Bill Text: CA SB1356 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended

California Senate Bill 1356

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

Bill Title: Judiciary: training: gender bias.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 8-0)

Status: (Passed) 2024-08-19 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 187, Statutes of 2024. [SB1356 Detail]

Download: California-2023-SB1356-Amended.html

Amended IN Senate April 03, 2024

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill

No. 1356

Introduced by Senator Wahab

February 16, 2024

An act to amend Section ~~68555~~ 68088 of the Government Code, relating to the judiciary.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 1356, as amended, Wahab. Judiciary: training: gender ~~perspectives.~~ bias.

Existing law authorizes the Judicial Council to provide by rule of court for racial, ethnic, and gender bias, and sexual harassment training and training for any other bias based on sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, ethnic group identification, age, mental disability, physical disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, or sexual orientation for judges and subordinate judicial officers.
This bill would require the Judicial Council, when developing any training on gender bias, to consider the role of gender in court proceedings and meeting the needs of litigants in unique situations of vulnerability.
The bill would make related findings and declarations.
Existing law requires the Judicial Council to establish judicial training programs for individuals, including judicial officers and referees, who perform duties in domestic violence or child custody matters, including, among other topics, child sexual abuse and coercive control, as specified. Existing law requires the Judicial Council to submit an annual report on these training programs, commencing on or before January 1, 2025, to the Legislature and relevant policy committees, that includes the titles of the training courses being offered and the number of judicial officers that attended each training.
This bill would expand the scope of these judicial training programs for individuals who perform duties in any case that may involve domestic violence or child custody matters. The bill would require the training program to include a domestic violence session in any orientation session conducted for newly appointed or elected judges, an annual training session in domestic violence, and periodic updates in all aspects of domestic violence, even when not alleged by a party to the proceeding. The bill would require the training program to include implicit and explicit bias related to parties involved in domestic violence cases, including potential discrimination that may result and efforts to eliminate stereotyping, and victim and perpetrator behavioral patterns and relationship dynamics, including inequities in power, and the importance of understanding groups in unique situations of vulnerability. The bill would require the training program to include the role that power and gender dynamics may have in cases outside those specifically related to child custody or alleged domestic violence.

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

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

SECTION 1.

The Legislature finds and declares the following:

(a) There is an intersection between gender-based violence and the rule of law.

(b) To ensure individuals have effective access to justice, courts have an obligation to account for how power and gender relations may influence cases, including, but not limited to, assessing the risk to the victim, respect for the human rights of individuals, and countering discrimination.

(c) To accomplish equality and nondiscrimination in the justice system, the judiciary should receive training related to the role of gender in court proceedings, including the elimination of stereotypes, assessing inequities in power, and meeting the needs of groups in unique situations of vulnerability.

(d) Of the 10 countries in the world with the highest rates of female incarcerations, the United States is in first place.
(e) While California is one of the few places in the United States where the number of people incarcerated in women’s prisons is significantly decreasing, in women’s prisons Black women are 25 percent of the prison population, even though Black people make up only 6.5 percent of California’s population.
(f) Forty-three percent of survey respondents at Central California Women’s Facility indicate intimate partner violence played a role in their criminalization or incarceration, with several respondents noting the trauma of their own childhood abuse or witnessing abuse of their own children were factors.
(g) Women’s involvement in the commission of crimes is often due to factors related to limited economic mobility, a lack of educational opportunities, poverty, discrimination, violence, and drug use. However, available data indicates these circumstances are not given appropriate legal consideration when assessing the context of risk faced by women, resulting in women facing biased criminal proceedings and possibly long prison terms.
(h) Currently, only two countries across the Americas incorporate a gender perspective when evaluating the efficacy of their reentry programming.
(i) One of the most wide-known examples of employment discrimination that intersects with gender is the persistent wage gap between men and women, where the median salary for women in 2022 was $52,360, while the median salary for men in 2022 was $62,350. An even deeper analysis reveals that the wage gap for Black, Latina, and Native American women is under $0.66 for every dollar that White, non-Hispanic men make.
(j) As of 2019, more women were earning college degrees than men, yet the wage gap has not substantively improved as a result.
(k) Analyses of the economic impacts of COVID-19 reveal disparate impacts along gender lines with women, with women 2.4 times more likely than men to report losing paid work due to caretaking expectations. This exacerbated already existing workplace related gender disparities.
(l) The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) indicates that between 2018 and 2021, they received 27,291 charges alleging sexual harassment, noting an increase in the two years following the #MeToo movement of 2017. Women filed 78.2 percent of these charges, however more significantly, women filed 62.2 percent of the total harassment charges. The EEOC indicates that in 43.5 percent of the sexual harassment charges, a concurrent retaliation charge was filed.

