BILL NUMBER: SB 919 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 28, 2011
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 10, 2011
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 25, 2011
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 24, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Senator Lieu
FEBRUARY 18, 2011
An act to amend Sections 32261, 32265, and 32270
32270, and 48900 of the Education Code, relating
to school safety.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 919, as amended, Lieu. School Safety: sexting.
Existing
(1) Existing law, the Interagency
School Safety Demonstration Act of 1985, establishes the School/Law
Enforcement Partnership, and requires the partnership to establish a
statewide school safety cadre for the purpose of facilitating
interagency coordination and collaboration to reduce school violence
and crime, truancy rates, bullying, teen relationship violence, and
discrimination and harassment. Existing law requires the partnership
to sponsor at least 2 regional conferences to identify exemplary
programs and techniques that have been effectively used to reduce
school crime, including hate crimes, vandalism, drug and alcohol
abuse, gang membership and gang violence, truancy, and excessive
absenteeism. The conferences may include, but need not be limited to,
information on specified topics.
This bill would define sexting for purposes of that act as the
sending or receiving of sexually explicit pictures or video
images by means of an electronic act dissemination of,
or the solicitation or incitement to disseminat e, a
photograph or other visual recording that depicts specified areas of
a minor's body by a pupil to another pupil or school personnel with
the intent to humiliate or harass. The bill would further define
sexting to not include a depiction, portrayal, or image that has any
serious literary, artistic, educational, political, or scientific
value or that involves athletic events or school sanctioned
activities . The bill would require the partnership's school
safety programs to also have the purpose of reducing sexting, and
would include sexting as a topic that may be included in the
partnership's conferences.
(2) Existing law prohibits the suspension of a pupil from school
or the recommendation of a pupil for expulsion from school unless the
school district superintendent or the principal of the school in
which the pupil is enrolled determines that the pupil has committed
any of several specified acts.
This bill would include engaging in an act of sexting, as defined
above, as an act for which a pupil may be suspended or expelled from
school.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. (a) The Legislature finds and declares
all of the following:
(1) The phenomenon of disseminating sexually suggestive or
explicit materials, known as sexting, has become a pervasive problem
for many school districts.
(2) The State of California is committed to a safe and civil
education environment for all pupils that is free from harassment,
bullying, and inappropriate messages that sexualize young men and
women and breaches their privacy.
(3) The intent of this act is to clarify and supplement existing
law regarding administrators' and teachers' ability to address
sexting in public schools.
(4) Pupils who are subjected to sexting may suffer long-term
social, emotional, and psychological harms as a result of harassment
and bullying.
(5) The public policy of the state is to reduce, and ultimately
eliminate, sexting so all pupils can have a safe school environment.
(b) The Legislature encourages school districts to provide
grade-level appropriate instruction, counseling, and other conflict
resolution practices for pupils on the potential risks and
consequences of creating and disseminating sexually suggestive or
explicit materials through mobile telephones and other electronic
devices.
(c) The Legislature encourages school districts to provide
professional development training to school personnel and to adopt
district policies to prevent and discourage sexting that can be
shared with parents and children advocacy organizations or posted on
the school district's Internet Web site.
SECTION 1. SEC. 2. Section 32261 of
the Education Code is amended to read:
32261. (a) The Legislature hereby recognizes that all pupils
enrolled in the state public schools have the inalienable right to
attend classes on school campuses that are safe, secure, and
peaceful. The Legislature also recognizes that pupils cannot fully
benefit from an educational program unless they attend school on a
regular basis. In addition, the Legislature further recognizes that
school crime, vandalism, truancy, and excessive absenteeism are
significant problems on far too many school campuses in the state.
(b) The Legislature hereby finds and declares that the
establishment of an interagency coordination system is the most
efficient and long-lasting means of resolving school and community
problems of truancy and crime, including vandalism, drug and alcohol
abuse, gang membership, gang violence, and hate crimes.
(c) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this chapter
to support California public schools as they develop their mandated
comprehensive safety plans that are the result of a systematic
planning process, that include strategies aimed at the prevention of,
and education about, potential incidents involving crime and
violence on school campuses, and that address the safety concerns of
local law enforcement agencies, community leaders, parents, pupils,
teachers, administrators, school police, and other school employees
interested in the prevention of school crime and violence.
(d) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this chapter
to encourage school districts, county offices of education, law
enforcement agencies, and agencies serving youth to develop and
implement interagency strategies, in-service training programs, and
activities that will improve school attendance and reduce school
crime and violence, including vandalism, drug and alcohol abuse, gang
membership, gang violence, hate crimes, bullying, including bullying
committed personally or by means of an electronic act, teen
relationship violence, sexting, and discrimination and harassment,
including, but not limited to, sexual harassment.
