BILL ANALYSIS �
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 620
Author: Block (D), et al.
Amended: 8/30/11 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE : 7-2, 6/22/11
AYES: Lowenthal, Alquist, Hancock, Liu, Price, Simitian,
Vargas
NOES: Blakeslee, Huff
NO VOTE RECORDED: Runner, Vacancy
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 3-2, 6/28/11
AYES: Evans, Corbett, Leno
NOES: Harman, Blakeslee
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 6-3, 8/25/11
AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Lieu, Pavley, Price, Steinberg
NOES: Walters, Emmerson, Runner
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 51-24, 6/1/11 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Public Postsecondary Education:
Nondiscrimination and Training: Sexual
Orientation, Gender Identity, and Gender
Expression
SOURCE : Equality California
DIGEST : This bill establishes the Sexual Orientation and
Gender Identity Equity in Higher Education Act which (1)
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adds the attributes of sexual orientation, gender identity,
and gender expression to existing nondiscrimination laws
affecting postsecondary educational institutions, programs,
and requirements; (2) requires the Trustees of the
California State University and requests the Regents of the
University of California and local community college
governing boards to take specified actions related to data
collection, campus services and policies; and (3)
encourages the Legislative Analyst's Office to undertake
specified related activities.
ANALYSIS : Existing law:
1. Provides that it is the policy of the State of
California to afford all persons, regardless of
disability, gender, nationality, race or ethnicity,
religion, sexual orientation, or any other basis that is
contained in the prohibition of hate crimes set forth in
subdivision (a) of Section 422.6 of the Penal Code,
equal rights and opportunities in the postsecondary
institutions of the state.
2. Declares it a goal of public higher education that
educational equity be achieved through educational
environments in which each person, regardless of race,
gender, age, disability or economic circumstances has a
reasonable change to fully develop his/her potential.
3. Provides that all students have the right to participate
fully in the educational process, free from
discrimination and harassment and that California's
postsecondary educational institutions have an
affirmative obligation to combat racism, sexism, and
other forms of bias, and a responsibility to provide
equal educational opportunity.
4. Declares the Legislature's intent that each
postsecondary educational institution undertake
educational activities to counter discriminatory
incidents on school grounds and, within constitutional
bounds, to minimize and eliminate a hostile environment
on school grounds that impairs the access of students to
equal educational opportunity.
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This bill:
1. Makes various substantive and clarifying changes to the
public postsecondary institutions' policies and
practices with regard to data collection of, and
institutional interaction with, specified attributes of
students and faculty.
2. Encourages the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) to
conduct an assessment of the campuses of each of the
segments of public postsecondary education to develop
recommendations to improve the quality of life on those
campuses for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender
faculty, staff, and students, and to publish a summary
of those recommendations on its website. Particular
provisions of this bill rely on interactions and
information sharing between the campuses and the LAO.
In order to do so, the LAO would have to coordinate data
gathering, the required assessment, and related
reporting.
3. Adds the attributes of sexual orientation, gender
identity, and gender expression to existing
nondiscrimination laws affecting postsecondary
educational institutions, programs, and requirements,
including the existing definition of "hate violence" on
campuses, prohibitions against discrimination in
awarding Cal Grants, in state administration of federal
student loan programs, and in hiring California
Community Colleges (CCC) faculty.
4. Requires the California State University (CSU) and
requests the University of California (UC) and CCCs in
collecting demographic data, to allow students, faculty,
and staff to identify their sexual orientation, gender
identity and gender expression on data collection forms
and requests that this information be shared with the
LAO.
5. Requires CSU to designate an employee at each campus as
a point of contact for the needs of lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students, staff, and
faculty. To the extent that campuses already have
designated individuals, or could designate existing
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individuals, this requirement would be minor. It is
unclear what, if any, additional workload might come
with this designation.
6. Requires CSU to adopt and publish policies on
harassment, intimidation, and bullying to govern student
behavior within their respective segments, as specified
(and the UC and CCC would be requested to do so).
Comments
Relevant budget activity . The Governor's proposed budget
for 2011-12 contained several related provisions. Among
other things, it proposes a $500 million reduction to both
the UC and CSU and a $290 million reduction (when offset by
proposed fee revenue) to the CCC. In addition, the
Governor's May revise proposed the elimination of the
California Postsecondary Education Commission.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13
2013-14 Fund
CSU implementation Potentially significant
ongoing costs General
UC implementation* Likely minor, potentially
significant costs General
CCC implementation* Potentially significant
ongoing costs General
LAO assessments ------ Significant
ongoing costs ------ General
* UC and CCC are both requested, not required, to
implement most of the provisions.
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SUPPORT : (Per Senate Judiciary Committee analysis 6/15/11
- unable to reverify at time of writing)
Equality California (source)
Anti-Defamation League
Board of Equalization Member, Betty Yee
California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists
California Communities United Institute
California Faculty Association
California Federation of Teachers
California National Organization for Women
California State Students Association
California Teachers Association
Californians Aware
Gay-Straight Alliance Network
National Center for Lesbian Rights
Student Senate for California Community Colleges
University of California Students' Association
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : In support of this bill, the
California Faculty Association writes, "�we] support any
policy that protects faculty, staff and students from any
discrimination on the basis of sex, race, nationality,
sexual orientation and gender identity within higher
education, and better protects students from
discrimination."
Also in support of this bill, the California National
Organization for Women writes, "in the past year, we have
seen a spotlight turned upon the damaging and often deadly
bullying of LGBT youth. . . California's LGBT students
deserve a safe and non-discriminatory environment in our
state's community colleges, colleges, and universities."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 51-24, 6/1/11
AYES: Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Block,
Blumenfield, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Butler,
Charles Calderon, Campos, Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro,
Davis, Dickinson, Eng, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes,
Furutani, Galgiani, Gatto, Gordon, Hall, Hayashi, Roger
Hern�ndez, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Lara, Bonnie
Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning, Pan, Perea,
Portantino, Skinner, Solorio, Swanson, Torres,
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Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. P�rez
NOES: Achadjian, Bill Berryhill, Conway, Cook, Donnelly,
Beth Gaines, Grove, Hagman, Halderman, Harkey, Jones,
Knight, Logue, Mansoor, Miller, Morrell, Nestande,
Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Silva, Smyth, Valadao, Wagner
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bonilla, Garrick, Gorell, Jeffries, V.
Manuel P�rez
CPM:kc 8/30/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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