April 27, 2015
Critical education bills get hearings
CRITICAL VOTE TOMORROW: This is a last-minute
reminder that the Assembly Judiciary Committee will hear
testimony tomorrow (Tuesday, April 28) on Assembly Bill 775,
the controversial plan to force Pregnancy Resource Centers
to violate their deeply held beliefs by requiring them to
promote abortion in their lobbies, literature, and websites.
The measure passed the Assembly Health Committee on
April 14, and if it passes the Judiciary Committee it will likely
advance to a full vote of the Assembly soon. For more details
about the bill and to read California Family Alliance’s
assessment, the list of committee members and a sample
letter, see our April 20 This Week in the Capitol.
By Lori Arnold
Research Analyst
School is in session this week for Assembly members serving on the Education Committee. Before we examine three pro-family
bills supported by California Family Alliance, we must remind you of AB 329 (Weber D-San Diego), a horrible measure that further
erodes a parent’s ability to control how their children are exposed to sexual health education in school.
Under Assemblywoman Shirley Weber’s legislation, school districts would no longer be able to allow parents to opt their children
into sexual health coursework. Instead, the onus would be on parents to opt their children out of such instruction. Many conservatives
oppose such policies saying educators frequently fail to inform parents in advance that such curriculum is being taught.
The bill goes even further by mandating that sexual health curriculum now include instruction on gender identity and gender
expression, while also promoting the use of contraception, emergency contraception like “Plan B,” and abortion.
AB 329 already passed out of the Assembly Education Committee and will be heard Wednesday, April 29 in the Assembly
Appropriations Committee.
Among the good bills on Wednesday’s Education Committee docket are Assembly Bill (AB) 734 (Kim R-Fullerton), which provides
an added layer of appeals for parents who wish to petition a school district to enact changes at low-performing schools. Under
Assemblywoman Young Kim’s plan, if a school district denies a parental petition as authorized under existing law, the parents could
then appeal to the County Office of Education to be sure the district “acted in good faith and followed the law.”
The two other pro-family education bills—AB 1044 and AB 1087—deal with ineffective seniority protocols for layoffs and
implementing long-overdue annual teacher evaluations.
AB 1044 (Baker R-San Ramon) would give school administrators sorely needed discretion by eliminating seniority provisions for
school districts needing to layoff teachers. Supporters of school reform lament that the existing “last in, last out” tenure system creates
a time-over-talent scenario that puts students in jeopardy by protecting low-performing teachers.
Students would also benefit from AB 1078 (Olsen R-Modesto), which requires that teachers receive evaluations annually instead
of every five years. The bill encourages districts to use peer review as well as parent and study surveys as part of the evaluation
process.
Finally, we are happy to report that a religious freedom bill that would protect employees from workplace discrimination has been
sailing through its committee hearings and is set for a floor vote today. AB 987 (Levine D-San Rafael) adds to existing legal protections
by prohibiting an employer from retaliating or otherwise discriminating against a person for requesting accommodation of his or her
religious beliefs or disability, regardless of whether the accommodation request was granted. The bill passed through the Assembly
Labor and Employment Committee by a 6-0 vote, while the Assembly Appropriations Committee approved it unanimously by 17-0. This
is important legislation to ensure workers are not targeted for seeking religious protections.
Legislative actions: Week of April 20
AB 329 (Weber D-San Diego) Pupil instruction: sexual health education.
CFA’s Assessment: Oppose
Passed Assembly Education Committee, 6-1
To Assembly Appropriations Committee
AB 431 (Gray D-Merced) Gambling: Internet poker.
CFA’s Assessment: Oppose
Assembly Governmental Organization Committee, not heard
AB 526 (Holden D-Pasadena) Abduction.
CFA’s Assessment: Support
Passed Assembly Public Safety Committee, 6-0
AB 713 (Weber D-San Diego) Elementary education: kindergarten.
CFA’s Assessment: Oppose
Passed Assembly Education Committee, with author’s amendments, 6-1
To Assembly Appropriations Committee, to suspense file
AB 827 (O’Donnell D-Long Beach) Teachers: in-service training: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning pupil
resources.
