Legislation

SACRAMENTO - Today, Attorney General Kamala D. Harris and Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin (D-Thousand Oaks) unveiled legislation aimed at maintaining consumer confidence in charitable giving.  The bill would close a loophole in disclosure requirements for paid commercial fundraising campaigns and include for-profit fundraising firms and other third parties who engage in misconduct in the Attorney General’s 10-year statute of limitations.

“Californians should have complete confidence that the donation they make to a charitable organization will go toward the cause they support, and feel secure knowing their gift won’t be diverted to the pockets of a third-party, for-profit fundraiser,” said Attorney General Harris.  “I thank Assemblymember Irwin for standing with me to increase transparency and empower Californians with the information they need to donate wisely.”

Assembly Bill 556 closes a loophole in existing charitable giving transparency requirements that currently allows third parties to solicit funds from donors without disclosing whether a portion of their gift will be diverted to a paid company by establishing their operations as “fundraising counsel” instead of “commercial fundraisers.”  Attorney General Harris’ office recently released a report summarizing the results of charitable solicitation campaigns conducted by commercial fundraisers in 2013, which reveals the alarming extent to which charitable donations are often diverted to for-profit companies.

For-profit third party fundraisers played a role in a recent charity enforcement case, People v. Help Hospitalized Veterans, where a charitable fraud scheme included directing nearly three-quarters of the gross revenue made to for-profit fundraising campaigns in which the charity’s “fundraising counsel” was not required to disclose in their direct mail pieces that a paid professional fundraiser was profiting from each donation.

In addition, because of a gap in the Government Code’s statute of limitations for charitable misconduct lawsuits, not all parties responsible for the fraud in the Help Hospitalized Veterans case were able to be held accountable.  AB 556 will expand the statute to include enforcement actions against commercial fundraisers, fundraising counsel, and other third party entities that aid and abet the exploitation of charitable assets.  This ten year window is often necessary in such cases, which are complex, fact-intensive, and cover misconduct occurring over an extended period of time.

“As a city councilmember and board member of local nonprofits in Ventura County, I saw the enormous positive impact that charities have on our communities,” said Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin (D-Thousand Oaks). “AB 556 will help keep bad behavior by a few from undermining the confidence that Californians have in the more than 70,000 active nonprofit organizations doing great work in California.  I commend Attorney General Kamala Harris for her work on this issue and look forward to working with her on AB 556.”

In late 2014, a comprehensive report on California’s non-profit sector, Causes Count, was issued by the California Association of Nonprofits (CalNonprofits), a “chamber of commerce” representing 9,200 nonprofits. According to the report, California’s charitable organizations contribute 15 percent — or one-sixth — of California’s Gross State Product.

“California nonprofits are trusted institutions,” said Jan Masaoka, CEO of CalNonprofits. “We support legislation like AB 556 that closes gaps in the law that no legitimate charity needs to exploit to fulfill its mission.  We appreciate that Attorney General Harris and Assemblymember Irwin support the non-profit sector’s role in California as an economic driver, an innovation leader, and a champion for hope and opportunity, always looking toward a better future.”

Legislative text available here.

View the Attorney General’s report on charitable solicitation campaigns conducted by commercial fundraisers here.

Read CalNonprofits’ Causes Count report here.

Assemblymember Irwin’s Website: www.asmdc.org/irwin

SACRAMENTO – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced her sponsorship of two bills that will help provide enhanced support to law enforcement agencies in their investigations of transnational criminal organizations.

Transnational criminal organizations have made California the single biggest point of entry for methamphetamine into the United States, with 70% entering through the San Diego Port of Entry. These organizations transfer billions of dollars out of the U.S. through California. As much as $40 billion in illicit funds were laundered in the state in 2012, according to Attorney General Harris’ 2014 report, Gangs Beyond Borders: California and the Fight Against Transnational Organized Crime.

