Bill Text: CA AB2536 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Pupil discipline and safety: cyber sexual bullying.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)
Status: (Passed) 2016-09-21 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 419, Statutes of 2016. [AB2536 Detail]
Download: California-2015-AB2536-Chaptered.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 2536 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 419
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 21, 2016
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 21, 2016
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 19, 2016
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 24, 2016
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 10, 2016
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 1, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 31, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 26, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 13, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Chau
FEBRUARY 19, 2016
An act to amend Sections 234.2 and 48900 of the Education Code,
relating to elementary and secondary education.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2536, Chau. Pupil discipline and safety: cyber sexual bullying.
(1) Existing law prohibits the suspension of a pupil from school
or the recommendation of a pupil for expulsion from school unless the
school district superintendent or the principal of the school in
which the pupil is enrolled determines that the pupil has committed
any of several specified acts, including, but not limited to,
engaging in acts of bullying by means of an electronic act.
This bill would include engaging in an act of cyber sexual
bullying, as defined, as an act of bullying by means of an electronic
act for which a pupil may be suspended or expelled from school.
(2) Existing law requires the State Department of Education to
display current information, and periodically update information, on
curricula and other resources that specifically address bias-related
discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying based on
certain actual or perceived characteristics on the California Healthy
Kids Resource Center Internet Web site and other appropriate
department Internet Web sites where information about discrimination,
harassment, intimidation, and bullying is posted.
This bill would add cyber sexual bullying to this list of topics
on which the department would be required to provide information. The
bill would require the department to annually inform school
districts of the information on the California Healthy Kids Resource
Center Internet Web site and other appropriate department Internet
Web sites where information about cyber sexual bullying is posted.
The bill would encourage school districts to inform pupils regarding
the available information and resources on the department's Internet
Web sites regarding the dangers and consequences of cyber sexual
bullying to help reduce the instances of cyber sexual bullying.
(3) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section
48900 of the Education Code proposed by AB 2212 that would become
operative if this bill and AB 2212 are both enacted and this bill is
enacted last.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 234.2 of the Education Code is amended to read:
234.2. (a) The department shall display current information, and
periodically update information, on curricula and other resources
that specifically address bias-related discrimination, harassment,
intimidation, cyber sexual bullying, as defined in Section 48900, and
bullying based on any of the actual or perceived characteristics set
forth in Section 422.55 of the Penal Code and Section 220 on the
California Healthy Kids Resource Center Internet Web site and other
appropriate department Internet Web sites where information about
discrimination, harassment, intimidation, cyber sexual bullying, and
bullying is posted.
(b) The department shall annually inform school districts of the
information on the California Healthy Kids Resource Center Internet
Web site and other appropriate department Internet Web sites where
information about cyber sexual bullying is posted pursuant to
subdivision (a). The department may use electronic mail to inform
school districts of this information.
(c) School districts are encouraged to inform pupils regarding the
available information and resources on the department's Internet Web
sites regarding the dangers and consequences of cyber sexual
bullying to help reduce the instances of cyber sexual bullying.
SEC. 2. Section 48900 of the Education Code is amended to read:
48900. A pupil shall not be suspended from school or recommended
for expulsion, unless the superintendent of the school district or
the principal of the school in which the pupil is enrolled determines
that the pupil has committed an act as defined pursuant to any of
subdivisions (a) to (r), inclusive:
(a) (1) Caused, attempted to cause, or threatened to cause
physical injury to another person.
(2) Willfully used force or violence upon the person of another,
except in self-defense.
(b) Possessed, sold, or otherwise furnished a firearm, knife,
explosive, or other dangerous object, unless, in the case of
possession of an object of this type, the pupil had obtained written
permission to possess the item from a certificated school employee,
which is concurred in by the principal or the designee of the
principal.
(c) Unlawfully possessed, used, sold, or otherwise furnished, or
been under the influence of, a controlled substance listed in Chapter
2 (commencing with Section 11053) of Division 10 of the Health and
Safety Code, an alcoholic beverage, or an intoxicant of any kind.
