BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  AB 668
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 11, 2011

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                    AB 668 (Block) - As Amended:  March 29, 2011 

          Policy Committee:                              Higher 
          EducationVote:9-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program: 
          No     Reimbursable:               

           SUMMARY  

          This bill defines "undue hardship," for purposes of denying a 
          California State University (CSU) student a religious 
          accommodation for a test, as:

          1)The expense in administering the test at a different time 
            creates a substantial financial burden for the institution, or

          2)Administering the test in a different location results in a 
            substantial disruption to the CSU campus's educational 
            mission.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          One-time costs of around $130,000 ($5,000 per campus and $15,000 
          for the Chancellor's Office) to provide guidelines and 
          notification to faculty in order to comply with the bill's 
          requirements. (About 60% of CSU's budget is General Fund, with 
          most of the remainder from student tuition revenues.)

           COMMENTS  

           1)Purpose  . According to the author, as a professor and lawyer at 
            San Diego State University, he observed a lack of definition 
            as to what constitutes an undue hardship for the university 
            and a lack of guidance for students.  There were instances 
            when a student was denied accommodation, and no reasonable 
            justification was given as to why the test could not be given 
            at an alternate time. Accordingly, the author believes "undue 
            hardship" should be defined as 1) a substantial cost to the 
            institution or 2) substantial disruption to the institution's 








                                                                  AB 668
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            educational mission.

           2)Prior Legislation  . In 2009, AB 24 (Block) included a provision 
            removing the ability of professors to deny a student's request 
            for a religious accommodation. The Senate Education Committee 
            noted this would require CSU campuses to accommodate all 
            requests, regardless of the reasonableness of the request and 
            suggested instead that the author define "undue hardship."  
            That definition, which was the same as in AB 668, was 
            subsequently removed from AB 24.

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081