“Transnational criminal organizations rely on a steady flow of billions of dollars in laundered money to support their operations,” Attorney General Harris said.  “The legislation I am sponsoring will equip local and state law enforcement with more tools to target their illicit profits and dismantle these dangerous organizations.” 

Senate Bill 298  (Block, D-San Diego) would add money laundering to the list of predicate offenses for wiretapping under Penal Code  629.52 if the money laundering is associated with a organized criminal group and the value of the transactions exceeds $50,000. Currently, the existing wiretap statute only applies to drug trafficking, human trafficking and street gang felonies – which all have a direct nexus to transnational criminal organizations. This bill would allow law enforcement to utilize wiretaps to investigate financial fraud, allowing them to target the financial pipeline that sustains the operations of transnational criminal organizations. 

“If money is the root of all evil, then money laundering is the insidious offshoot,” said State Senator Marty Block. “Money laundering camouflages the profit from heinous crimes such as human and weapons trafficking and allows criminals to profit from and expand their operations. SB 298 hands law enforcement another tool to fight the most grievous crimes they face.” 

Assembly Bill 443 (Alejo, D-Salinas) would allow for the preservation of criminal assets before charges are filed under the following circumstances:

• at least $10,000 is at stake
• the judge finds a substantial probability that charges will be filed and the government will prevail
• the proceeds will otherwise be destroyed or made unavailable
• the need to preserve outweighs any hardship of the party impacted.

AB 443 addresses the gap in law that prevents prosecutors from freezing criminal proceeds prior to an indictment being filed, leading to criminal organizations disposing of these assets once a charge has been brought against them. The bill will allow prosecutors to effectively disrupt and dismantle transnational criminal organizations and other sophisticated criminal profiteers.

“Gang violence and crime continue to be serious problems across the state, and we must take steps to diminish the grip they have on many of our most disadvantaged communities,” said Assemblyman Alejo.  “Many of these organizations are operating in cities that I represent - Salinas, Watsonville, Soledad and King City. They use our kids as pawns, many of whom wind up in jail or dead, and they do this all to make a profit.   By freezing the assets of criminal organizations, we hit them where it hurts most, and we can put a halt to their operations.”

In March 2014, Attorney General Harris issued “Gangs Beyond Borders: California and the Fight Against Transnational Organized Crime,” the first comprehensive report analyzing the current state of transnational criminal organizations in California. The report is the first comprehensive report analyzing the current state of transnational criminal organizations in California and the threats they pose to the state’s public safety and economy.

The report also outlined recommendations to address this problem, which include increased funding for state anti-narcotics trafficking task forces and additional coordination between federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies in combatting transnational criminal organizations. The report is available here: https://oag.ca.gov/transnational-organized-crime.

Following the release of this report, Attorney General Harris led a delegation of state attorneys general to Mexico to strengthen working relationships between the governments of both countries and enhance efforts to combat transnational crime. The delegation met with Mexican state attorneys general and federal officials to discuss the issues of drug, human and firearms trafficking, money laundering and high-tech crime.

Attorney General Kamala D. Harris and the four other state attorneys general also signed a letter of intent with the National Banking and Securities Commission of Mexico to establish a bi-national working group on money laundering enforcement. 

In October 2014, Attorney General Harris announced the creation of a new anti-methamphetamine team of Special Agents based Los Angeles funded by a $1 million federal grant. The team will be comprised of six Special Agents assigned to investigate illicit activities related to the manufacture and distribution of methamphetamine in California and will work in a coordinated effort with the other 18 existing California Department of Justice task forces. 

Over the past four years, California Department of Justice special agents have seized over $200 million in cash, 10,000 kilos of cocaine, 12,000 pounds of methamphetamine, and taken nearly 12,000 illegal guns off the streets in California.

SAN FRANCISCO – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today issued an information bulletin to California law enforcement agencies, higher education administrators and campus security personnel, providing enforcement guidance on new and amended sexual assault and campus safety laws. The bulletin summarizes SB 967 (Senate pro Tempore Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles) and AB 1433 (Assemblymember Mike Gatto, D-Glendale), gives enforcement guidance in the context of existing state and federal statutes, and encourages increased collaboration between law enforcement and campus authorities.