(d) Unlawfully offered, arranged, or negotiated to sell a
controlled substance listed in Chapter 2 (commencing with Section
11053) of Division 10 of the Health and Safety Code, an alcoholic
beverage, or an intoxicant of any kind, and either sold, delivered,
or otherwise furnished to a person another liquid, substance, or
material and represented the liquid, substance, or material as a
controlled substance, alcoholic beverage, or intoxicant.
(e) Committed or attempted to commit robbery or extortion.
(f) Caused or attempted to cause damage to school property or
private property.
(g) Stole or attempted to steal school property or private
property.
(h) Possessed or used tobacco, or products containing tobacco or
nicotine products, including, but not limited to, cigarettes, cigars,
miniature cigars, clove cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, snuff, chew
packets, and betel. However, this section does not prohibit the use
or possession by a pupil of his or her own prescription products.
(i) Committed an obscene act or engaged in habitual profanity or
vulgarity.
(j) Unlawfully possessed or unlawfully offered, arranged, or
negotiated to sell drug paraphernalia, as defined in Section 11014.5
of the Health and Safety Code.
(k) (1) Disrupted school activities or otherwise willfully defied
the valid authority of supervisors, teachers, administrators, school
officials, or other school personnel engaged in the performance of
their duties.
(2) Except as provided in Section 48910, a pupil enrolled in
kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 3, inclusive, shall not be
suspended for any of the acts enumerated in this subdivision, and
this subdivision shall not constitute grounds for a pupil enrolled in
kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to be recommended
for expulsion. This paragraph shall become inoperative on July 1,
2018, unless a later enacted statute that becomes operative before
July 1, 2018, deletes or extends that date.
( l ) Knowingly received stolen school property or
private property.
(m) Possessed an imitation firearm. As used in this section,
"imitation firearm" means a replica of a firearm that is so
substantially similar in physical properties to an existing firearm
as to lead a reasonable person to conclude that the replica is a
firearm.
(n) Committed or attempted to commit a sexual assault as defined
in Section 261, 266c, 286, 288, 288a, or 289 of the Penal Code or
committed a sexual battery as defined in Section 243.4 of the Penal
Code.
(o) Harassed, threatened, or intimidated a pupil who is a
complaining witness or a witness in a school disciplinary proceeding
for purposes of either preventing that pupil from being a witness or
retaliating against that pupil for being a witness, or both.
(p) Unlawfully offered, arranged to sell, negotiated to sell, or
sold the prescription drug Soma.
(q) Engaged in, or attempted to engage in, hazing. For purposes of
this subdivision, "hazing" means a method of initiation or
preinitiation into a pupil organization or body, whether or not the
organization or body is officially recognized by an educational
institution, that is likely to cause serious bodily injury or
personal degradation or disgrace resulting in physical or mental harm
to a former, current, or prospective pupil. For purposes of this
subdivision, "hazing" does not include athletic events or
school-sanctioned events.
(r) Engaged in an act of bullying. For purposes of this
subdivision, the following terms have the following meanings:
(1) "Bullying" means any severe or pervasive physical or verbal
act or conduct, including communications made in writing or by means
of an electronic act, and including one or more acts committed by a
pupil or group of pupils as defined in Section 48900.2, 48900.3, or
48900.4, directed toward one or more pupils that has or can be
reasonably predicted to have the effect of one or more of the
following:
(A) Placing a reasonable pupil or pupils in fear of harm to that
pupil's or those pupils' person or property.
(B) Causing a reasonable pupil to experience a substantially
detrimental effect on his or her physical or mental health.
(C) Causing a reasonable pupil to experience substantial
interference with his or her academic performance.
(D) Causing a reasonable pupil to experience substantial
interference with his or her ability to participate in or benefit
from the services, activities, or privileges provided by a school.
(2) (A) "Electronic act" means the creation or transmission
originated on or off the schoolsite, by means of an electronic
device, including, but not limited to, a telephone, wireless
telephone, or other wireless communication device, computer, or
pager, of a communication, including, but not limited to, any of the
following:
(i) A message, text, sound, or image.
