Senate Standing Committee on Education

Senate Committee on Education will come to order. Good morning again. And good morning to Julie, there are 25 bills on today's agenda. 18 bills are in consent. They are as follows. Item number one, AB 801. Item number two, AB 2932. Item number four, AB 2567. Item number five, AB 1913.

Item number six, AB 2961. Item number seven, AB 1929. Item number eight, AB 1938. Item number 11, AB 2073. Item number 14, AB 2251. Item number 15, AB 2275 to my next page of items. Item number 16, AB 2707. Item number 17, AB 2725. Item number 18, AB 2370.

Item number 20, AB 2403. Item number 21, AB 2429. Item number 22, ACR 147. Item number 23, AB 2771. And last, item number 25, AB 3290. We will be starting as a Subcommitee in the absence of a quorum. Welcome to Senator Jones, who is filling in today for Senator Ochoa Bogue. And we are looking for an author.

I was sent to help you make good decisions.

Thank you. I don't know if you heard, but he's been sent to help us make good decisions. Appreciate that. Okay, and so our first item is from Assemblymember Mathis, to be presented by Senator Wilk, who is on his way.

I will also say, if you're an author with business in front of this Committee today, you'd be well served to head on down. We have 123-4567 bills that we'll be hearing. All right, as they say, the former educator gets the worm. So welcome, Senator Quick Silva. It's so nice to see you.

And you will be presenting AB 2137. And we are currently meeting as a subcommittee in the absence of a quorum. And you may begin whenever you're ready.

All right, well, I am very happy to be here in this education chamber with my favorite Senator from Fullerton.

Qualified it. Felt good for a second till you qualified it.

Good morning. And I'm here to present AB 2137 which improves outcomes for California's foster youth and students who experience homelessness by utilizing existing resources to enhance direct student support, streamline collaboration of services, and reduce gaps in financial aid application completion. A 2019 California audit highlighted the state's failure to serve its students experiencing homelessness.

Annually, roughly 225,000 K12 students are identified as experiencing homelessness and an additional 46,000 are in foster care. Research shows that these students face immense challenges in attaining a high school diploma and successfully matriculating to higher education. Foster and homeless students are significantly more likely to experience school instability, chronic absenteeism, suspensions, and expulsions.

Basically, these outcomes are very poor for these students, and this is why this bill is very important with me today. In support, we have Paige Clark, Senior Program and Policy Manager with National Youth Law, and Wednesday Hope, student advocate and recent graduate of Folsom Lake Community College.

Welcome to both the witnesses. Please proceed. Each witness will have three minutes.

Thank you. Good morning. My name is Paige Clark and I'm with the National Center for Youth Law, a proud co-sponsor of AB 2137. AB 2137 includes three common-sense provisions that remove educational barriers for two of the most disadvantaged groups within California's K12 system, children and youth in foster care and those experiencing homelessness.

First, this bill will remove an outdated provision that limits whether county-based education programs can provide crucial supports to foster youth. Allowing these programs to offer direct services will ensure that more foster youth have access to personalized and intensive support, ultimately increasing their chances of successfully completing high school and transitioning to post-secondary education.

Secondly, this bill will ensure that foster youth are not inadvertently opted out of completing a FAFSA, causing them to miss out on thousands of dollars' worth of financial aid.

County Office of Education Foster youth programs are tasked with ensuring that the educational needs of foster youth are met, including that they're given the opportunity to apply for financial aid. Fulfilling this responsibility is hampered when students are opted out of completing the FAFSA without the program's knowledge.

This provision builds on existing collaboration between these programs and their local school districts. Lastly, AB 2137 will create an accountability mechanism through the LCAP to ensure that educational agencies are identifying their homeless students and developing strategies to serve these students that leverage the expertise of their local homeless liaisons.

These three fixes to current law are small changes with an outsized impact on the lives of our most underserved students. For this reason, I respectfully ask for your aye vote on AB 2137.

Thank you very much. Welcome, Miss Hope.

Good morning. My name is Wednesday Hope and I am a former foster youth. I recently graduated from Folsom Lake College with four associates degrees and will be transferring to a four-year university. My hope is to someday work with foster youth in a direct service role.

I am here in support of AB 2137 a critical Bill that will ensure that students in foster care and those experiencing homelessness have the support and resources they need to graduate from high school and pursue post-secondary education. I entered foster care as a newborn and spent over eight years in and out of the foster system.

Growing up, I experienced not only foster care, but extreme poverty, and no one ever spoke to me about college and its benefits. Every member of my family and all of the foster parents I lived with never went to college and didn't know how to guide me.

