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AB-2549 Street harassment prevention.(2021-2022)

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Date Published: 04/28/2022 09:00 PM
AB2549:v97#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Assembly  April 28, 2022
Amended  IN  Assembly  April 18, 2022

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 2549

Introduced by Assembly Members Mia Bonta, Muratsuchi, and Akilah Weber
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Lee)

February 17, 2022

An act to add Division 121 (commencing with Section 152000) to the Health and Safety Code, relating to harassment.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 2549, as amended, Mia Bonta. Street harassment prevention.
Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health, through its Office of Health Equity, to perform strategic planning relating to gaps in health status and access to care among the state’s diverse racial and ethnic communities, women, persons with disabilities, and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning communities. Existing law requires the office to report to the Legislature on its activities on multicultural health.
Existing law makes it unlawful to, by force or threat of force, willfully injure, intimidate, interfere with, oppress, or threaten any other person in whole or in part because of one or more of certain actual or perceived characteristics of the victim, as specified. Existing law also sets forth various criminal or civil penalties for different offenses involving certain forms of harassment.
This bill would require the department to conduct research and a 5-year, statewide, public campaign to raise awareness and understanding of street harassment as a public health problem in the state with the purpose of preventing its occurrence. The bill would define “street harassment” as words, gestures, or actions directed at a specific person in a public place, as defined, without the consent of that person, based on the person’s actual or perceived race, color, ethnic group identification, ancestry, national origin, religion, mental disability, physical disability, medical condition, genetic information, age, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation, that the person experiences as intimidating, alarming, terrorizing, or threatening to their safety. The bill would make related legislative findings.
The bill would require the department to conduct the research through a survey surveys and focus groups, identifying subpopulations at disproportionate risk of experiencing street harassment. The bill would require the department to prepare 2 reports, proposing strategies and policies to prevent and respond to street harassment, as specified. The bill would require the department to submit the reports to the Legislature and the Governor, and to publish them on the department’s internet website, no later than January 1, 2024, for the first report, and no later than June 30, 2027, for the 2nd report.
The bill would require the department to commence the public campaign on January 1, 2023, conducting it online and in physical locations. The bill would require the department to, among other things, develop culturally relevant content, annually evaluate the effectiveness of the campaign, and prepare and publish on its internet website an annual report describing the campaign’s activities, effectiveness, and gaps, as specified.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) The COVID-19 global pandemic and its ensuing shelter-in-place or stay-at-home directives drastically impacted the lives of women. In California and in the rest of the country, women bear multiple challenges, such as family, work, remote learning, and caregiving. A report by the Center for the Advancement of Women at Mount Saint Mary’s University found that, for California’s women of color, the pandemic not only multiplied but also reinforced existing intersecting hardships.
(b) The Public Policy Institute of California found that, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, women of color were overrepresented in the leisure, hospitality, and personal care sectors of the state’s economy. These job sectors have sustained major losses during the pandemic, which greatly impacted workers. According to a 2021 report by the Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative and the UCLA Labor Center, 48 percent of nail salon workers obtained food for their households from food banks after the COVID-19 pandemic started, with 86 percent earning less than $400 a week.
(c) Furthermore, women of color are also overrepresented in pandemic essential and frontline jobs, which were and still are crucial, but nevertheless also dangerous in light of the risks and harms of the pandemic.
(d) The reports of the Stop AAPI Hate coalition indicate that, since the beginning of the pandemic, Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women have been experiencing hate incidents and street harassment in their daily lives. The data of Stop AAPI Hate show the same alarming trend for AAPI women both nationally and in California. In June 2020, Stop AAPI Hate released its first California report documenting over 800 hate incidents in three months. Asian American women reported almost twice as many incidents as men. More than a year later, this disturbing trend continues unabated, with a majority of AAPI women reporting sexist and racist verbal harassment, often in public spaces.
(e) Street harassment of women is pervasive, common, and global. Harassment of this nature includes unwanted sexual and racialized comments and actions, and other threatening behavior.
(f) Street harassment is a pernicious cultural norm that exists largely unchecked in the United States. A 2019 California statewide study by the Center on Gender Equity and Health at UC San Diego found that women in California are more often targets of street harassment than men, and women who identify as lesbian or bisexual experience more sexual harassment and assault than heterosexual women.
(g) Women report that street harassment often occurs in public places, including on streets, in stores, or on public transit, and is predominantly inflicted by strangers.
(h) Street harassment threatens the safety of women and other vulnerable groups and restricts their freedom of movement. The ability to move freely through public spaces is central to one’s autonomy, well-being, and ability to care for one’s self and family.
(i) Despite its grave consequences and disproportionate impact on women and other vulnerable groups, street harassment is not taken seriously and exists on the periphery of public policy solutions. Meanwhile, state and federal laws prohibit gender-based harassment in the workplace and in educational settings as unlawful discrimination.
(j) A legislative effort to address the street harassment of women and other vulnerable groups is needed.
(k) Street harassment is a public health concern, and reducing street harassment will protect the health and safety of the individuals who are targeted for harassment.