“The threat of sexual assault is real and pervasive,” said Attorney General Harris. “Last year California adopted some of the most aggressive campus sexual assault laws in the country. Today’s bulletin ensures that education leaders and law enforcement understand their responsibilities under these laws, enforce them consistently, and collaborate to protect victims.” 

The two new laws create reporting requirements and standards for campus disciplinary procedures.

SB 967 requires California postsecondary institutions – in order to receive state funds for financial assistance – to adopt comprehensive, victim-centered policies and disciplinary procedures concerning sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking. Under the law, an institution’s policy governing its campus disciplinary process must use an affirmative consent standard – defined as an affirmative, conscious and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity – to determine whether a sexual assault complainant consented.   

SB 967 requires campuses to use a preponderance of the evidence standard when adjudicating complaints in the campus disciplinary process. This means the evidence must show it is “more likely than not” – i.e., greater than 50 percent likelihood – that the victim did not consent. The law also requires postsecondary institutions to partner with campus and community organizations to refer both victims and perpetrators to health, counseling, advocacy and legal services.

“The laws we pursue in the California legislature set an example for the rest of the country,” Senate pro Tempore de León stated. “With 1 in 5 women on college campuses experiencing sexual assault, it’s our responsibility to secure a safe learning environment for our students.”

AB 1433 specifies that as a condition for participation in the Cal Grant program, campus security authorities are required to immediately – or as soon as practicably possible – disclose to local law enforcement any report of a violent crime, hate crime or sexual assault, whether committed on- or off-campus. Postsecondary governing boards must implement policies and procedures by July 1, 2015, to ensure reports of these crimes are immediately forwarded to the appropriate law enforcement agency.  

“Students at our colleges and universities deserve to learn without living in fear of sexual assault, and they deserve to know that crimes that occur on campus won’t be treated any differently than those that occur elsewhere in our community,” said Assemblymember Mike Gatto.  “I thank Attorney General Harris for her advice and collaboration in these matters.”

AB 1433 builds on existing state and federal requirements for campus and law enforcement collaboration. California law already requires postsecondary institutions to enter into written agreements with local law enforcement agencies. The federal Clery Act also requires campus officials to contact local law enforcement to obtain accurate statistics about crimes reported on or near campus. 

Attorney General Harris has a longstanding commitment to reducing sexual violence and seeking justice for sexual assault victims. In her first year in office, Attorney General Harris eliminated a longstanding backlog of untested rape kits in state-run labs – which included 1,300 DNA cases.  In April 2014, the California Attorney General’s Rapid DNA Service Team received the United States Department of Justice Award for Professional Innovation in Victim Services. Attorney General Harris is currently prosecuting two operators of cyber exploitation websites who, combined, facilitated the posting of over 10,000 sexually explicit photos and extorted victims to remove the illicit content.

 In the coming months, the Attorney General’s Office will release additional guidance suggesting ways in which law enforcement and campus personnel can comply with the new laws and facilitate justice for victims and accountability for perpetrators. 

To view the information bulletin click here: http://bit.ly/1CcwfB1

En Español

SAN FRANCISCO – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today issued a consumer alert to Californians about possible scams targeting immigrants and their families. 

Under a new California law, Assembly Bill 60 (AB 60), California residents will be eligible to get a driver license regardless of their immigration status.  This law takes effect on January 1, 2015.  In preparation for AB 60, the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has hired additional employees, held department-wide training, and is opening new, temporary offices to handle extra driver license appointments.

Individuals applying for a driver license under AB 60 must show satisfactory proof of identity, proof of California residency, and meet all other qualifications for getting a driver license, including passing a knowledge test, vision test, and behind-the-wheel driving test, which will be taken after getting a temporary driver permit.

