Postsecondary education: sexual harassment, harassment, intimidation, and bullying policies: student orientation and training.

(1) The Equity in Higher Education Act provides, among other things, that all students have the right to participate fully in the educational process, free from discrimination and harassment. Existing law provides that sexual harassment of students is a form of prohibited sex discrimination and defines terms for purposes of the Equity in Higher Education Act. This bill would define additional terms for purposes of the act, including, among other terms, "digitized sexually explicit material," "technology-facilitated sexual harassment," "affirmative consent," and "written consent." The bill would also revise the definitions of "sexual harassment" and "sexual exploitation." This bill would require, in order to receive state funds for student financial assistance, the governing board of a community college district, the Trustees of the California State University, the Regents of the University of California, and the governing boards of independent postsecondary educational institutions to update their respective sexual harassment policies to include (A) a prohibition on the public disclosure of the creation or generation of digitized sexually explicit material without the depicted individual's written consent, and (B) a policy that the disclosure of such material without that consent is sexual exploitation, as provided. This bill would require, upon appropriation, beginning September 1, 2027, in order to receive state funds, the governing board of a community college district, the Trustees of the California State University, and the Regents of the University of California to provide up to $1,000 to students who are victims of digitized sexually explicit material to help those students identify and remove the material, as provided. This bill would require, upon appropriation, the University of California, Los Angeles Center for the Study of Women to facilitate research on students' quality of life at public postsecondary educational institutions by awarding grants to universities, institutes, and organizations to research the prevention of, and the adjudication of reports of, sexual harassment, sexual violence, and sexual exploitation on campus, as provided. By imposing new duties on community college districts, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law requires the Trustees of the California State University and the governing board of a community college district, and requests the University of California, to adopt and publish policies on harassment, intimidation, and bullying, and to include these policies within the rules and regulations governing student behavior. Existing law requires the trustees, and requests the regents, to provide, as a part of established campus orientations, educational and preventive information about cyberbullying to students at all campuses. This bill instead would require the regents to adopt and publish policies on harassment, intimidation, and bullying, and to include these policies within the rules and regulations governing student conduct. The bill would also require the governing board of a community college district, the trustees, and the regents to provide, as part of established campus orientations, educational and preventive information about those subjects to students. The bill would define "bullying" for these purposes. Existing law requires each campus of the California Community Colleges and the California State University, and requests each independent institution of higher education, each private postsecondary educational institution, and each campus of the University of California, to post educational and preventive information on sexual violence and sexual harassment on its campus internet site, including information on specific related topics. Existing law also requires the California Community Colleges, the California State University, and independent institutions of higher education and private postsecondary educational institutions that receive state financial assistance, and requests the University of California, to annually train its students on sexual violence and sexual harassment, and requires that training to cover certain topics. This bill would require and request educational and preventive information on sexual exploitation and technology-facilitated sexual harassment to also be posted on campus internet sites, as provided. The bill would also require the annual student training for students to cover, among other things, certain topics related to sexual exploitation and technology-facilitated sexual harassment, as provided. By imposing new duties on community college districts, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.