Amended  IN  Assembly  March 25, 2021

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 610

Introduced by Assembly Member Kalra

February 12, 2021

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


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 610, as amended, Kalra. School safety: protection from criminalization. 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. Under existing law, whenever 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. Failure to make the report is an infraction punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000. An act 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 repeal those provisions.
(2) 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 would delete the acts referenced above from the category of acts for which the principal or the principal’s designee is required to notify the appropriate law enforcement authorities, as described above. The bill would also exclude from this notification requirement a violation involving certain instruments, such as an instrument that expels metallic projectiles, a spot marker gun, a razor blade, or a box cutter. The bill would only require notification where notification would be consistent with the above-described referral requirement under the federal Gun-Free Schools Act. The bill would also make related conforming changes.

Under existing law, the Legislature recognizes that all pupils enrolled in the state public schools have the inalienable right to attend classes on school campuses that are safe, secure, and peaceful.

This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to enact future legislation to increase protections for pupils from criminalization for school-related misbehavior that is best addressed by schoolsite personnel and appropriate supportive services, and to increase protections for parents and pupils from criminalization by limiting the grounds for which parents and students may be arrested and prosecuted with respect to public schools and public meetings.

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 repealed.
32210.

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).

SEC. 2.

 Section 44014 of the Education Code is repealed.
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 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, notify the appropriate law enforcement authorities of the county or city in which the school is situated, 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 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

48902.
 (a) 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. Code, excluding a violation involving an instrument that expels a metallic projectile, such as a BB or a pellet, through the force of air pressure, carbon dioxide pressure, or spring action, a spot marker gun, a razor blade, or a box cutter. The notification requirement shall apply only to a violation where notification would be consistent with the requirements under the federal Gun-Free Schools Act (20 U.S.C. Sec. 7961(h)).

(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 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.

It is the intent of the Legislature to enact future legislation to accomplish both of the following:

(a)Increase protections for pupils from criminalization for school-related misbehavior that is best addressed by schoolsite personnel and appropriate supportive services.

(b)Increase protections for parents and pupils from criminalization by limiting the grounds for which parents and pupils may be arrested and prosecuted with respect to public schools and public meetings.