Amended  IN  Assembly  March 23, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 1323

Introduced by Assembly Member Kalra

February 16, 2023

An act to amend Section 49041 of the Education Code, relating to high school pupils. An act to amend Sections 32210, 44014, and 48902 of the Education Code, relating to school safety.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 1323, as amended, Kalra. High school pupils: voter outreach coordinators. School safety: mandatory notifications.
(1) Existing law provides that any person who willfully disturbs any public school or any public school meeting is guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to a fine of not more than $500.
The bill would exempt from those misdemeanor and fine provisions a person who, at the time of the disturbance, is a pupil of the school district.
(2) Existing law requires, if any employee of a school district or county superintendent of schools is attacked, assaulted, or physically threatened by any pupil, the employee and any person under whose direction or supervision the employee is employed who has knowledge of the incident are required to promptly report the incident to specified law enforcement authorities. Under existing law, failure to make the report is an infraction punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000 and acts by specified persons to inhibit or impede the making of the report is an infraction punishable by a fine of not less than $500 and not more than $1,000.
This bill would delete those infraction provisions for a failure to report and for inhibiting or impeding the making of the report. The bill would authorize, instead of require, the employee who was the target of the incident, after exhausting efforts at resolution or correction, as specified, to make that notification.
(3) The federal Gun-Free Schools Act prohibits a local educational agency from receiving certain federal funds unless the local educational agency has a policy requiring referral to the criminal justice or juvenile delinquency system of any student who brings a firearm or weapon to a school served by the local educational agency.
Existing state 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 certain acts committed by a pupil that may be unlawful, including, among others, the selling or possession of narcotics or other designated controlled or regulated substances, and acts of assault, as specified.
This bill instead would require that notification only if the pupil’s acts require notification under that federal law.

Existing law authorizes the administrator of a high school, or their designee, to appoint one or more pupils who are enrolled at that high school to be voter outreach coordinators. Existing law authorizes a voter outreach coordinator to coordinate voter registration activities on the high school campus that would encourage eligible persons to apply to register to vote, as provided. Existing law authorizes the voter outreach coordinator, with the approval of the administrator or their designee, to coordinate other election-related activities on their high school campus, as specified.

This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to those provisions.

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: NOYES   Local Program: NO  

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


SECTION 1.

 Section 32210 of the Education Code is amended to read:

32210.
 (a) Any person who willfully disturbs any public school or any public school meeting is guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars ($500).
(b) This section shall not apply to a pupil who is enrolled in the school district at the time of the willful disturbance described in subdivision (a).

SEC. 2.

 Section 44014 of the Education Code is amended to read:

44014.
 (a)Whenever any employee of a school district or of the office of a county superintendent of schools is attacked, assaulted, or physically threatened by any pupil, it shall be the duty of the employee, and the duty of any person under whose direction or supervision the employee is employed in the public school system who has knowledge of the incident, to promptly report the incident to the employee may, after exhausting other means of resolution or correction described in subdivision (b) of Section 48900.5, notify the appropriate law enforcement authorities of the county or city in which the incident occurred. Failure to make the report shall be an infraction punishable by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000).

(b)Compliance with school district governing board procedures relating to the reporting of, or facilitation of reporting of, the incidents specified in subdivision (a) shall not exempt a person under a duty to make the report prescribed by subdivision (a) from making the report.

(c)A member of the governing board of a school district, a county superintendent of schools, or an employee of any school district or the office of any county superintendent of schools, shall not directly or indirectly inhibit or impede the making of the report prescribed by subdivision (a) by a person under a duty to make the report. An act to inhibit or impede the making of a report shall be an infraction, and shall be punishable by a fine of not less than five hundred dollars ($500) and not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000).

(d)Neither the governing board of a school district, a member of the governing board, a county superintendent of schools, nor an employee of a school district or of the office of any county superintendent of schools shall impose any sanctions against a person under a duty to make the report prescribed by subdivision (a) for making the report.

SEC. 3.

 Section 48902 of the Education Code is amended to read:

48902.
 (a) The principal of a school or the principal’s designee shall, before the suspension or expulsion of any pupil, shall notify the appropriate law enforcement authorities of the county or city in which the school is situated, located of any acts of the a pupil that may violate Section 245 of the Penal Code. require notification pursuant to the federal Gun-Free Schools Act (20 U.S.C. Sec. 7961(h)).

(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 authorities of the county or the school district in which the school is situated of any acts of the 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 acts 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. The principal of a school or the principal’s designee shall report any act specified in paragraph (1) or (5) of subdivision (c) of Section 48915 committed by a pupil or nonpupil on a schoolsite to the city police or county sheriff with jurisdiction over the school and the school security department or the school police department, as applicable.

(d)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.

(e)

(b) The principal of a school or the principal’s designee reporting a criminal act committed by a schoolage individual with exceptional needs, as defined in Section 56026, shall ensure that copies of the special education and disciplinary records of the pupil are transmitted, as described in Section 1415(k)(6) of Title 20 of the United States Code, for consideration by the appropriate authorities to whom he or she the principal of the school or the principal’s designee reports the criminal act. Any copies of the pupil’s special education and disciplinary records may be transmitted only to the extent permissible under the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 1232g et seq.).

SECTION 1.Section 49041 of the Education Code is amended to read:
49041.

(a)The administrator of a high school, or their designee, may appoint one or more pupils who are enrolled at that high school to be voter outreach coordinators.

(b)A voter outreach coordinator may coordinate voter registration activities on the high school campus that encourage persons who are eligible to register to vote pursuant to Section 2101 of the Elections Code, or other persons who may submit an affidavit of registration pursuant to Section 2102 of the Elections Code, to apply to register to vote by submitting an affidavit of registration on paper or electronically on the internet website of the Secretary of State.

(c)A voter outreach coordinator may, with the approval of the administrator of the high school, or their designee, coordinate election-related activities on the high school campus, including voter registration drives, mock elections, debates, and other election-related pupil outreach activities.