The Donahoe Higher Education Act establishes the University of California, under the administration of the Regents of the University of California, the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, and the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as the 3 segments of public postsecondary education in this state. The act applies to the University of California only to the extent that the regents, by appropriate resolution, make it applicable. The Equity in Higher Education Act provides that it is the policy of the state to afford all persons, regardless of specified characteristics, including gender identity and gender expression, equal rights and opportunities in the postsecondary educational institutions of the state.

This bill, as part of the Donahoe Higher Education Act, would require a campus of the University of California, California State University, or California Community Colleges to update a former student’s records to include the student’s updated legal name or gender if the institution receives government-issued documentation, as described, from the student demonstrating that the former student’s legal name or gender has been changed. The bill would require the institution to reissue specified documents conferred upon, or issued to, the former student with the former student’s updated legal name or gender, if requested by the former student. The bill would prohibit an institution from charging a higher fee for correcting, updating, or reissuing a document based on a legal name or gender change than the fee it charges for correcting, updating, or reissuing that document generally. Commencing with the 2023–24 graduating class, the bill would require an institution to provide an option for a graduating student to request that the diploma to be conferred by the institution list the student’s chosen name, as specified. Because this bill imposes new duties on community college districts, it would constitute a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.