(e) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this chapter
that the School/Law Enforcement Partnership shall not duplicate any
existing gang or drug and alcohol abuse program currently provided
for schools.
(f) As used in this chapter, "bullying" means one or more acts by
a pupil or group of pupils as defined in Section 48900.2, 48900.3, or
48900.4.
(g) As used in this chapter, an "electronic act" means the
transmission of a communication, including, but not limited to, a
message, text, sound, or image by means of an electronic device,
including, but not limited to, a telephone, wireless telephone or
other wireless communication device, computer, or pager.
(h) As used in this chapter, "sexting" means the sending
or receiving of sexually explicit pictures or video images by means
of an electronic act dissemination of a photograph or
visual recording by a pupil as defined in subdivision (s) of Section
48900 .
SEC. 2. SEC. 3. Section 32265 of the
Education Code is amended to read:
32265. (a) The partnership shall sponsor at least two regional
conferences for school districts, county offices of education,
agencies serving youth, allied agencies, community-based
organizations, and law enforcement agencies to identify exemplary
programs and techniques that have been effectively used to reduce
school crime, including hate crimes, vandalism, drug and alcohol
abuse, gang membership and gang violence, truancy, and excessive
absenteeism.
(b) The conference may include, but need not be limited to,
information on all of the following topics:
(1) Interagency collaboration between schools, agencies serving
youth, law enforcement agencies, and others.
(2) School attendance.
(3) School safety.
(4) Citizenship education.
(5) Drug and alcohol abuse.
(6) Child abuse prevention, detection, and reporting.
(7) Parental education.
(8) Crisis response training.
(9) Bullying prevention, including the prevention of acts
committed personally or by means of an electronic act.
(10) Threat assessment.
(11) Conflict resolution and youth mediation.
(12) Teen relationship violence.
(13) Sexting.
(14) Discrimination and harassment reporting and prevention,
including, but not limited to, sexual harassment reporting and
prevention.
(15) Hate crime reporting and prevention.
(16) Reporting and prevention of abuse against pupils with
disabilities.
SEC. 3. SEC. 4. Section 32270 of the
Education Code is amended to read:
32270. (a) The partnership shall establish a statewide school
safety cadre for the purpose of facilitating interagency coordination
and collaboration among school districts, county offices of
education, agencies serving youth, allied agencies, community-based
organizations, and law enforcement agencies to improve school
attendance, encourage good citizenship, and to reduce school
violence, school crime, including hate crimes, vandalism, drug and
alcohol abuse, gang membership and gang violence, truancy rates,
bullying, including acts that are committed personally or by means of
an electronic act, teen relationship violence, sexting, and
discrimination and harassment, including, but not limited to, sexual
harassment.
(b) The partnership may appoint up to 100 professionals from
educational agencies, community-based organizations, allied agencies,
and law enforcement to the statewide cadre.
(c) The partnership shall provide training to the statewide cadre
representatives to enable them to initiate and maintain school
community safety programs among school districts, county offices of
education, agencies serving youth, allied agencies, community-based
organizations, and law enforcement agencies in each region.
SEC. 5. Section 48900 of the Education
Code is amende d to read:
48900. A pupil shall not be suspended from school or recommended
for expulsion, unless the superintendent or the principal of the
school in which the pupil is enrolled determines that the pupil has
committed an act as defined pursuant to any of subdivisions (a) to
(r) (s) , inclusive:
(a) (1) Caused, attempted to cause, or threatened to cause
physical injury to another person.
(2) Willfully used force or violence upon the person of another,
except in self-defense.
(b) Possessed, sold, or otherwise furnished a firearm, knife,
explosive, or other dangerous object, unless, in the case of
possession of an object of this type, the pupil had obtained written
permission to possess the item from a certificated school employee,
which is concurred in by the principal or the designee of the
principal.
(c) Unlawfully possessed, used, sold, or otherwise furnished, or
been under the influence of, a controlled substance listed in Chapter
2 (commencing with Section 11053) of Division 10 of the Health and
Safety Code, an alcoholic beverage, or an intoxicant of any kind.
(d) Unlawfully offered, arranged, or negotiated to sell a
controlled substance listed in Chapter 2 (commencing with Section
11053) of Division 10 of the Health and Safety Code, an alcoholic
beverage, or an intoxicant of any kind, and either sold, delivered,
or otherwise furnished to a person another liquid, substance, or
material and represented the liquid, substance, or material as a
controlled substance, alcoholic beverage, or intoxicant.
