[Approved by Governor August 29, 2016. Filed with Secretary of State August 29, 2016.]
AB 1654, Santiago. Student safety: crime reporting.
The federal Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act) requires eligible institutions of higher education participating in federal student assistance financial grant programs or federal work study programs to collect and annually prepare, publish, and distribute to current students and employees, and to applicants for enrollment or employment upon request, an annual security report containing information with respect to the campus security policies and campus crime statistics of that institution. The federal act further requires that the institutions annually file statistics concerning the occurrence of crimes on campus or on noncampus buildings or property, with the United States Secretary of Education.
The federal Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 requires each of these institutions to include in these reports a statement of policy regarding the institution’s programs to prevent domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking and the procedures the institution will follow once an incident of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking has been reported, as specified.
Existing law requires the State Auditor, every 3 years, to report the results of an audit of a sample of not less than 6 institutions of postsecondary education that receive federal student aid, to evaluate the accuracy of their statistics and the procedures used by the institutions to identify, gather, and track data for publishing, disseminating, and reporting accurate crime statistics in compliance with the Clery Act, and to report the results of those audits to the respective chairs of the Assembly Committee on Higher Education and the Senate Committee on Education.
This bill would require the State Auditor to include in this audit an evaluation of the institutions’ compliance with state law governing crime reporting and the development and implementation of student safety policies and procedures.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 67382 of the Education Code is amended to read:
(a) (1) On or before January 1, 2004, and every three years thereafter, the State Auditor shall report the results of an audit of a sample of not less than six institutions of postsecondary education in California that receive federal student aid. The audit shall do both of the following:
(A) Evaluate the accuracy of the institutions’ statistics and the procedures used by the institutions to identify, gather, and track data for publishing, disseminating, and reporting accurate crime statistics in compliance with the requirements of the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (20 U.S.C. Sec. 1092(f)(1) and (5)).
(B) Evaluate the institutions’ compliance with state law governing crime reporting and the development and implementation of policies and procedures pursuant to this chapter.
(2) The results of the annual audits described in paragraph (1) shall be submitted to the respective chairs of the Assembly Committee on Higher Education and the Senate Committee on Education.
(b) The Legislature finds and declares that institutions of higher education that are subject to the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (20 U.S.C. Sec. 1092(f)(1) and (5)) should establish and publicize a policy that allows victims or witnesses to report crimes to the campus police department or to a specified campus security authority, on a voluntary, confidential, or anonymous basis.
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