Bill Text: CA AB2441 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: School safety: mandatory notifications.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 8-0)

Status: (Engrossed) 2024-08-31 - Ordered to inactive file at the request of Senator Gonzalez. [AB2441 Detail]

Download: California-2023-AB2441-Amended.html

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Amended  IN  Senate  August 23, 2024

Amended  IN  Senate  July 03, 2024

Amended  IN  Assembly  April 30, 2024

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 2441

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Introduced by Assembly Member Kalra
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Bryan)
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Bonta)
(Coauthors: Senators Bradford and Skinner) Bradford, Cortese, Menjivar, Skinner, and Smallwood-Cuevas)

February 13, 2024

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

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 2441, as amended, Kalra. School safety: mandatory notifications.

(1) Existing law provides that a person who willfully disturbs a public school or a public school meeting is guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to a fine of not more than $500.

The

This 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, whenever an employee of a school district or county superintendent of schools is attacked, assaulted, or physically threatened by a pupil, the employee and a person under whose direction or supervision the employee is employed who has knowledge of the incident 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.

This bill would expressly authorize, instead of require, an employee who is physically threatened by a pupil to report the incident, would eliminate the duty of a person under whose direction or supervision the employee is employed who has knowledge of the incident to report it, and would make conforming changes. The bill instead would require, whenever an employee is subject to an attack by a pupil that causes bodily harm sufficient to require immediate medical attention, the employee to notify specified law enforcement authorities and would eliminate the duty of a person under whose direction or supervision the employee is employed who has knowledge of the incident to report it. The bill would eliminate the above-described infraction provision for failure to make the report.

(3)

(2) 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 eliminate the requirement that the principal or principal’s designee notify the appropriate law enforcement authorities of possession of designated controlled or regulated substances by a pupil. The bill would require that the principal or principal’s designee notify the appropriate law enforcement authorities if a pupil’s act requires notification pursuant to the federal Gun-Free Schools Act of 1994, which conditions certain federal funding on a criminal or juvenile delinquency referral policy for a student who brings a firearm or weapon to a school.

Digest Key

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

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Bill Text

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) A person who willfully disturbs a public school or a 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)(1)Whenever an employee of a school district or of the office of a county superintendent of schools is physically threatened by a pupil, the employee may notify the appropriate law enforcement authorities of the county or city in which the incident occurred.

(2)Whenever an employee of a school district or of the office of a county superintendent of schools is subject to an attack by a pupil that causes bodily harm sufficient to require immediate medical attention, the employee shall notify the appropriate law enforcement authorities of the county or city in which the incident occurred.

(b)A member of the governing board of a school district, a county superintendent of schools, or an employee of a school district or the office of a county superintendent of schools, shall not directly or indirectly inhibit or impede the making of the report pursuant to subdivision (a). 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).

(c)The governing board of a school district, a member of the governing board of a school district, a county superintendent of schools, or an employee of a school district or of the office of a county superintendent of schools shall not impose any sanctions against a person for making a report pursuant to subdivision (a).

SEC. 3.SEC. 2.

 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 a pupil, notify the appropriate law enforcement authorities of the county or city in which the school is located 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 a 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 located of any acts of the pupil that may violate subdivision (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 sale of narcotics or of a controlled substance.

(d) 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 an act of a pupil that requires notification pursuant to the federal Gun-Free Schools Act of 1994 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 7961(h)), an act of a pupil that violates Section 626.9 or 626.10 of the Penal Code, or an act described in paragraph (1) or (5) of subdivision (c) of Section 48915 committed by a pupil or nonpupil on a schoolsite.

(e) A principal, the principal’s designee, or any other person reporting a known or suspected act is not civilly or criminally liable as a result of making a 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.

(f) 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 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.).