(e) Committed or attempted to commit robbery or extortion.
(f) Caused or attempted to cause damage to school property or
private property.
(g) Stolen or attempted to steal school property or private
property.
(h) Possessed or used tobacco, or products containing tobacco or
nicotine products, including, but not limited to, cigarettes, cigars,
miniature cigars, clove cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, snuff, chew
packets, and betel. However, this section does not prohibit use or
possession by a pupil of his or her own prescription products.
(i) Committed an obscene act or engaged in habitual profanity or
vulgarity.
(j) Unlawfully possessed or unlawfully offered, arranged, or
negotiated to sell drug paraphernalia, as defined in Section 11014.5
of the Health and Safety Code.
(k) Disrupted school activities or otherwise willfully defied the
valid authority of supervisors, teachers, administrators, school
officials, or other school personnel engaged in the performance of
their duties.
( l ) Knowingly received stolen school property or
private property.
(m) Possessed an imitation firearm. As used in this section,
"imitation firearm" means a replica of a firearm that is so
substantially similar in physical properties to an existing firearm
as to lead a reasonable person to conclude that the replica is a
firearm.
(n) Committed or attempted to commit a sexual assault as defined
in Section 261, 266c, 286, 288, 288a, or 289 of the Penal Code or
committed a sexual battery as defined in Section 243.4 of the Penal
Code.
(o) Harassed, threatened, or intimidated a pupil who is a
complaining witness or a witness in a school disciplinary proceeding
for the purpose of either preventing that pupil from being a witness
or retaliating against that pupil for being a witness, or both.
(p) Unlawfully offered, arranged to sell, negotiated to sell, or
sold the prescription drug Soma.
(q) Engaged in, or attempted to engage in, hazing. For purposes of
this subdivision, "hazing" means a method of initiation or
preinitiation into a pupil organization or body, whether or not the
organization or body is officially recognized by an educational
institution, which that is likely to
cause serious bodily injury or personal degradation or disgrace
resulting in physical or mental harm to a former, current, or
prospective pupil. For purposes of this subdivision, "hazing" does
not include athletic events or school-sanctioned events.
(r) Engaged in an act of bullying, including, but not limited to,
bullying committed by means of an electronic act, as defined in
subdivisions (f) and (g) of Section 32261, directed specifically
toward a pupil or school personnel.
(s) (1) Engaged in an act of sexting.
(2) For purposes of this subdivision, "sexting" means the
dissemination of, or the solicitation or incitement to disseminate, a
photograph or other visual recording that depicts a minor's exposed
or visible genitals, pubic area, rectal area, or the nipple or areola
of a female's breast by a pupil to another pupil or to school
personnel with the intent to humiliate or harass.
(3) For purposes of this subdivision, "sexting" does not include a
depiction, portrayal, or image that has any serious literary,
artistic, educational, political, or scientific value or that
involves athletic events or school sanctioned activities.
(s)
(t) A pupil shall not be suspended or expelled for any
of the acts enumerated in this section, unless that act is related to
school activity or school attendance occurring within a school under
the jurisdiction of the superintendent of the school district or
principal or occurring within any other school district. A pupil may
be suspended or expelled for acts that are enumerated in this section
and related to school activity or attendance that occur at any time,
including, but not limited to, any of the following:
(1) While on school grounds.
(2) While going to or coming from school.
(3) During the lunch period whether on or off the campus.
(4) During, or while going to or coming from, a school sponsored
activity.
(t)
(u) A pupil who aids or abets, as defined in Section 31
of the Penal Code, the infliction or attempted infliction of
physical injury to another person may be subject to suspension, but
not expulsion, pursuant to this section, except that a pupil who has
been adjudged by a juvenile court to have committed, as an aider and
abettor, a crime of physical violence in which the victim suffered
great bodily injury or serious bodily injury shall be subject to
discipline pursuant to subdivision (a).
(u)
(v) As used in this section, "school property"
includes, but is not limited to, electronic files and databases.
(v)
(w) A superintendent of the school district or
principal may use his or her discretion to provide alternatives to
suspension or expulsion, including, but not limited to, counseling
and an anger management program, for a pupil subject to discipline
under this section.
(w)
(x) It is the intent of the Legislature that
alternatives to suspension or expulsion be imposed against a pupil
who is truant, tardy, or otherwise absent from school activities.