I didn't know that financial aid or the FAFSA existed until I walked into Folsom Lake College for freshman orientation. While experiencing homelessness in extended foster care, financial aid became my lifeline. It is critical that these youth are informed about financial aid and the FAFSA.

Being equipped with this knowledge would help foster and homeless youth see the benefits of college and enable proper planning for their life and college careers. There are students in foster care or who are experiencing homelessness today, just like I was, who struggle in school and may believe that college is something that they can't afford.

These young people need support from programs that understand their unique circumstances, which includes support with FAFSA completion. AB 2137 will ensure that this specialized support is available for those students who lack guidance and a safety net. The sooner these at-risk and underserved youth demystify the idea of college, the higher the likelihood they will enroll.

Every foster and homeless youth who enrolls in college gets the opportunity to end the cycle of generational poverty in their family. Which is why I urge your aye vote for AB 2137. Thank you for your time.

Thank you very much. Are there any others here I'd like to register their support for the measure. If so, please come forward. State your name, your organization, your position.

Hi everyone, I'm Annie Thomas on behalf of the California Alliance of Child and Family Services in support.

Thank you.

Good morning, Chair and Members. Sam Nasher. On behalf of the Los Angeles County Office of Education in support. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mister Chair, Members, and staff. Mitch Steiger with CFT, a union of educators and classified professionals, also in support.

Thank you.

Priscilla Kuros here on n behalf of the California Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in support.

Thank you.

Sara Bachez with Children Now in support.

Thank you.

Mister Chair and Senators, Adam Keigwin on behalf of the Television Academy Foundation, in support.

Thank you, Mister Keigwin. Are there any folks here who'd like to testify in opposition to the measure? Seeing none, we do now have a quorum. Let's establish that quorum. Madam consultant, please call. No, just let's. I don't see any opposition. Do you see any? I called it. Let's establish a quorum.

Okay. [Roll call]

So, we do have a quorum. Let's come back to the dais. Colleagues, questions, or comments for the author? Senator Smallwood-Cuevas

I just want to thank the author for bringing this Bill forward. And I'm happy to move it when the time is right.

Appreciate that. Anybody else? Glad to support it as well. Would you like to close?

Just appreciate an aye vote. Thank you.

We have a motion from Senator Smallwood-Cuevas. Madam Consultant, please call the roll.

Item 12, AB 2137, Quirk Silva. The motion is do pass to Senate Appropriations Committee. [Roll call]

Okay, that currently has four votes. It will get out. We'll leave it open for absent Members. Thank you. Thank you to the witnesses. We're on a roll. Anybody else? Any authors here? No. Thank you, Assembly Member. See you later. No, I'd like to get more. All right. I have Members that think it will be progress to do the consent calendar. So let's do the consent calendar. Do we have a motion on the consent calendar? We have a motion from Senator Jones. Please, madam Consultant, call the roll on the consent calendar.

[Roll Call]

The consent calendar currently has four votes. I hope everybody feels like that was progressive. We're still waiting for another author. For those of you who might have just arrived, we are waiting for authors to come and present their Bill.

So if you have a Bill before the Senate Committee of education and you'd like that Bill to be heard, please make your way to Committee hearing room 2100. We are honestly considering adjourning this meeting and moving those bills to the following week.

We were all excited. We thought for a second you were Assemblyman Brian but it's nice to see you. I'd welcome it at this point. All right, we are glad to see Assemblymember Cervantes welcome and good morning and we appreciate you will be presenting for Assemblymember Reyes. Is it correct AB 2033? Kind of. You do it. You may begin when ready.

Thank you, Mr. chair and Committee Members, for allowing me to present Assembly Bill 2033, the EBT Access for Student Empowerment act on behalf of Assemblymember Reyes. CalFresh benefits are critical in helping address student hunger and it is important that we make it possible for students to use these benefits on campuses. AB 2033 does two things.

First, it ensures that college students can use their food benefits by requiring at least one store on each college campus to apply to become an authorized electronic benefit transfer. EBT vendor. If approved, these stores would be required to accept EBT.

Secondly, this bill would ensure that students have easily accessible information on EBT vendors on and off campuses by requiring community colleges and CSUs and request the UC's to provide the USDA SNAP Realtor Locator link which provides up to 25 miles radius map on EBT vendors.

A California Student Aid Commission report notes that only 127,000 students receive CalFresh benefits and that one third of all post-secondary students in California experience food insecurity. While many CSU and UC campuses have basic need centers and basic need coordinators, the bill requires the CSU and requests the UC to establish these centers and coordinators.

Data demonstrates that students who experience food and housing challenges have lower grade point averages and graduation rates compared to students who have their basic needs met. AB 2033 will make it possible for students to focus on their education while having their basic needs met.