CFA’s Assessment: Oppose
Passed Assembly Education Committee, 6-1
To Assembly Appropriations Committee
AB 987 (Levine D-San Rafael) Employment discrimination, unlawful employment practices.
CFA’s Assessment: Support
Passed Assembly Labor and Employment Committee, 6-0
Passed Assembly Appropriations Committee, 17-0
AB 1001 (Maienschein R-San Diego) Child abuse: reporting.
CFA’s Assessment: Support
Assembly Public Safety Committee, not heard
AB 1212 (Grove R-Bakersfield) Postsecondary education: Student Freedom of Association Act.
CFA’s Assessment: Support
Failed Assembly Higher Education Committee, 2-9
Reconsideration granted
SB 283 (Nielsen R-Roseville) Elections: ballot titles and summaries.
CFA’s Assessment: Support
Senate Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee, heard, remains in committee
SB 703 (Leno D-San Francisco) Public contracts: prohibitions: discrimination.
CFA’s Assessment: Oppose
Passed Senate Governmental Organization Committee, 7-3
Passed Senate Judiciary Committee, 5-1
SB 731 (Leno D-San Francisco) Foster children: housing: gender identity.
CFA’s Assessment: Oppose
Passed Senate Human Services Committee, 3-0
Re-referred to Senate Judiciary Committee
Scheduled hearings: week of April 27
On the floor
AB 526 (Holden D-Pasadena) Abduction
CFA’s Assessment: Support
Summary: Existing law provides that any person who takes away another person under 18 years of age from the father, mother,
guardian, or other person having legal charge of the other person, without their consent, for the purpose of prostitution, is
punishable by imprisonment in the state prison and a fine not exceeding $2,000.
This bill would increase the punishment to include a fine not exceeding $5,000.
Passed Assembly Public Safety Committee, 6-0
Assembly third reading, April 27
AB 987 (Levine D-San Rafael) Employment discrimination, unlawful employment practices.
CFA’s Assessment: Support Levine’s bill would add another layer of needed protection for workers who may be retaliated against
because of their religious practices. The law also extends to the disabled, another vulnerable workplace population.
Summary: Existing law, requires an employer or other entity covered by the act to provide reasonable accommodation of, among
other things, a person's disability and religious beliefs and prohibits discrimination against any person because the person has
opposed any practices forbidden under the act or because the person has filed a complaint.
This bill would add to existing law protections prohibit an employer or other covered entity from retaliating or otherwise
discriminating against a person for requesting accommodation of his or her disability or religious beliefs, regardless of whether the
accommodation request was granted.
Passed Assembly Labor and Employment Committee, 6-0
Passed Assembly Appropriations Committee, 17-0
Assembly third reading, April 27
SB 305 (Bates D-Carlsbad) Enhancements: concentrated cannabis.
CFA’s Assessment: Support
Summary: This bill adds concentrated cannabis to a list of crimes in which additional enhancement sentences can be applied if a
child under the age of 16 is in a home where a person manufactures, compounds, converts, produces, derives, processes, or
prepares a controlled substance. It also applies to the possession of specified chemicals with the intent to manufacture a
controlled substance.
Passed Senate Public Safety Committee, as amended, 6-0
To Senate Appropriations Committee
Senate second reading, April 27
Committee Hearings
Monday, April 27
AB 431 (Gray D-Merced) Gambling: Internet poker.
CFA’s Assessment: Oppose
Summary: This bill would authorize the operation of an Internet poker website within the borders of the state and would require
the California Gambling Control Commission, in consultation with the Department of Justice, to develop a licensing process for
operators as well as rules for the operation of an Internet poker website.
Assembly Governmental Organization Committee
SB 151 (Hernandez D-West Covina) Tobacco products: minimum legal age.
CFA’s Assessment: Support
Summary: The bill would raise the legal age to purchase tobacco in California from 18 to 21. According to information from the
office of Senator Ed Hernandez, more than 90 percent of adult smokers begin the habit while still in their teens and an estimated
21,300 California kids start smoking each year.
Passed Senate Health Committee, 9-0
Senate Appropriations Committee
Tuesday, April 28
AB 733 (Chávez R-Carlsbad) Crimes: human trafficking.