When major changes to laws affecting immigrants are passed, con artists often emerge to prey on vulnerable consumers.  This consumer alert will give you tips on how to avoid and report driver license scams.

Do not pay anyone to complete your driver license application:

The Attorney General recommends that you complete your driver license application alone or with the help of trusted family or friends.  The process is simple and the DMV provides free resources to guide you.  You should not pay anyone to help you complete driver license documents!

Beginning January 1, 2015, it will be illegal for anyone to accept money solely for completing a driver license application for another person.  Be wary of anyone who says they have “connections” with the DMV.  They are likely lying; no one can speed up the process of getting a driver license for you! 

Driver license examinations are available in many languages and can be given orally by a DMV employee on request.  If you need an interpreter, call 1-800-777-0133 and indicate that foreign language assistance is needed.  Do not pay anyone who offers to translate documents for you;  the DMV offers free translation services!

The cost for completing the application for a Class C (most cars) or Class M (motorcycles and scooters) license is $33.  A driver license under AB 60 is the same price as other licenses.  Only pay this fee to the DMV directly; any payment to someone else is likely a scam.

HELPFUL RESOURCES:

To learn more about getting your driver license, visit http://apps.dmv.ca.gov/ab60/ (English) or https://apps.dmv.ca.gov/ab60/index_es.html (Español). 

For a list of accepted proofs of identify, visit https://apps.dmv.ca.gov/ab60/doc_req_matrix.pdf (English) or http://apps.dmv.ca.gov/ab60/docreqmatrix_span.pdf (Español). 

For a sample driver license application, visit: https://apps.dmv.ca.gov/teenweb/permit_btn1/dl44sample.pdf.  However, your application (Form DL 44) must be completed at the DMV. 

California Driver Handbooks and sample driver license examinations are available in English, Spanish, Arabic, Armenian, Chinese, Farsi, Korean, Punjabi, Russian Tagalog, and Vietnamese.  For a copy of the California Driver Handbook and sample driver license examinations in any of these languages, visit:  http://apps.dmv.ca.gov/ab60/#handbooks. 

To schedule a visit to the DMV, visit  https://www.dmv.ca.gov/foa/clear.do?goTo=officeVisit.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU ARE THE VICTIM OF A SCAM:

The California Department of Justice, in its role as the state’s enforcer of consumer protection, collects complaints on scams in order to detect patterns of wrongdoing. By submitting a complaint, you are contributing to California’s ability to investigate and prosecute known offenders and stop scammers from victimizing others. To file a complaint with our office, use one of the following complaint forms:

English: http://oag.ca.gov/contact/consumer-complaint-against-business-or-company

En Español:  http://oag.ca.gov/sites/all/files/agweb/pdfs/contact/business_corpform_sp.pdf

中文:  http://oag.ca.gov/sites/all/files/agweb/pdfs/contact/business_corpform_chin.pdf

Tiếng Việt:  http://oag.ca.gov/sites/all/files/agweb/pdfs/contact/business_corpform_viet.pdf

SACRAMENTO -- Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today issued the following statement on Governor Brown’s veto of A.B. 1866 and A.B. 1672 and his signing of A.B. 2141 and A.B. 1643:

“I am disappointed that Governor Brown vetoed AB 1866 and AB 1672. These are missed opportunities to help keep California's youngest and most vulnerable students on track. The facts are very clear. We know that nearly a million elementary school children are truant from our classrooms each year. We know foster, low-income and minority children are truant at much higher rates than other children. And we know truancy drives California's drop-out, crime and incarceration rates. We must get serious about keeping track of whether young children are in school.

The Governor has expressed his commitment to reducing absenteeism and his signature of AB 1643 and AB 2141 are good steps in the right direction. His pledge to do more with local school officials to address California’s elementary school truancy rates will, I hope, result in more tools to address this problem.

I thank Assemblymembers Bocanegra, Holden, Bonta, Hall and Buchanan and the parents, educators and communities who worked so diligently to move these bills forward. I commit to using every tool I have available to address this crisis in our schools.”

