BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
AB 2141 (Hall) - Truancy Mediation or Prosecution Outcomes
Amended: July 1, 2014 Policy Vote: Education 7-0
Urgency: No Mandate: Yes
Hearing Date: August 4, 2014
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 2141 requires a state or local agency
conducting a truancy-related mediation or prosecuting a student
or parent for a truancy-related matter to provide the outcome of
the case to the referring agency.
Fiscal Impact:
Mandates: Potentially significant reimbursable mandate,
likely in the millions of dollars annually, on a local
prosecuting agencies and local agencies that conduct
truancy-related mediation to communicate the outcome of any
referral to the referring entity, as well as to provide the
outcomes of every truancy referral to the Attorney General
(AG), in an anonymized format, upon request.
Background: Existing law defines a truant as a student who is
absent for 3 full days, or tardy or absent for more than a
30-minute period on 3 occasions, without a valid excuse in one
school year. Truants must be reported to the attendance
supervisor or superintendent of the school district. School
districts are required to notify the student's parent upon the
initial classification of truancy. (Education Code � 48260 et.
seq.)
Existing law defines a habitual truant as a student who has been
reported as a truant 3 or more times per school year (absent or
tardy without an excuse for at least 5 days). It also requires
school districts to first make a conscientious effort to hold at
least one conference with a parent and the student prior to
classifying the student as a habitual truant. (EC � 48262)
Existing law defines a chronic truant as a student who is absent
without a valid excuse for 10% or more of the schooldays in the
year, provided that the appropriate school district officer or
AB 2141 (Hall)
Page 1
employee has complied with existing reporting and intervention
requirements. (EC � 48263.6)
Existing law authorizes, but does not require, a county and/or
local Student Attendance Review Board (SARB) to be established.
If established, SARB membership must include parents, school
districts, county probation, county welfare, county
superintendent of schools, law enforcement, community-based
youth services, and personnel representing school guidance,
child welfare and attendance, school or county health care, and
mental health. (EC � 48321)
School districts may refer the student to, and the student is
required to attend, a SARB or a truancy mediation program. The
student may be within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court if
the student does not successfully complete the truancy mediation
program. (EC � 48264.5(c))
Existing law further requires the governing board of each school
district to direct school district staff to transmit to the
county superintendent of schools the number and type of
referrals to SARBs and the requests for petitions to juvenile
courts. (EC � 48273)
Existing law requires the Annual Report on Dropouts in
California to include, when data is available, truancy rates and
chronic absentee rates. (EC � 48070.6)
Existing law requires school districts to gather and transmit to
the county superintendent of schools the number and types of
referrals to SARBs and of requests for petitions to the juvenile
court. (EC � 48273)
Existing law also generally provides for the jurisdiction of the
juvenile court over a person under the age of 18 who
"persistently or habitually refuses to obey the reasonable and
proper orders or directions of his or her parents, guardian, or
custodian, or who is beyond the control of that person," or who
violates curfew offenses, as specified. These types of offenses
are known generally as "status" offenses - acts that are illegal
only if committed by juveniles. (Welfare and Institutions Code �
601)
Proposed Law: This bill requires a state or local agency
AB 2141 (Hall)
Page 2
conducting a truancy-related mediation or prosecuting a student
or parent for a truancy-related matter to provide the outcome of
the case to the referring agency. Specifically, this bill:
1) Requires a state or local agency conducting a
truancy-related mediation or prosecuting a student or
parent to provide the outcome of each referral to the
school district, SARB, county superintendent of schools,
probation department, or any other agency that referred a
truancy-related mediation, criminal complaint, or petition.
2) Defines "outcome" to include, but not be limited to, the
imposed conditions or terms placed on a pupil or a pupil's
parent or legal guardian and the acts or actions taken by a
state or local authority with respect to a truancy-related
mediation, prosecution, criminal complaint, or petition.
3) Requires a state or local agency conducting a
truancy-related mediation or prosecuting a student or
parent to provide the outcome of each referral in
anonymized format to the AG upon request.
4) Provides that state and local agencies are to use the
most cost-effective method possible including by electronic
mail or telephone.
5) States legislative intent to determine the best
evidence-based practices to reduce truancy, and that this
bill is not intended to encourage additional referrals,
complaints, petitions, or prosecutions, or to encourage
more serious sanctions for students.
Staff Comments: This bill would require a state or local agency
conducting a truancy-related mediation or prosecuting a student
or parent for a truancy-related matter to provide the outcome of
the case to the referring agency. The bill places new
requirements on DAs, as well as county probation departments and
SARBs, which can conduct truancy-related mediations. While it is
likely that many local entities affected by these requirements
already provide outcome information to the referring agency
(often a school district), this bill statutorily requires a
higher level of service from local government entities.
The Commission on State Mandates is likely to deem any new
AB 2141 (Hall)
Page 3
workload imposed by this bill to be a reimbursable state
mandate. If so, even local entities that already provide outcome
information to the referring agency would also be eligible to be
reimbursed by the state for reporting the outcome of every case.
Local entities could also incur costs to modify procedures for
tracking and reporting outcomes, and any staff time spent doing
so would be reimbursable.
This bill further requires that local prosecuting agencies and
those conducting truancy-related mediations report the outcome
of every case in an anonymized format to the AG upon request.
The discretion and authority is left to the AG to make a request
of any or all qualifying local entities. If requested, those
local entities would be statutorily required (by this bill) to
provide the information. This bill functionally mandates that
local agencies keep the information, and store it in an
anonymized format that can be transmitted upon request. The
activities undertaken by locals to do so would likely be deemed
to be a reimbursable state mandate by the Commission on State
Mandates.