SEC. 2.

 Division 121 (commencing with Section 152000) is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:

DIVISION 121. STREET HARASSMENT PREVENTION

152000.
 For purposes of this division, the following definitions apply:
(a) “Department” means the State Department of Public Health, unless otherwise specified.
(b) “Public place” means an area open to the public or to which the public has access, including, but not limited to, a street, sidewalk, park, or parking lot, or a building open to or frequented by the public.
(c) “Street harassment” means words, gestures, or actions directed at a specific person in a public place, without the consent of that person, based on the person’s actual or perceived race, color, ethnic group identification, ancestry, national origin, religion, mental disability, physical disability, medical condition, genetic information, age, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation, that the person experiences as intimidating, alarming, terrorizing, or threatening to their safety.

152001.
 (a) The department shall conduct research and prepare two reports on street harassment in the state pursuant to this section.
(b) (1) For each report, the department shall conduct the research through a survey surveys of impacted populations and focus groups with impacted subpopulations who are underrepresented in surveys.
(2) The research shall include all of the following components:
(A) The demographic characteristics of persons who experience street harassment.
(B) The gender and age range of persons who engage in street harassment.
(C) Which types of street harassment occur.
(D) Where and when street harassment occurs.
(E) The frequency of street harassment.
(F) Whether persons who engage in street harassment are pedestrians, drivers, passengers on public transit or in private vehicles, or patrons in businesses.
(G) The actual or perceived characteristics that serve as the basis for street harassment.
(H) The impact of street harassment on persons experiencing it, including their mental health, feelings of safety and freedom of movement, and mobility in public places.
(3) The research shall identify subpopulations at disproportionate risk of experiencing street harassment. The survey surveys and focus groups shall be conducted in multiple languages in order to reach limited-English-proficient populations impacted by street harassment.
(c) (1) The reports specified in subdivision (a) shall describe the results of the research and shall propose strategies and policies to prevent and respond to street harassment. The second report shall describe any changes in street harassment in the state since the first report. The reports shall exclude any personally identifiable information of individuals who are subjects of the research.
(2) The department shall submit the reports to the Legislature, in accordance with Section 9795 of the Government Code, and to the Governor, and shall publish the reports on the department’s internet website, no later than January 1, 2024, for the first report, and no later than June 30, 2027, for the second report.
(d) The department may collaborate with the Center on Gender Equity and Health at the University of California, San Diego, to meet the requirements of this section.

152002.
 (a) Commencing January 1, 2023, the department shall conduct a five-year, statewide, public campaign to raise awareness and understanding of street harassment as a public health problem in the state with the purpose of preventing its occurrence.
(b) (1) The department shall conduct the campaign online and in physical locations, such as sidewalks, parks, and public transit stops and stations, and shall employ multiple media, including, but not limited to, television, radio, newspapers, internet websites, social media, and signs.
(2) The campaign shall include content targeted at specific demographics, with a focus on subpopulations disproportionately impacted by street harassment and subpopulations that engage in street harassment.
(3) The department shall develop culturally relevant content, conduct the campaign in multiple languages in order to reach limited-English-proficient populations impacted by street harassment, and utilize media serving specific ethnic communities.
(c) At the end of each year of the campaign, the department shall evaluate the effectiveness of the campaign, including its impact, if any, on awareness of, attitudes about, and the occurrence of, street harassment. The department shall prepare and publish on its internet website an annual report describing the campaign’s activities, effectiveness, and gaps, and how the department will address those gaps in the remaining years of the campaign.