LOS ANGELES - Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today issued the second annual report on elementary school truancy in the state which reveals that the truancy crisis in California continues. The report provides new research on how students of color and students from low-income families are missing a disproportionate amount of school each year.

Attorney General Harris’ second annual report, In School + On Track 2014, outlines recommendations to reduce state truancy rates. These recommendations were put into action in the Every Kid Counts legislative package (http://bit.ly/X7pZYU) sponsored by the Attorney General that passed the state legislature and currently awaits Governor Jerry Brown’s signature.

"California elementary school students continue to miss school at unacceptably high rates," Attorney General Harris said. "Improvements in education policy are moot if students are not in class. California needs common sense solutions that help parents and educators reduce elementary school truancy. The Every Kid Counts legislative package helps us get this done."

Information broken down by school district and county is available here: https://oag.ca.gov/truancy/2014/ch1

The report contains key updates and new research on income and racial disparities, including:

• A quarter of a million elementary school students in California missed 10% or more of the 2013-2014 school year.
• Over the last three years, school districts have lost over $3.5 billion directly from student absences.
• 1 in 10 school districts reported they do not know their chronic absence rate for the 2013-2014 school year.
• Almost 90% of the elementary students who are missing over a month of school per year are from low-income families.
• More than 1 in 5 African American students is chronically absent which is more than double the average for white students.
• African American elementary school students are chronically truant at nearly 4xs the rate of all students.

If signed into law, Attorney General Harris’ legislation will:

• Help schools and counties work with parents to address the core reasons behind truancy and chronic absence.
• Give local school districts and counties tools to comply with attendance tracking requirements in the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), state truancy mandates and state and federal reporting requirements.
• Modernize state and local systems to track and prevent truancy and chronic absence.
• Ensure that schools, districts, counties and the state can evaluate the success of interventions to combat truancy and chronic absence.

 “California is investing billions of dollars to help low income, English learner, foster and disabled students succeed,” said Assemblymember Isadore Hall, III. “But students cannot succeed if they are not in the classroom. I am honored to author AB 2141 and to join Attorney General Kamala D. Harris in helping schools and school districts focus its resources on developing effective truancy prevention and intervention strategies. AB 2141 is a common sense measure that will help keep our students off the street and in the classroom. I urge the Governor to sign AB 2141 and all of the Attorney General’s truancy reduction bills into law.”

“I applaud Attorney General Kamala Harris for tackling the issue of truancy and dropout rates head on,” said Assemblymember Chris Holden. “One of my goals is to keep children in the classroom and out of the courtroom, which is why I was happy to join with the Attorney General in crafting legislation to increase accountability for school attendance review boards in order to make them more effective. The measure, now awaiting the Governor’s signature, will show on the district and state level how large the truancy problem is and how we are addressing it. With this slate of bills we are not putting more students in the juvenile justice system, but inviting the community to intervene before they end up in the penal system.” 

“Attorney General Harris' report is another profound testament to the need for my Assembly Bill 1866, which is currently awaiting the Governor's signature,” said Assemblymember Raul Bocanegra. “By creating precise and longitudinal records of student attendance statewide, this measure will empower educators to detect at-risk students early and develop effective intervention programs for this population. AB 1866 is the first integral step to solving California's attendance crisis and the negative outcomes that ensue.”

"I applaud Attorney General Kamala Harris' commitment to shining the light on the problem of truancy and her work in San Francisco and Sacramento to keep children in school, on track, and ready to graduate,” said Assemblymember Joan Buchanan  “Their future and our future depends on every student graduating college and career ready."

“The findings of this report are alarming and should serve as a wake up call for elected leaders, school districts and California families,” said Senator Ricardo Lara. “Latinos are the majority in California so when 1 in 5 of Latino kids are chronically absent, we have a problem. We must begin addressing this crisis because our state's success is tied to the success of all students.”

