District
Opposition
AB 288
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None on File
Analysis Prepared by : Laura Metune / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960