California Senate Passes Bill to Allow Schools Not to Report Threats to Police

Two days after the Uvalde shooting in Texas, the California State Senate passed a bill that would allow schools not to report threats or attacks against employees to law enforcement.

Last week, in a 21-12 vote, the senate passed SB 1273. The bill was introduced by Senator Steven Bradford.

• Voting Yes: Allen, Archuleta, Atkins, Becker, Bradford, Cortese, Durazo, Eggman, Gonzalez, Hueso, Kamlager, Laird, Leyva, Limón, McGuire, Newman, Pan, Skinner, Stern, Wieckowski, Wiener
• Voting No: Bates, Borgeas, Dahle, Dodd, Glazer, Grove, Hurtado, Melendez, Min, Nielsen, Ochoa Bogh, Wilk

Locally, Democratic Senators Bill Dodd and Steve Glazer voted against the bill joining republicans.

According to the Bill, it would repeal the provision of existing law where it requires that “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.”

SB 1273 would then make such reports to law enforcement voluntary.

Meanwhile, the ACLU says educators shouldn’t be forced to call the cops on their students. #SB1273 will eliminate California mandates that require schools automatically notify law enforcement for certain types of student behavior.

They also stated:

Decades of research show the long-term harm to young people of even minimal contact with the juvenile or criminal legal systems. Once students make contact with law enforcement, they are less likely to graduate high school and more likely to wind up in jail or prison. These harms fall disproportionately on students from marginalized groups: Black, Indigenous, and Latinx students, as well as students with disabilities, are disproportionately referred to law enforcement, cited, and arrested.

With Senate support, the bill now moves to a vote in the State Assembly, followed by going to Gov. Gavin Newsom for signature.

Under the Bill:

SB 1273, as amended, Bradford. 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

This bill would exempt pupils who are currently enrolled in the school district from that provision.

(2) 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)

(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 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.