Here to testify in support of the bill, we have Valerie Valera as well, a Student Program Assistant at the San Joaquin Delta College Student Food Pantry, and Valeria Cantor Mendez, a student at UC Davis and Vice Chair of the UC Student Association.

Welcome to both the witnesses. You each have three minutes. Please proceed.

Good afternoon Chair Members. My name is Valerie Valera, a Student Program Assistant at San Joaquin Delta College Student Food Pantry. Today, I stand before you to advocate for the passing of AB 2033. This bill addresses a pressing issue that affects thousands of students across California, food insecurity.

As we all know, programs like CalFresh are vital for supporting low income Californians. However, despite eligibility, many post-secondary students are unable to access these benefits, resulting in a widespread spread food insecurity within our community colleges. According to Real College California 47% of California and community college students are food insecure.

AB 2033 seeks to change that by mandating that each public institution of higher education in California has at least one EBT accepting vendor on campus. This Bill aims to provide students with the means to utilize their EBT where they study.

Additionally, it calls for the establishment of basic needs centers and coordinators within our university systems, ensuring that students have access to vital resources and support. But behind every piece of legislation, there are real people with real stories. I am one of those people.

As a Student Program Assistant at San Joaquin Delta College Student Food Pantry, and a current student pursuing my bachelor's degree at Chico University, I have personally experienced the challenges of food insecurity. Like many others, I juggle responsibilities such as parenting and community campus and making it even harder to focus on my education.

I have seen firsthand the impact of food insecurity on students. I've experienced moments where basic necessities like food were out of reach due to limited options and lack of accessibility. AB 2033 is essential for students like me who are struggling to make ends meet while trying to better themselves through education.

Please stand with us addressing the critical issue of student food insecurity and I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Thank you very much. Welcome, Ms. Mendez

Hi, good morning. My name is Valeria Cantor Mendez. I'm a student at UC Davis and I'm the Vice Chair for the UC Student Association. I'm here to express my strong support for AB 2033. I personally come from an immigrant family. I was raised in Costa Rica until my senior year of high school.

I have an older sister who was often my guide and my role model. However, when we moved here, we both were forced to figure out higher education and I found that I could no longer look to her for her help and her support.

She enrolled at our local community college in 2019 and I enrolled at UC Davis in 2020. Throughout our journeys, I could see the difference between the resources that we had access to. I made numerous visits to the Aggie Compass Basic Needs Center to receive help navigating UC Davis while she was left to figure it out by herself.

AB 2033 would help increase food and basic needs access for community college students. I cannot tell you enough about the importance of EBT and food accessibility on college campuses.

Furthermore, basic needs centers help bridge gaps created by the high cost of attending a higher education institution, of being the first in your family to go to college, or coming from a low income background.

Currently, while many students are eligible for CalFresh benefits, the lack of EBT acceptance on campus can impose issues on students' health and academic success. Students may also not be aware that they are eligible in the first place.

It is vital that we give them the resources that they need to navigate these systems, such as centers and qualified coordinators. Basic needs centers provide the help and guidance needed to understanding CalFresh and addressing issues they face while in college, highlighting the importance of these centers and reaffirming their belonging on all college campuses.

In addition, the bill includes provisions for state reimbursements of any mandated costs, ensuring that local agencies and community colleges are not financially burdened by this implementation. This should incentivize institutions to continue working towards addressing food insecurity and accepting EBT on their campuses.

AB 2033 is a crucial step towards supporting the health and academic success of our community college students and all students across California. I urge you to support this bill and help create a more equitable and supportive environment for all students. Thank you for your time.

Thank you for your testimony. There are others here who'd like to register their support for the measurement. Please come forward. State your name, your organization, your position.

Anna Matthews with the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges. Proud co-sponsor of this bill.

Thank you.

Mitch Steiger with CFT, Union of Educators and Classified Professionals, also in support.

Thank you.

Stephanie Goldman, on behalf of the Student Senate for California Community Colleges, proud to sponsor.

Thank you.

Good morning. Daniela Rodriguez with the California Student Aid Commission in support.

Thank you very much. Do we have anyone here who'd like to testify in opposition to this measure? If so please come forward. Seeing none, we'll come back to the dais. Comments, questions, motions. Colleagues, I've got a motion from Senator Cortese. Would you like to close?

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to thank the students who are here to testify and those who are low students across our community college system, CSU systems, all of our college campuses, who we are supporting and really supporting their overall well-being and respectfully ask for your aye support.

Thank you. Appreciate that. Madam Consultant, we have a motion for Senator Cortese. Please call the roll.