SEC. 2.Section 68555 of the Government Code is amended to read:
68555.
(a)The Judicial Council shall establish judicial training programs for individuals who perform duties in cases that may involve domestic violence or child custody matters, including, but not limited to, judicial officers, referees, commissioners, and if employed by the court, guardians ad litem, custody evaluators, mediators, and child custody recommending counselors, and others who are deemed appropriate by the Judicial Council.
(b)(1)The training program described in this section shall be an ongoing training and education program designed to improve the ability of courts to recognize and respond to child physical abuse, child sexual abuse, domestic violence, and trauma in family victims, particularly children, and to make appropriate custody decisions that prioritize child safety and well-being and are culturally sensitive and appropriate for diverse communities.
(2)The training program described in this section shall include a domestic violence session in any orientation session conducted for newly appointed or elected judges, an annual training session in domestic violence, and periodic updates in all aspects of domestic violence, even when not alleged by a party to the proceeding, including, but not limited to:
~~(A)Child sexual abuse.~~
~~(B)Physical abuse.~~
~~(C)Emotional abuse.~~
~~(D)Coercive control.~~
~~(E)Implicit and explicit bias related to parties involved in domestic violence cases, including potential discrimination that may result and efforts to eliminate stereotyping.~~
~~(F)Trauma.~~
~~(G)Long- and short-term impacts of domestic violence and child abuse on children.~~
~~(H)The detriment to children of residing with a person who perpetrates domestic violence.~~
~~(I)That domestic violence can occur without a party seeking or obtaining a restraining order, without a substantiated child protective services finding, and without other documented evidence of abuse.~~
~~(J)Victim and perpetrator behavioral patterns and relationship dynamics within the cycle of violence, including inequities in power.~~
~~(K)The importance of understanding groups in unique situations of vulnerability.~~
~~(3)The training program described in this section shall include the role power and gender dynamics may have in cases outside those specifically related to child custody or alleged domestic violence.~~

SEC. 2.

Section 68088 of the Government Code is amended to read:

68088.

(a) The Judicial Council may provide by rule of court for racial, ethnic, and gender bias, and sexual harassment training and training for any other bias based on any characteristic listed or defined in Section 11135 for judges and subordinate judicial officers. In developing any training on gender bias pursuant to this section, the Judicial Council shall consider the role of gender in court proceedings, including strategies to counter stereotypes, taking into account inequities in power and their intersection with gender, and meeting the needs of litigants in unique situations of vulnerability.

(b) (1) The Judicial Council may also develop training on implicit bias with respect to the characteristics listed or defined in Section 11135. The course shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following:

(A) A survey of the social science on implicit bias, unconscious bias, and systemic implicit bias, including the ways that bias affects institutional policies and practices.

(B) A discussion of the historical reasons for, and the present consequences of, the implicit biases that people hold based on the characteristics listed in Section 11135.

(C) Examples of how implicit bias affects the perceptions, judgments, and actions of judges, subordinate judicial officers, and other court staff, and how those perceptions, judgments, and actions result in unacceptable disparities in access to justice.

(D) The administration of implicit association tests to increase awareness of one’s unconscious biases based on the characteristics listed in Section 11135.

(E) Strategies for how to reduce the impact of implicit bias on parties before the court, members of the public, and court staff.

(F) Inquiry into how judges and subordinate judicial officers can counteract the effects of juror implicit bias on the outcome of cases.

(2) As of January 1, 2022, all court staff who are required, as part of their regular job duties, to interact with the public on matters before the court, shall complete two hours of any training program developed by the Judicial Council pursuant to this subdivision every two years.

(3) The Judicial Council may adopt a rule of court, effective January 1, 2021, to implement this subdivision.