(ii) A post on a social network Internet Web site, including, but
not limited to:
(I) Posting to or creating a burn page. "Burn page" means an
Internet Web site created for the purpose of having one or more of
the effects listed in paragraph (1).
(II) Creating a credible impersonation of another actual pupil for
the purpose of having one or more of the effects listed in paragraph
(1). "Credible impersonation" means to knowingly and without consent
impersonate a pupil for the purpose of bullying the pupil and such
that another pupil would reasonably believe, or has reasonably
believed, that the pupil was or is the pupil who was impersonated.
(III) Creating a false profile for the purpose of having one or
more of the effects listed in paragraph (1). "False profile" means a
profile of a fictitious pupil or a profile using the likeness or
attributes of an actual pupil other than the pupil who created the
false profile.
(iii) An act of cyber sexual bullying.
(I) For purposes of this clause, "cyber sexual bullying" means the
dissemination of, or the solicitation or incitement to disseminate,
a photograph or other visual recording by a pupil to another pupil or
to school personnel by means of an electronic act that has or can be
reasonably predicted to have one or more of the effects described in
subparagraphs (A) to (D), inclusive, of paragraph (1). A photograph
or other visual recording, as described above, shall include the
depiction of a nude, semi-nude, or sexually explicit photograph or
other visual recording of a minor where the minor is identifiable
from the photograph, visual recording, or other electronic act.
(II) For purposes of this clause, "cyber sexual bullying" does not
include a depiction, portrayal, or image that has any serious
literary, artistic, educational, political, or scientific value or
that involves athletic events or school-sanctioned activities.
(B) Notwithstanding paragraph (1) and subparagraph (A), an
electronic act shall not constitute pervasive conduct solely on the
basis that it has been transmitted on the Internet or is currently
posted on the Internet.
(3) "Reasonable pupil" means a pupil, including, but not limited
to, an exceptional needs pupil, who exercises average care, skill,
and judgment in conduct for a person of his or her age, or for a
person of his or her age with his or her exceptional needs.
(s) A pupil shall not be suspended or expelled for any of the acts
enumerated in this section unless the act is related to a school
activity or school attendance occurring within a school under the
jurisdiction of the superintendent of the school district or
principal or occurring within any other school district. A pupil may
be suspended or expelled for acts that are enumerated in this section
and related to a school activity or school attendance that occur at
any time, including, but not limited to, any of the following:
(1) While on school grounds.
(2) While going to or coming from school.
(3) During the lunch period whether on or off the campus.
(4) During, or while going to or coming from, a school-sponsored
activity.
(t) A pupil who aids or abets, as defined in Section 31 of the
Penal Code, the infliction or attempted infliction of physical injury
to another person may be subject to suspension, but not expulsion,
pursuant to this section, except that a pupil who has been adjudged
by a juvenile court to have committed, as an aider and abettor, a
crime of physical violence in which the victim suffered great bodily
injury or serious bodily injury shall be subject to discipline
pursuant to subdivision (a).
(u) As used in this section, "school property" includes, but is
not limited to, electronic files and databases.
(v) For a pupil subject to discipline under this section, a
superintendent of the school district or principal may use his or her
discretion to provide alternatives to suspension or expulsion that
are age appropriate and designed to address and correct the pupil's
specific misbehavior as specified in Section 48900.5.
(w) It is the intent of the Legislature that alternatives to
suspension or expulsion be imposed against a pupil who is truant,
tardy, or otherwise absent from school activities.
SEC. 2.5. Section 48900 of the Education Code is amended to read:
48900. A pupil shall not be suspended from school or recommended
for expulsion, unless the superintendent of the school district or
the principal of the school in which the pupil is enrolled determines
that the pupil has committed an act as defined pursuant to any of
subdivisions (a) to (r), inclusive:
(a) (1) Caused, attempted to cause, or threatened to cause
physical injury to another person.
(2) Willfully used force or violence upon the person of another,
except in self-defense.
(b) Possessed, sold, or otherwise furnished a firearm, knife,
explosive, or other dangerous object, unless, in the case of
possession of an object of this type, the pupil had obtained written
permission to possess the item from a certificated school employee,
which is concurred in by the principal or the designee of the
principal.
