Existing federal law, known as Title IX, prohibits a person, on the basis of sex, from being excluded from participation in, being denied the benefits of, or being subject to discrimination, which includes sexual harassment, under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance. A portion of the Donahoe Higher Education Act, known as the Equity in Higher Education Act, declares, among other things, that it is the policy of the State of California that all persons, regardless of their sex, should enjoy freedom from discrimination of any kind in the educational institutions of the state.

Existing law requires the governing board or body of a postsecondary institution receiving state financial assistance to, among other things, adopt and publish on its internet website grievance procedures providing for the prompt and equitable resolution of sexual harassment complaints and publish on the institution’s internet website the name, title, and contact information for the Title IX coordinator or other employee designated to coordinate the institution’s efforts to comply with and carry out the responsibilities specified in this act and any individual official with the authority to investigate complaints or to institute corrective measures, as specified.

Existing law requires the governing board of each community college district and the Trustees of the California State University, and requests the Regents of the University of California, to provide, as part of established campus orientations, certain educational and preventive information about sexual violence to students and to publish certain information on these topics on the institution’s internet website, as specified.

This bill would instead require each campus of the California Community Colleges and the California State University, and would request each campus of an independent institution of higher education, as defined, a private postsecondary educational institution, as defined, and the University of California, to post educational and preventive information on sexual violence and sexual harassment on its campus internet website, as specified. The bill would also revise and recast certain provisions related to this educational and preventive information to include both sexual violence and sexual harassment, as defined.

This bill would, beginning on September 1, 2024, and each year thereafter, require the California Community Colleges, the California State University, independent institutions of higher education that receive state financial assistance, and private postsecondary educational institutions that receive state financial assistance, and would request the University of California, to annually train its students on sexual violence and sexual harassment and cover certain topics, including, among other topics, the differing rates at which students experience sexual harassment and sexual assault in the educational setting based on their race, sexual orientation, disability, gender, and gender identity, as specified. The bill would, beginning September 1, 2024, and each year thereafter, require students attending the California Community Colleges to complete their annual training within 6 months of the beginning of the academic year. By imposing new duties on community college districts, the bill would impose 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.