File item nine, AB 2033. Reyes. The motion is do pass to the Senate Human Services Committee. [Roll Call]

The measure has three votes. We'll leave it open. Thank you very much. Thank you, especially the witnesses. Next, Assemblymember Bryan. Good to see you and welcome. Please, you'll be presenting AB 2046. You may proceed whenever you're ready.

Thank you. Good morning, Mr. Chair and Senators I come to present AB 2046, which would extend the sunset date for the authorization of single gendered schools and classes in LA USD. I'd like to accept the Committee Amendments and thank the Committee staff for working with my team.

In 2017, AB 23 unanimously passed to allow LA USD to continue operating their pilot program to address specific educational goals and have a biannual evaluation to track their results. These schools were established to support educational equity by increasing the representation of women and minorities in STEM and leadership roles.

Specifically, the Girls Academic Leadership Academy, which is located in my district, has been seeking to do just that. The evaluations during the pilot period were impacted significantly by the Covid-19 pandemic. Extending the sunset dates allows for a more comprehensive and uninterrupted evaluation of the program's long-term impacts.

AB 2046 will remain or will maintain all original provisions, including by annual evaluations, to ensure ongoing accountability. The amendments will make evaluation findings publicly available on the school district website to increase transparency. To give testimony, I'm joined by Anna Loakimedes with the Los Angeles Unified School District.

This bill sailed through consent across all Assembly Committees and on the Assembly Floor, and I respectfully ask for aye vote.

Ms. Loakimedes.

Good morning, Anna Loakimedes on behalf of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Los Angeles Unified is proud to sponsor Assembly Bill 2046, which will extend the sunset date of a pilot program authorizing school districts with daily attendance over 250,000 students to offer single gender educational options. Los Angeles Unified was first authorized to offer this option in 2017, with the passage of AB 23.

We have implemented three of these educational opportunities for students, each focused on STEM education and leadership opportunities. Los Angeles Unified is also the authorizer for the Girls Academic Leadership School, athletic leadership school, a charter school focused on health and wellness for middle school girls.

Pursuant to AB 23, Los Angeles Unified has contracted with an independent third-party research firm to conduct evaluations every two years of its pilot programs. The results are promising.

Students frequently outperform their peers at matched co-educational schools and report higher levels of feelings of belonging and acceptance at their school than the district average or average of peer schools. The analysis revealed that these schools and classes are accepting and supportive of LGBTQ students.

While these early research reports are promising, the three evaluations conducted thus far were substantially impacted by the disruptions of the Covid-19 pandemic. For this reason, we believe it is appropriate to extend the authorization for the pilot program to allow for a longitudinal assessment that is not impacted by a public health crisis.

Los Angeles Unified is committed to ensuring all of our students receive an option to choose their best educational setting so they can thrive in college, career and life. And these schools are providing that option for students and families who choose to enroll students there. For these reasons, we respectfully request your aye vote.

Thank you very much. Any others who are here to testify in support of the measure, please.

Mr. Chair, Members. Amy Brown, on behalf of the California Charter Schools Association in support.

Thank you. Anybody else? Is there anybody here who'd like to testify in opposition to the measure? Seeing none, let's come back to the desk. Questions, Comments from my colleague, Senator Jones.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My understanding is that this Committee is asking for amendments to this bill that would eliminate some of the protections in the single gender schools, meaning that kids that identify as the other gender, opposite gender of their birth could be enrolled in the single gender school of which they identify with. Is that accurate?

I believe that's generally accurate, but let me defer the author here. Go ahead.

Yeah, with the as much as I would have loved no Committee Amendments and to sail through on consent in this house as well, I think what these amendments actually just do is codify what's already happening in practice.

The Girls Athletic Leadership School, for example, currently promotes serving girls plus, which it describes as students who are gender fluid, transgendered students who identify as girls, non-binary students, and everything in between.

I think the goal here is to close the excellence gaps that we are noticing between genders, but also for students who are non-binary or gender fluid. The school is already doing this. I think the Amendments just clarify and codify that that's allowed.

Okay, I appreciate that answer. And that's kind of what I expected as well. You know, I think the single gender schools are a great idea. I would, you know, I support this concept totally. With those Amendments, though, it causes me some concern. I have a daughter. I have two boys.

If my daughter wanted to go to a single gender school and play volleyball, which she did play volleyball in high school and in college, I would have a really difficult time of her playing against a six foot seven, 200 pound male. And so for that concern, I'll be voting no today. Sorry about that.

What if it was a five foot four? I forget.

She is five foot four. What if she's tougher than most six foot seven boys, by the way.

Okay. Interesting that you focused on the six foot seven piece.