CFA’s Assessment: Support
Summary: The bill changes the fine for a person knowingly soliciting a minor for prostitution “from up to $10,000” to a fixed fine of
$10,000. It also requires those convicted of soliciting a minor to pay restitution to the minor for costs including mental health
counseling. Additionally, those convicted of such crimes will be required to register as a sex offender.
Assembly Public Safety Committee
AB 775 (Chiu D-San Francisco) Reproductive FACT Act.
CFA’s Assessment: Oppose
Summary: Billed as the Reproductive FACT (Freedom, Accountability, Comprehensive Care, and Transparency) Act, the bill
requires pregnancy care clinics to post a notice in at least 22-point type stating “California has public programs that provide
immediate free or low-cost access to comprehensive family planning services, prenatal care, and abortion, for eligible women.”
The bill would also require pregnancy care centers that provide counseling but not medical care to post a “scare notice” in at least
48-point type stating, among other things, that the facility “is not licensed as a medical facility by the State of California.” In
addition, both types of Pregnancy Care Centers would be forced to make the statements available in all advertising.
Failure to comply carries a $500 fine for first offense and $1,000 for each subsequent offense. The bill authorizes the Attorney
General, city attorney, or county counsel to impose the civil fines.
Finally, the bill would also require the Attorney General to post on the Department of Justice's Internet Web site a list of the
covered facilities upon which a civil penalty has been imposed.
Passed Assembly Health Committee, as amended, 12-5
Assembly Judiciary Committee
AB 1051 (Maienschein R-San Diego) Human trafficking.
CFA’s Assessment: Support
Summary: The bill would add human trafficking to the “a pattern of criminal gang activity” crimes covered by the voter approved
Proposition 21.
Additionally, AB 1051 would require that a person convicted of a human trafficking offense or of specified sex trafficking offenses
where any part of the violation takes place upon the grounds of, or within 1,000 feet of, a public or private elementary school,
vocational, junior high, or high school during the hours that the school is open for classes or school-related programs, or at any
time when minors are using the facility, to receive, in addition to any other penalty imposed, punishment of 3 years in state prison.
The bill would also require that the person sentenced under this provision serve the entire term of his or her imprisonment for the
underlying offense, as well as the additional term imposed, in the state prison.
Assembly Public Safety Committee
SB 731 (Leno D-San Francisco) Foster children: housing: gender identity.
CFA’s Assessment: Oppose
Summary: This bill would eliminate existing law that prohibits children of the opposite sex from sharing a bedroom in out-of-home
facilities unless each child is under five years of age. Instead, foster children and non-minor dependents in out-of-home-care would
be required to be placed according to their gender identity, regardless of the gender or sex listed in their court or child welfare
records.
In addition to existing anti-discrimination protections, this bill would also specify that all minors and non-minors in foster care have
the right to be placed in out-of home care according to their gender identity, regardless of the gender or sex listed in their court or
child welfare records.
Passed Senate Human Services Committee, 3-0
Senate Judiciary Committee
Wednesday, April 29
AB 329 (Weber D-San Diego) Pupil instruction: sexual health education.
CFA’s Assessment: Oppose
Summary: Existing law, the California Comprehensive Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS Prevention Education Act, authorizes school
districts to provide comprehensive sexual health education, consisting of age-appropriate instruction, in any of kindergarten and
grades 1 to 12, inclusive, and requires school districts to ensure that all pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, receive HIV/AIDS
prevention education, as specified.
This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would review and update the current sexual health
education curriculum that is provided to pupils in schools to reflect the advances in age-appropriate sexual health instruction,
including, but not limited to, healthy relationships and dating violence.
Passed Assembly Education Committee, 6-1
Assembly Appropriations Committee
AB 517 (Gallagher R-Chico) The California Comprehensive Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS Prevention Education Act: outside
consultants: parental consent.
CFA’s Assessment: Support This bill would protect children by requiring schools to get parental permission before students are
exposed to outside consultants for any classroom or assembly instruction on the topic. Current policy puts the onus on parents by
requiring them to opt out of the instruction. The new policy would protect students from being subjected to inappropriate presentations
by often zealous third party groups, such as Planned Parenthood and LGBT activist organizations.