Attorney General Harris’ 2013 In School + Track (https://oag.ca.gov/truancy/2013) report contained the first statewide statistics on California’s elementary school truancy crisis. The report showed the direct link between public education and public safety. Students who reach third grade but are not at third grade reading level are statistically more likely to drop out of high school. Annually, dropouts cost California taxpayers an estimated $46.4 billion in incarceration, lost productivity and lost taxes.

As the District Attorney of San Francisco, Attorney General Harris started a citywide truancy initiative in 2006.  In the course of investigating factors contributing to the city’s violent crime rate, she found that 94% of San Francisco homicide victims under age 25 were high school dropouts.  Then-District Attorney Harris formed a partnership with the school district to inform parents that they had a legal duty to ensure that their children attended school, provide parents of chronically truant students with wrap-around services and school-based mediation, and prosecute parents in the most severe cases where other interventions did not work.

Over a two-year period, then-District Attorney Harris’s initiative reduced truancy among elementary students in San Francisco by 23%, according to the San Francisco Unified School District.  The initiative also served as a model for SB 1317 (Leno), which defined “chronic truancy” for the first time under state law and established the initiative’s model of combining meaningful services with smart sanctions in the California Penal Code.  The bill was sponsored by then-District Attorney Harris and was enacted in law in 2010.

The report is available in its entirety online at: https://oag.ca.gov/truancy/2014

Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today issued the following statement on the passage of Senate Bill 1094: 

“SB 1094 is about good public health policy that ensures choice and access to quality, affordable healthcare for underserved communities. I want to thank Senator Lara for introducing this bill and applaud the Assembly and Senate for passing this important legislation.”

SACRAMENTO – California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced that a package of legislation to help local school districts and communities address California’s elementary school truancy crisis has passed out of both legislative houses and is on its way to the Governor’s desk.

“Each year approximately one million California elementary school children are truant from class. Good education policies are meaningless if students aren’t at their desks,” Attorney General Harris said. “I applaud the legislature for bringing us one step closer to stopping this crisis.”

If signed into law, these bills will:

• Help schools and counties work with parents to address the core reasons behind truancy and chronic absence.
• Give local school districts and counties tools to comply with attendance tracking requirements in the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), state truancy mandates and state and federal reporting requirements.
• Modernize state and local systems to track and prevent truancy and chronic absence.
• Ensure that schools, districts, counties and the state can evaluate the success of interventions to combat truancy and chronic absence.

Attorney General Harris announced her sponsorship of the four bills and introduced the legislative package at a March 10, 2014 press conference with State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson and Assemblymembers Raul Bocanegra, Rob Bonta, Joan Buchanan, Isadore Hall and Chris Holden.

A complete list of education, public policy, and law enforcement leaders and organizations who have endorsed the legislation is available here: http://bit.ly/1liXv9O.

The legislation will, if signed, put recommended reforms from Attorney General Harris’ 2013 report, In School + On Track (https://oag.ca.gov/truancy) into law. The report contained the first state-wide statistics on California’s elementary school truancy crisis. It revealed that in the 2012-2013 school year, 1 million elementary school students were truant and 250,000 elementary school students missed 18 or more school days at a cost of $1.4 billion in lost funds to California school districts. Annually, dropouts cost California taxpayers an estimated $46.4 billion in incarceration, lost productivity and lost taxes.

Next month, Attorney General Harris will issue the 2014 In School + On Track report containing updated statewide figures on elementary school truancy and its fiscal impact on local school districts.

Attorney General Harris’ Truancy Legislation Package

ASSEMBLY BILL 1866 - Statewide Attendance Data System

Author: Assemblymember Raul Bocanegra

Adds truancy and absenteeism to the information collected by the state Department of Education. California is one of only a few states in the country that does not collect student attendance data. This bill will allow local school districts to monitor and analyze attendance patterns, as required under the Local Control Funding Formula.

