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AB-644 Public postsecondary education: campus safety: hate crime: surveys.(2023-2024)

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Date Published: 03/29/2023 09:00 PM
AB644:v97#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Assembly  March 29, 2023
Amended  IN  Assembly  March 13, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 644

Introduced by Assembly Member Jones-Sawyer

February 09, 2023

An act to add Section 66294 to the Education Code, relating to public postsecondary education.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 644, as amended, Jones-Sawyer. Public postsecondary education: campus safety: hate crime: surveys.
(1) Existing law 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 the state. The Donahoe Higher Education Act applies to the University of California only to the extent that the regents, by appropriate resolution, make it applicable.
This bill bill, the Justice for Josiah Lawson Act, would require the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges and the Chancellor of the California State University, and request the President of the University of California, to (A) develop survey questions on campus climate, as defined, related to hate crimes to be submitted to the United States Secretary of Education for review and approval to be incorporated into a specified online survey tool for campus safety, and (B) require campuses that already have formulated and implemented a campus climate survey before January 1, 2024, to meet on or before December 31, 2024, and at least once every 5 years thereafter, to review and update the survey with student participation and include hate crime-specific questions in the survey with student participation in the development of survey questions. The bill would require the California Community Colleges and the California State University, and request the University of California, to submit a report on the results of the surveys to the Assembly Committee on Higher Education and the Senate Committee on Education beginning one year after the date on which the online survey is made available by the United States Secretary of Education and every 2 years thereafter. The bill would require the California Community Colleges’s and the California State University’s reports to be posted on the internet website of each campus of the California Community Colleges and the California State University and on the internet website maintained by the California College Guidance Initiative and the California State University’s internet website, as provided, and would request the University of California’s report to be posted on the internet website of each campus of the University of California and on the University of California’s internet website. By imposing new duties on community college districts, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
(2) 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.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: YES  

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


SECTION 1.

 Section 66294 is added to the Education Code, to read:

66294.
 (a) This section shall be known, and may be cited, as the Justice for Josiah Lawson Act.
(b) Beginning after the date on which the United States Secretary of Education makes the online survey available to institutions, the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges and the office of the Chancellor of the California State University shall, and the office of the President of the University of California is requested to, do all of the following:
(1) Develop survey questions with student participation to determine student perspectives on campus climate related to hate crimes.
(2) Require campuses that already have formulated and implemented a campus climate survey before January 1, 2024, to meet on or before December 31, 2024, and at least once every five years thereafter, to review and update the survey with student participation and include hate-crime specific questions in the survey with student participation in the development of survey questions.
(3) Submit the questions developed pursuant to paragraph (1) to the United States Secretary of Education for review and approval to be incorporated into the online survey.
(4) Provide standardized training to campus employees who are responsible for handling equity, diversity, and inclusion under the Clery Act on campus safety, reporting, addressing, and preventing hate crimes, and informing students and campus leadership on best practices for survey formulation and administration pursuant to this section. Training provided to an employee pursuant to this paragraph shall be at least 25 hours in total annually.

(b)

(c) (1) Beginning one year after the date on which the United States Secretary of Education makes the online survey available to institutions, and every two years thereafter, the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges and the office of the Chancellor of the California State University shall, and the office of the President of the University of California is requested to, submit a report on the published campus-level results from the online survey and surveys provided pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) (b) to the Assembly Committee on Higher Education and the Senate Committee on Education.
(2) Each campus of the California Community Colleges and the California State University shall, and each campus of the University of California is requested to, post in a prominent location on its internet website the segment’s report described in paragraph (1), as applicable. The segment’s report shall be posted in a prominent location on the internet website maintained by the California College Guidance Initiative (californiacolleges.edu) and the California State University’s internet website (calstate.edu), and is requested to be posted in a prominent location on the University of California’s internet website (universityofcalifornia.edu), as applicable.

(c)

(d) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
(1) “Campus climate” means a measure of an individual’s experience within a learning environment, and specifically includes focus on the current attitudes, practices, and behaviors of campus life that impact the success and retention of all members of a campus community.
(2) “Clery Act” means the federal Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (20 U.S.C. Sec. 1092(f), as it read on January 1, 2023).
(3) “Hate crime” has the same meaning as defined in Section 422.55 of the Penal Code.
(4) “Institution” means a campus of the California Community Colleges, the California State University, and the University of California.
(5) “Online survey” means the online survey tool for campus safety established by Section 1507 of Title III of Division H of Public Law 117–103.
(6) “Student participation” means voluntary participation of individuals of the campus’s student body and campus-recognized student organizations that represent students of marginalized and underrepresented groups.

SEC. 2.

  If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.