BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



          SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
                              Senator Carol Liu, Chair
                                2015 - 2016  Regular 

          Bill No:             AB 969              
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          |Author:    |Williams                                             |
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          |Version:   |April 23, 2015                             Hearing   |
          |           |Date:    June 17, 2015                               |
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          |Urgency:   |No                     |Fiscal:    |Yes              |
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          |Consultant:|Kathleen Chavira                                     |
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          Subject:  Community college districts:  removal, suspension, or  
          expulsion

            SUMMARY
          
          This bill makes an exception to the prohibition against removal,  
          suspension or expulsion of a student unless the conduct  
          resulting in the disciplinary action is related to college  
          activity or attendance if the conduct threatens the safety of  
          students or the public and authorizes a community college  
          district to require a student seeking admission to disclose  
          his/her expulsion or current suspension from a community college  
          for prescribed offenses including violation of a district's  
          policies concerning sexual assault, domestic violence, dating  
          violence and stalking.   

          BACKGROUND
          
          Existing law provides for the suspension or expulsion of  
          community college students with "good cause."  (Education Code §  
          76030-76038)

          Existing law prohibits the removal suspension or expulsion of a  
          community college student unless the conduct resulting in the  
          disciplinary action is related to college activity or college  
          attendance. (EC § 76034)

          Existing law authorizes a community college district to require  
          a student seeking admission to disclose his/her prior expulsion  
          from another community college district and authorizes the  







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          governing board of a community college district to deny  
          enrollment, permit enrollment, or permit conditional enrollment  
          to a student who has been expelled, or is being considered for  
          expulsion, from another district for specified offenses within  
          the preceding 5 years.  (Education Code § 76038)

          Existing law requires that, in order to receive state funds for  
          student financial assistance, the governing board of each  
          community college district, the Trustees of the California State  
          University, the Regents of the University of California, and the  
          governing boards of independent postsecondary institutions must  
          adopt a policy concerning sexual assault, domestic violence,  
          dating violence, and stalking, as defined in the federal Higher  
          Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 1092(f)) involving a  
          student, both on and off campus.  (Education Code § 67386)






            ANALYSIS
          
          This bill: 

       1)Makes an exception to the prohibition against removal, suspension  
            or expulsion of a student unless the conduct resulting in the  
            disciplinary action is related to college activity or  
            attendance if the conduct threatens the safety of students or  
            the public.

       2)Expands the authority of a district to determine whether an  
            individual poses a continuing danger to the physical safety of  
            the students and employees of the district and to deny,  
            permit, or permit conditionally, the enrollment of a student  
            seeking admission.  Specifically it:

               a)        Authorizes the community college district to  
               consider and to require the student to disclose whether  
               he/she was expelled by another district within the last  
               five years, or is undergoing expulsion review, for  
               violation of a district's policies, adopted pursuant to  
               specified state law, on sexual assault, domestic violence,  
               dating violence, and stalking.








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               b)        Authorizes a community college district to  
               require a student seeking admission to disclose to the  
               district if he/she is currently suspended from a community  
               college for any of the following offenses:

                     i)             Committed or attempted to commit  
                   murder.

                     ii)            Caused, attempted to cause serious, or  
                   threatened to cause physical injury to another person,  
                   including assault or battery as defined in Section 240  
                   or 242 of the Penal Code, except in self-defense.

                     iii)           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 sexual  
                   battery as defined in Section 243.4 of the Penal Code.

                     iv)            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.

                     v)             Committed or attempted to commit  
                   robbery or extortion.

                     vi)            Committed stalking as defined in  
                   Section 646.9 of the Penal Code.

                     vii)           Unlawfully possessed, sold, or  
                   otherwise furnished a firearm, knife, explosive, or  
                   other dangerous object.

                     viii)   Violation of a district's policies on sexual  
                   assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and  
                   stalking, adopted pursuant to specified state law.

       3)Authorizes a district to consider failure to disclose previous  
            expulsion or current suspension for a violation of district  
            policies on sexual assault, domestic violence, and dating  
            violence in determining whether to grant admission, and  
            authorizes a written record of the fact to be maintained by  








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            the district with the applicant's file. 

          STAFF COMMENTS
          
       1)Need for the bill.  According to the author, at a roundtable  
            discussion at UC Santa Barbara in November 2014, local  
            community college representatives raised concerns about their  
            inability to discipline students for sexual assault violations  
            occurring off campus as current law prohibits community  
            colleges from taking disciplinary action against a student  
            unless the conduct occurs on campus or at campus related  
            events.  This is particularly challenging at the community  
            colleges since, for the most part, these campuses are  
            non-residential.  In addition, concerns were raised that  
            students dismissed from a college for a sexual assault offense  
            simply transferred to a different campus.  The representatives  
            expressed the need to have clear legal authority in place to  
            ensure their students' and communities' safety and well-being.  
             

            This bill proposes to clarify a community college district's  
            jurisdiction for student code of conduct violations that occur  
            off-campus and to require students to disclose whether they  
            were dismissed from another institution for sexual assault, in  
            order to ensure the physical safety of the students and  
            employees of the district, and the public.

       2)Author's amendment.  This Committee recently heard and passed SB  
            186 (Jackson) which proposed an expansion and clarification of  
            the authority of community college districts to discipline  
            students for sexual assault or sexual battery whether that  
            behavior occurred on or off campus.  Section 1 of this bill  
            proposes a more expanded authority to discipline students for  
            behavior which occurs off campus.  According to the author, in  
            order to eliminate any conflict, it is his intent to eliminate  
            Section 1 from this bill.  Staff recommends the bill be  
            amended to delete section 1 consistent with the author's  
            intent. 

       3)Suspension versus expulsion.  This bill has two effects.  Current  
            law authorizes a district to consider whether a student  
            seeking admission was expelled or is undergoing expulsion  
            proceedings at another district for specified offenses.  This  
            bill expands that list of offenses to include a violation of  








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            the districts adopted policies on sexual assault, domestic  
            violence, and dating violence.  

            Second, this bill expands the authority of a district to deny,  
            permit, or permit conditionally the enrollment of a student by  
            authorizing the district to consider whether the student was  
            "suspended" for any of these same offenses, including  
            violation of a district's sexual assault policies. Should  
            behavior which results in suspension from a district be  
            assigned the same consequences as behavior which results in  
            expulsion?

            According to the author, it is the intent to 1) explicitly  
            clarify that discipline related to violations of sexual  
            assault policies are subject to disclosure and consideration  
            when seeking admission to another district, and 2) to ensure  
            that districts are provided the tools necessary to protect  
            students, employees, and the public in cases of the most  
            egregious violations of sexual assault policies.   Staff  
            recommends the bill be amended to delete the bill's  
            application to students who are "currently suspended."

       4)Similar legislation.  SB 186 (Jackson) expands the definition of  
            "good cause" for purposes of removal, suspension or expulsion  
            from a community college to include sexual assault or sexual  
            battery and, for this conduct exclusively, makes an exception  
            to the prohibition against removal, suspension, or expulsion  
            unless the conduct is related to college activity or  
            attendance and clarifies that this activity must occur while  
            enrolled as a student.  SB 186 was heard and passed by this  
            Committee in March 2015, by a vote of 7-0 and is currently  
            awaiting action in the Assembly Higher Education Committee. 

            SUPPORT
          
          Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General 
          North Orange Community College District

            OPPOSITION
           
           None received.

                                      -- END --
          








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