ASSEMBLY BILL 1672 - Enhanced Student Attendance Review Board (SARB) Reports

Author: Assemblymember Chris Holden

Expands annual reports from local School Attendance Review Boards (SARBs) to include information on student enrollment, absence and truancy rates, district attorney referrals and SARB intervention outcomes. Current annual SARB reports provide minimal information about intervention outcomes, so it is difficult to get the full picture of SARB efforts around the state. This bill ensures schools, districts and counties can evaluate the success of truancy intervention efforts.

ASSEMBLY BILL 1643 - Improved SARBs

Author: Assemblymember Joan Buchanan

Adds representatives of a county district attorney’s office and county public defender’s office to both county and local School Attendance Review Boards (SARBs). This will provide local courts with a broader understanding of attendance issues and will enhance the ability of SARBs to solve the root cause of truancy problems.

ASSEMBLY BILL 2141 - District Attorney Referral Outcome Reports

Authors: Assemblymember Isadore Hall, Assemblymember Rob Bonta

Requires that district attorney’s offices provide a report to school officials on the outcome of a truancy related referral. This helps school officials determine which outcomes are most effective and guarantees baseline information sharing between referring agencies and prosecutors.

SACRAMENTO – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced a package of legislation to help local school districts and communities address California’s elementary school truancy crisis. Each year, an estimated one million elementary school students are truant and 250,000 elementary school students miss 18 or more school days at a cost of $1.4 billion in lost funds to California school districts.

Joined by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson, State Senator Bill Monning and Assemblymembers Raul Bocanegra, Rob Bonta, Joan Buchanan, Isadore Hall and Chris Holden, Attorney General Harris announced her sponsorship of five bills that will help schools, parents and government effectively intervene when children are chronically absent, and improve local school districts’ and counties’ ability to track attendance patterns.

“California’s Constitution guarantees our children the right to an education, yet our elementary schools face a truancy crisis,” Attorney General Harris said. “When children in kindergarten through sixth grade miss school, they fall behind and too many never catch up. The consequences for California’s economy and public safety are very serious. These bills modernize attendance monitoring and build the support schools, parents and communities need to get California’s children to class."

The legislation will:

-          Assist schools and counties as they work with parents to address the core reasons behind truancy and chronic absence.

-          Provide local school districts and counties tools to comply with attendance tracking requirements in the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), state truancy mandates and state and federal reporting requirements.

-          Modernize state and local systems to track and prevent truancy and chronic absence.

-          Ensure that schools, districts, counties and the state can evaluate the success of interventions to combat truancy and chronic absence.

“It is an honor to be able to partner with Attorney General Harris on SB 1107. We have long known the importance of early childhood education, and that full attendance of elementary school students is one of the keys to later academic success. By mandating the annual tracking and reporting by the Attorney General, we will be able to offer local school districts additional tools in tackling this very complex issue,” Senator Monning said.

“I’m proud to stand with Attorney General Harris to unveil this package of legislation that will help to address the truancy crisis here in California. AB 1866 will allow educators and stakeholders to identify students at risk of becoming truants earlier in the process, which will allow preventative steps to be taken to ensure these students get back to school and back on track. Hundreds of thousands of our young men and women are truant from school each and every year. That is simply unacceptable and I applaud Attorney General Harris for helping to shine a spotlight on this critical issue,” Assemblymember Bocanegra said.

“Putting our children on the right path starts with making sure they are in school, and requires that we all work together to ensure that happens. That means developing the lines of communication between schools, parents and law enforcement to address the issue—which is what AB 2141 does. Additionally, this package of bills being put forward by the Attorney General will help stakeholders intervene early when students are not in class,” Assemblymember Bonta said.

“With the right individuals at the table, such as mental health or social service agencies, we can work with students and families to find a positive solution to attendance challenges. By requiring every county to have a SARB, we guarantee that this important tool is available across the state,” said Assemblymember Buchanan.

"A student's chronic truancy is a symptom of larger problems in a young person's life. Our efforts to reduce student truancy mean very little when we don't know which programs work and which ones don't. My AB 2141 is an important tool in helping to identify successful outcomes which will help us to better coordinate state and local efforts needed to keep students on track and in the classroom,” Assemblymember Hall said.