Summary: AB 517 would require schools to receive consent from a student’s parent or guardian in order for that student to
participate in sexual health or HIV/AIDS prevention education when that instruction is provided by outside consultants.
Failed Assembly Education Committee, 5-1
Reconsideration in Assembly Education Committee
AB 734 (Kim R-Fullerton) School intervention: parent empowerment: petition appeal.
CFA’s Assessment: Monitor
Summary: Existing law requires a local educational agency to implement one of several specified interventions for a school not
identified as a persistently lowest-achieving school that, after one full school year, is subject to corrective action, as specified, and
fails to meet specified criteria and has a specified percentage of parents and legal guardians of pupils sign a petition requesting
the local educational agency to implement at least one of 5 specified interventions. Existing law requires a local educational
agency to implement the intervention option requested by the petition unless the agency makes a specified finding in a regularly
scheduled public hearing.
If a local educational agency receives a petition and does not implement the option requested in the petition in its final disposition
of the petition, this bill would authorize the petitioners to appeal the final disposition to the county board of education. The bill
would authorize the county board of education to approve the appeal if it finds that the local educational agency acted in violation
of specified requirements or did not act in good faith. If the county board of education approves the appeal, the bill would require
the local educational agency to implement the option requested in the petition.
Assembly Education Committee
AB 865 (Alejo D-Salinas) State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission: grants and loans: diversity.
CFA’s Assessment: Oppose
Summary: This bill would require the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to require that each
recipient of a grant or loan, as a condition for the receipt of that grant or loan, annually submit a detailed and verifiable plan for
increasing procurement from women, minority, disabled veteran, and LGBT business enterprises, as defined, in all categories,
including, but not limited to, renewable energy, advanced technologies, and demonstration projects, and furnish an annual report
regarding the implementation of programs established pursuant to this requirement.
The bill would also require every grant or loan recipient to implement, an outreach program to inform and recruit women, minority,
disabled veteran, and LGBT business enterprises to apply for procurement contracts.
Passed Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee, as amended, 10-3
Assembly Jobs, Economic Development and the Economy Committee
AB 1044 (Baker R-San Ramon) School employees: reduction in workforce.
CFA’s Assessment: Support
Summary: Would promote education reform through several changes in the workforce reduction policies. Key among them is the
elimination of seniority provisions for school districts needing to layoff teachers. Critics of the current “last in, last out” tenure
system say that students are the victims of the mandated seniority system, which protects ineffective teachers by creating a time
over talent scenario. AB 1044 would also remove existing policies that give terminated teachers a preferred right to reappointment
and an opportunity for substitute service in order of seniority.
Assembly Education Committee
AB 1078 (Olsen R-Modesto) Teachers: evaluations.
CFA’s Assessment: Support
Summary: In an effort to improve the effectiveness of teachers, the bill requires that teachers receive evaluations annually instead
of every five years. The bill also expands the number of evaluation categories from two to four, encourages districts to use peer
review as well as parent and study surveys as part of the process and provides enforcement authority to the Department of
Education if school districts fail to comply with evaluation laws.
Assembly Education Committee
AB 201 (Brough R-San Juan Capistrano) Registered sex offenders: local ordinances.
CFA’s Assessment: Support
Summary: This bill would authorize a local agency to adopt ordinances, rules, or regulations that are more restrictive than state
law relating to a registered sex offender's ability to reside or be present at certain locations within the local agency's jurisdiction.
Assembly Local Governmental Organization Committee
Scheduled hearings: week of May 4
Monday, May 4
SB 703 (Leno D-San Francisco) Public contracts: prohibitions: discrimination.
CFA’s Assessment: Oppose
Summary: Existing law authorizes state agencies to enter into contracts for the acquisition of goods or services upon approval by
the Department of General Services. This bill would prohibit a state agency from entering into contracts for the acquisition of goods
or services of $100,000 or more with a contractor that discriminates between employees on the basis of gender identity in the
provision of benefits, as specified. The bill would require the department to maintain an easily accessible list on its Internet Web
site of contracts for the acquisition of goods or services of $100,000 or more entered into on or after January 1, 2016.
Passed Senate Governmental Organization Committee, 7-3
Passed Senate Judiciary Committee, 5-1