(c) Unlawfully possessed, used, sold, or otherwise furnished, or
been under the influence of, a controlled substance listed in Chapter
2 (commencing with Section 11053) of Division 10 of the Health and
Safety Code, an alcoholic beverage, or an intoxicant of any kind.
(d) Unlawfully offered, arranged, or negotiated to sell a
controlled substance listed in Chapter 2 (commencing with Section
11053) of Division 10 of the Health and Safety Code, an alcoholic
beverage, or an intoxicant of any kind, and either sold, delivered,
or otherwise furnished to a person another liquid, substance, or
material and represented the liquid, substance, or material as a
controlled substance, alcoholic beverage, or intoxicant.
(e) Committed or attempted to commit robbery or extortion.
(f) Caused or attempted to cause damage to school property or
private property.
(g) Stole or attempted to steal school property or private
property.
(h) Possessed or used tobacco, or products containing tobacco or
nicotine products, including, but not limited to, cigarettes, cigars,
miniature cigars, clove cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, snuff, chew
packets, and betel. However, this section does not prohibit the use
or possession by a pupil of his or her own prescription products.
(i) Committed an obscene act or engaged in habitual profanity or
vulgarity.
(j) Unlawfully possessed or unlawfully offered, arranged, or
negotiated to sell drug paraphernalia, as defined in Section 11014.5
of the Health and Safety Code.
(k) (1) Disrupted school activities or otherwise willfully defied
the valid authority of supervisors, teachers, administrators, school
officials, or other school personnel engaged in the performance of
their duties.
(2) Except as provided in Section 48910, a pupil enrolled in
kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 3, inclusive, shall not be
suspended for any of the acts enumerated in this subdivision, and
this subdivision shall not constitute grounds for a pupil enrolled in
kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to be recommended
for expulsion. This paragraph shall become inoperative on July 1,
2018, unless a later enacted statute that becomes operative before
July 1, 2018, deletes or extends that date.
( l ) Knowingly received stolen school property or
private property.
(m) Possessed an imitation firearm. As used in this section,
"imitation firearm" means a replica of a firearm that is so
substantially similar in physical properties to an existing firearm
as to lead a reasonable person to conclude that the replica is a
firearm.
(n) Committed or attempted to commit a sexual assault as defined
in Section 261, 266c, 286, 288, 288a, or 289 of the Penal Code or
committed a sexual battery as defined in Section 243.4 of the Penal
Code.
(o) Harassed, threatened, or intimidated a pupil who is a
complaining witness or a witness in a school disciplinary proceeding
for purposes of either preventing that pupil from being a witness or
retaliating against that pupil for being a witness, or both.
(p) Unlawfully offered, arranged to sell, negotiated to sell, or
sold the prescription drug Soma.
(q) Engaged in, or attempted to engage in, hazing. For purposes of
this subdivision, "hazing" means a method of initiation or
preinitiation into a pupil organization or body, whether or not the
organization or body is officially recognized by an educational
institution, that is likely to cause serious bodily injury or
personal degradation or disgrace resulting in physical or mental harm
to a former, current, or prospective pupil. For purposes of this
subdivision, "hazing" does not include athletic events or
school-sanctioned events.
(r) Engaged in an act of bullying. For purposes of this
subdivision, the following terms have the following meanings:
(1) "Bullying" means any severe or pervasive physical or verbal
act or conduct, including communications made in writing or by means
of an electronic act, and including one or more acts committed by a
pupil or group of pupils as defined in Section 48900.2, 48900.3, or
48900.4, directed toward one or more pupils that has or can be
reasonably predicted to have the effect of one or more of the
following:
(A) Placing a reasonable pupil or pupils in fear of harm to that
pupil's or those pupils' person or property.
(B) Causing a reasonable pupil to experience a substantially
detrimental effect on his or her physical or mental health.
(C) Causing a reasonable pupil to experience substantial
interference with his or her academic performance.
(D) Causing a reasonable pupil to experience substantial
interference with his or her ability to participate in or benefit
from the services, activities, or privileges provided by a school.