“I am proud to author a bill that will help more students stay in the classroom and out of the courtroom.  If schools aren’t tracking what students are missing you won’t be able to effectively fix the problem. Second graders are missing school and arriving late for very different reasons than 11th graders. Requiring County Offices of Education to forward the complete reports to the Department of Education will allow the State to identify trends and find best practices to address this crisis,” Assemblymember Holden said.

In School +On Track also made the point that elementary school truancy is at the root of the state’s chronic criminal justice problems. Missing large amounts of school is one of the strongest predictors of falling behind academically and dropping out, even in early grades. According to one study, students who missed 10% of their kindergarten and first grade years scored, on average, 60 points below similar students with good attendance on third-grade reading tests. And, students who don’t read proficiently by the third grade are four times more likely not to receive a high school diploma than proficient readers, which puts them at risk of becoming a victim or perpetrator of crime. An increase of graduation rates by just 10% would result in a 20% drop in violent crime, and prevent 500 murders and more than 20,000 aggravated assaults per year in California.

Annually, dropouts cost California taxpayers an estimated $46.4 billion in incarceration, lost productivity and lost taxes.

As the District Attorney of San Francisco, Attorney General Harris started a citywide truancy initiative in 2006.  Over a two-year period, then-District Attorney Harris’ initiative reduced truancy among elementary students in San Francisco by 23%, according to the San Francisco Unified School District.  The initiative also served as a model for SB 1317 (Leno), which defined “chronic truancy” for the first time under state law and established the initiative’s model of combining meaningful services with smart sanctions in the California Penal Code.  The bill was sponsored by then-District Attorney Harris and was enacted into law in 2010.

Attorney General Harris’ Truancy Legislation Package

SENATE BILL 1107 - Mandated Annual Report Legislation

Author: Senator Bill Monning

Mandate that the California Attorney General issue an annual report on elementary school truancy and chronic absenteeism similar to 2013’s In School + On Track report. This will help track truancy and chronic absence rates and highlight effective programs to improve attendance across the state.

ASSEMBLY BILL 1866 - Statewide Attendance Data System

Author: Assemblymember Raul Bocanegra

Enhance the state Department of Education’s student record system to include fields on truancy and absenteeism. California is one of only four states in the country that does not collect student attendance data. This will allow local school districts to monitor and analyze attendance patterns, as required under the LCFF.

ASSEMBLY BILL 1672 - Enhanced SARB (Student Attendance Review Board) Reports

Author: Assemblymember Chris Holden

Require that local SARBs (School Attendance Review Boards) report annually on referral rates to county offices of education and expand these reports to include information on student enrollment, absence and truancy rates, district attorney referrals and SARB intervention outcomes. Current annual SARB reports provide minimal information about intervention outcomes, so it is difficult to get the full picture of SARB efforts around the state. This bill ensures schools, districts and counties can evaluate the success of truancy intervention efforts.

ASSEMBLY BILL 1643 - Mandatory SARBs

Author: Assemblymember Joan Buchanan

Require that every county create a SARB. Forty years ago, the legislature created SARBs in order to divert students who were having school attendance issues from the juvenile justice system. County SARBs are a great local tool to provide training, guidance and oversight to local SARBs within a county to ensure consistency and achievement of the SARB’s core mission: improved attendance.

ASSEMBLY BILL 2141 - District Attorney Referral Outcome Reports

Authors: Assemblymember Isadore Hall, Assemblymember Rob Bonta

Require that when a parent or student is referred to district attorney’s office or any other agency engaged in prosecution or charges are considered to enforce state school attendance laws, the prosecuting agency must provide a report on the outcome of the referral. This helps school officials determine which outcomes are effective and guarantees baseline information sharing between referring agencies and prosecutors.

Additional statements of support for this legislation and graphics from the press conference are available at: https://oag.ca.gov/news