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SB-504 School safety: crime reporting: suspension and expulsion of pupils.(1999-2000)

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Amended  IN  Senate  April 06, 1999
Amended  IN  Senate  April 27, 1999
Amended  IN  Senate  May 20, 1999
Amended  IN  Senate  May 28, 1999
Amended  IN  Assembly  July 08, 1999

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 1999–2000 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill
No. 504

Introduced  by  Senator Knight

February 18, 1999

An act to amend Sections 48201, 48902, and 49079 of, the Education Code, relating to school safety.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 504, as amended, Knight. School safety: crime reporting: suspension and expulsion of pupils.
(1) Existing law requires the principal of a school or the principal’s designee to notify the appropriate law enforcement authorities of the county or city in which the school is situated of any acts of a pupil to be suspended or expelled that may violate penal prohibitions against assault with a deadly weapon or force likely to produce great bodily injury. Existing law also requires the reporting of any acts of a suspended or expelled pupil that involve possessing, using, selling or otherwise furnishing, or being under the influence of a controlled substance, alcoholic beverage, or intoxicant; or offering, arranging, or negotiating the sale of a controlled substance, alcoholic beverage, or intoxicant and then selling, delivering, or otherwise furnishing another liquid, substance, or material and representing the liquid, substance, or material as a controlled substance, alcoholic beverage, or intoxicant. Existing law also requires the reporting of any acts of a pupil that may involve the possession or sale of narcotics or a controlled substance, the possession in a school zone, as defined, of a firearm, or the possession on school grounds of certain other weapons.
This bill would require the principal or the principal’s designee to report immediately or as soon as practicably possible by telephone or by any other means to local law enforcement authorities, and where appropriate, to the school police, any acts of a pupil that may constitute certain enumerated crimes, and would make failure to so report a misdemeanor, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime. This reporting requirement would also impose a state-mandated local program.
(2) Existing law requires the parent, guardian, or other person having control or charge of any minor between the ages of 6 and 16 years who removes the minor from any city, city and county, or school district before the completion of the current school term, to enroll the minor in a public full-time day school of the city, city and county, or school district to which the minor is removed.
This bill would require a school district into which a pupil is transferring to request that the school district in which the pupil was last enrolled provide any records regarding acts committed by the transferring pupil that resulted in the pupil’s suspension from school or expulsion from the school district. The bill would require the school district into which the pupil is transferring to inform any teacher of the pupil that the pupil was suspended from school or expelled from the school district in which the pupil was last enrolled and the act which resulted in that action. By requiring a school district to take these actions, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would make a school district, or school district officer or employee, civilly and criminally immune for providing information in compliance with this measure unless it is proven that the information was false and that the district or district officer or employee knew that the information was false, or that the information was provided with a reckless disregard for its truth or falsity. The bill would make an officer or employee of a school district who knowingly fails to provide information as required guilty of a misdemeanor, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program. The bill would require that information received by a teacher be received in confidence and would prohibit the teacher from further disseminating the information.
(3) Existing law requires a school district to inform the teacher of each pupil who has engaged in, or is reasonably suspected to have engaged in, certain acts for which the pupil may be suspended or expelled that the pupil engaged in, or is reasonably suspected to have engaged in, those acts.
This bill would add sexual harrassment, hate violence, terroristic threats, and certain acts of harrassment, threats, or intimidation to those for which a school district is required to provide information, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program.
(4) This bill would provide that it would become operative only if SB 334 is also enacted. (5) 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, including the creation of a State Mandates Claims Fund to pay the costs of mandates that do not exceed $1,000,000 statewide and other procedures for claims whose statewide costs exceed $1,000,000.
This bill would provide that with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so 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 48201 of the Education Code is amended to read:

48201.
 (a) Except for pupils exempt from compulsory school attendance under Section 48231, any parent, guardian, or other person having control or charge of any minor between the ages of 6 and 16 years who removes the minor from any city, city and county, or school district before the completion of the current school term, shall enroll the minor in a public full-time day school of the city, city and county, or school district to which the minor is removed.
(b) (1) Upon a pupil’s transfer from one school district to another, the school district into which the pupil is transferring shall request that the school district in which the pupil was last enrolled provide any records that the district maintains in its ordinary course of business or receives from a law enforcement agency regarding acts committed by the transferring pupil that resulted in the pupil’s suspension from school or expulsion from the school district. Upon receipt of this information, the receiving school district shall inform any teacher of the pupil that the pupil was suspended from school or expelled from the school district and shall inform the teacher of the act that resulted in that action.
(2) A school district, or school district officer or employee, is not civilly or criminally liable for providing information under this subdivision unless it is proven that the information was false and that the district or district officer or employee knew that the information was false, or the information was provided with a reckless disregard for its truth or falsity.
(3) An officer or employee of a school district who knowingly fails to provide information about a pupil who has engaged in, or who is reasonably suspected to have engaged in, the acts referred to in subdivision (a) any of the subdivisions, except subdivision (h), of Section 48900 or in Section 48900.2, 48900.3, 48900.4, or 48900.7, is guilty of a misdemeanor, which is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for a period not to exceed six months, or by a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000), or both that imprisonment and fine.
(4) Any information received by a teacher pursuant to this subdivision shall be received in confidence for the limited purpose for which it was provided and shall not be further disseminated by the teacher.

SEC. 2.

 Section 48902 of the Education Code is amended to read:

48902.
 (a) The principal of a school or the principal’s designee shall report immediately or as soon as practicably possible by telephone or by any other means to local law enforcement authorities of the county or city in which the school is situated and, where appropriate, to the school police, of any acts of the pupil that may violate Section 245 of the Penal Code.
(b) The principal of a school or the principal’s designee shall, within one schoolday after suspension or expulsion of any pupil, notify, by telephone or any other appropriate method chosen by the school, the appropriate law enforcement authority of the county or the school district in which the school is situated of any act of a pupil that may violate subdivision (c) or (d) of Section 48900.
(c) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), the principal of a school or the principal’s designee shall notify the appropriate law enforcement authorities of the county or city in which the school is located of any act of a pupil that may involve the possession or sale of narcotics or of a controlled substance or a violation of Section 626.9 or 626.10 of the Penal Code.
(d) The principal of a school or the principal’s designee shall report immediately or as soon as practicably possible by telephone or by any other means to local law enforcement authorities of the county or city in which the school is situated and, where appropriate, to the school police, upon learning that an offense enumerated in paragraphs (1) to (19), inclusive, and (21) to (28), inclusive, of subdivision (b) of Section 707 of the Welfare and Institutions Code may have been committed on a school campus.
(e) A principal, the principal’s designee, or any other person reporting a known or suspected act described in subdivision (a) or (b) is not civilly or criminally liable as a result of making any report authorized by this article unless it can be proven that a false report was made and that the person knew the report was false or the report was made with reckless disregard for the truth or falsity of the report.
(f) The willful failure to make any report required by subdivision (b) or (c) is an infraction punishable by a fine to be paid by the principal or principal’s designee who is responsible for the failure of not more than five hundred dollars ($500).
(g) The willful failure to make an immediate report as required by subdivision (a) or (d) is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000).

SEC. 3.

 Section 49079 of the Education Code is amended to read:

49079.
 (a) A school district shall inform the teacher of each pupil who has engaged in, or is reasonably suspected to have engaged in, any of the acts described in any of the subdivisions, except subdivision (h), of Section 48900 or in Section 48900.2, 48900.3, 48900.4, or 48900.7 that the pupil engaged in, or is reasonably suspected to have engaged in, those acts. The district shall provide the information to the teacher based upon any records that the district maintains in its ordinary course of business, or receives from a law enforcement agency, regarding a pupil described in this section.
(b) A school district, or school district officer or employee, is not civilly or criminally liable for providing information under this section unless it is proven that the information was false and that the district or district officer or employee knew that the information was false, or the information was provided with a reckless disregard for its truth or falsity.
(c) An officer or employee of a school district who knowingly fails to provide information about a pupil who has engaged in, or who is reasonably suspected to have engaged in, the acts referred to in subdivision (a), is guilty of a misdemeanor, which is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for a period not to exceed six months, or by a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000), or both that imprisonment and fine.
(d) For the 1994–95 school year, the information provided shall be from the previous two school years. For the 1996–97 school year and each school year thereafter, the information provided shall be from the previous three school years.
(e) Any information received by a teacher pursuant to this section shall be received in confidence for the limited purpose for which it was provided and shall not be further disseminated by the teacher.

SEC. 4.

 Sections 1 to 3, inclusive, and Section 5 of this act shall become operative only if S.B. 334 of the 1999–2000 Regular Session is enacted.
No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution for certain costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district because in that regard this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.
However, notwithstanding Section 17610 of the Government Code, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains other 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. If the statewide cost of the claim for reimbursement does not exceed one million dollars ($1,000,000), reimbursement shall be made from the State Mandates Claims Fund.