(2) (A) "Electronic act" means the creation or transmission
originated on or off the schoolsite, by means of an electronic
device, including, but not limited to, a telephone, wireless
telephone, or other wireless communication device, computer, or
pager, of a communication, including, but not limited to, any of the
following:
(i) A message, text, sound, video, or image.
(ii) A post on a social network Internet Web site, including, but
not limited to:
(I) Posting to or creating a burn page. "Burn page" means an
Internet Web site created for the purpose of having one or more of
the effects listed in paragraph (1).
(II) Creating a credible impersonation of another actual pupil for
the purpose of having one or more of the effects listed in paragraph
(1). "Credible impersonation" means to knowingly and without consent
impersonate a pupil for the purpose of bullying the pupil and such
that another pupil would reasonably believe, or has reasonably
believed, that the pupil was or is the pupil who was impersonated.
(III) Creating a false profile for the purpose of having one or
more of the effects listed in paragraph (1). "False profile" means a
profile of a fictitious pupil or a profile using the likeness or
attributes of an actual pupil other than the pupil who created the
false profile.
(iii) An act of cyber sexual bullying.
(I) For purposes of this clause, "cyber sexual bullying" means the
dissemination of, or the solicitation or incitement to disseminate,
a photograph or other visual recording by a pupil to another pupil or
to school personnel by means of an electronic act that has or can be
reasonably predicted to have one or more of the effects described in
subparagraphs (A) to (D), inclusive, of paragraph (1). A photograph
or other visual recording, as described above, shall include the
depiction of a nude, semi-nude, or sexually explicit photograph or
other visual recording of a minor where the minor is identifiable
from the photograph, visual recording, or other electronic act.
(II) For purposes of this clause, "cyber sexual bullying" does not
include a depiction, portrayal, or image that has any serious
literary, artistic, educational, political, or scientific value or
that involves athletic events or school-sanctioned activities.
(B) Notwithstanding paragraph (1) and subparagraph (A), an
electronic act shall not constitute pervasive conduct solely on the
basis that it has been transmitted on the Internet or is currently
posted on the Internet.
(3) "Reasonable pupil" means a pupil, including, but not limited
to, an exceptional needs pupil, who exercises average care, skill,
and judgment in conduct for a person of his or her age, or for a
person of his or her age with his or her exceptional needs.
(s) A pupil shall not be suspended or expelled for any of the acts
enumerated in this section unless the act is related to a school
activity or school attendance occurring within a school under the
jurisdiction of the superintendent of the school district or
principal or occurring within any other school district. A pupil may
be suspended or expelled for acts that are enumerated in this section
and related to a school activity or school attendance that occur at
any time, including, but not limited to, any of the following:
(1) While on school grounds.
(2) While going to or coming from school.
(3) During the lunch period whether on or off the campus.
(4) During, or while going to or coming from, a school-sponsored
activity.
(t) A pupil who aids or abets, as defined in Section 31 of the
Penal Code, the infliction or attempted infliction of physical injury
to another person may be subject to suspension, but not expulsion,
pursuant to this section, except that a pupil who has been adjudged
by a juvenile court to have committed, as an aider and abettor, a
crime of physical violence in which the victim suffered great bodily
injury or serious bodily injury shall be subject to discipline
pursuant to subdivision (a).
(u) As used in this section, "school property" includes, but is
not limited to, electronic files and databases.
(v) For a pupil subject to discipline under this section, a
superintendent of the school district or principal may use his or her
discretion to provide alternatives to suspension or expulsion that
are age appropriate and designed to address and correct the pupil's
specific misbehavior as specified in Section 48900.5.
(w) It is the intent of the Legislature that alternatives to
suspension or expulsion be imposed against a pupil who is truant,
tardy, or otherwise absent from school activities.
SEC. 3. Section 2.5 of this bill incorporates amendments to
Section 48900 of the Education Code proposed by both this bill and
Assembly Bill 2212. It shall only become operative if (1) both bills
are enacted and become effective on or before January 1, 2017, (2)
each bill amends Section 48900 of the Education Code, and (3) this
bill is enacted after Assembly Bill 2212, in which case Section 2 of
this bill shall not become operative.