That's how tall most male volleyball players are.

Appreciate that. No wonder I wasn't very good. Any other questions or comments from the dais? No. No, if I were five inches taller, I wouldn't be here. And I think we do have some concerns. So is there a tweener here? Derek Lennox.

Oh, I'm sorry. Different bill. Different bill.

Different bill. Thank you, consultant. Sorry. Do I have a motion? We do. Okay. Would you like to close?

Appreciate that. We have a motion for Senator Cortese. Madam Consultant, please call the roll.

Respectfully ask for. I vote.

Final item, 10. AB 2046. Brian? The motion is do pass as amended, to the Senate Judiciary Committee. [Roll Call]

All right, well, that measure currently has two votes for, one against. We will leave it open. Assemblymember Bryan, thank you. And thank you to your witness. Appreciate you being here. All right, next up we have Assemblymember Wilson. Welcome. Glad to have you here. No, you're not. You're not. You're not speaking in. We're glad to see you.

You will be presenting AB 3223, and you may proceed when ready.

Thank you. Well, good morning, Mister chair. Members of the Committee. I'm pleased to present AB 3223, which would clarify the applicability of the Foster Youth Services Coordinating Program and also serving youth with WIC 602 position who have been identified as title 4E candidate and a risk of placement.

Currently, the education code establishes, and I'm going to abbreviate the previous word by FYSCP, includes foster youth in the child welfare system and our in placement, as well as youth who remain in the home and are receiving family maintenance services.

Also included as eligible youth for this program are youth with a WIC 602 petition who have been made wards of the court and ordered into foster care. However, youth that probation works with that are subject to, and I'm going to say WIC.

Just to be clear, 602 petition, a risk of placement as identified as title 4E candidates, which are similar in nature to child welfare, youth and family maintenance, are not expressly included.

The services provided via the FYC SCP would be beneficial to these youth in their educational development, but also is not expressly reflected in the educational code, Section 42921.

By expressly clarifying that these youth are eligible for these types of services, it supports parity for this population of youth and allows for them to receive educational supports, mentoring, tutoring and other services through the County Office of Education with the goal of supporting their educational needs and an effort to help provide stability in the home and mitigate risk of placement.

With me here to testify is Danielle Sanchez on behalf of chief Probation officers of California.

Good morning, Miss Sanchez. Welcome. Please proceed.

Good morning, chair and Members. Danielle Sanchez, on behalf of the Chief Probation Officers of California, pleased to be the sponsor of this Bill and very much appreciate the Assembly Members work with us on this.

Probation chiefs recognize the very important role that education plays in a youth's life, particularly those that are being served in the juvenile justice system and foster care systems, in providing stability and pathways for their future.

Probation chiefs are always looking for efforts and practices to keep youth from coming into contact in the system in the first place, but then also looking at how do we build those lasting supports and pathways to help direct them out of the system in a sustainable way.

This Bill really is about that goal and about seeking to provide parity for a specific population of youth who are similarly situated to youth in the child welfare system, often which who have many of the same childhood experiences and would benefit from these services.

Our goal in doing this is in large part that if we can keep youth and families stabilized in their home before having to enter placement, and we know education is a critical component among many in doing that.

That, in turn helps to mitigate potential foster youth placements and having to be removed from the home and ending up in a foster care placement. We see this both as advancing the youth's educational supports, supporting their family, and preventing further placement into a system and keeping them stabilized in the home.

So these supports, certainly we recognize through the county offices of education, as partners with probation and providing many services to these types of youth, that this is an important effort to make sure that we're giving mentoring, tutoring and related services again to a similarly situated set of youth from our perspective.

So for those reasons, we're pleased to sponsor this measure. Ask for your aye vote today.

Thank you very much. Are there any others who'd like to register their support for this measure? If so, please come forward. Seeing none, is there anyone here who'd like to speak in opposition or register their opposition measure? Seeing none, let's come back to the dais, colleagues. We have a tweener. Here's the tweener. Please.

Thank you very much. Good morning chair and Members, I'm Derick Lennox with the California County Superintendents that represent 58 county superintendents of schools that operate these foster youth services, coordinating programs to support districts and students in foster care.

Our position on AB 3223 is one of concern, but I want to acknowledge the many collaborative conversations that we've had with the author's office and with the sponsors. And I also want to start by acknowledging assemblymember Wilson for her special focus on this student population.

We're talking about children on probation who are in the home but at imminent risk of removal. We know from the research that adjudicated youth often have as much exposure to trauma and adverse childhood experiences as children in foster care. So we're very sensitive to that. But with that acknowledgement, we respectfully have two concerns with the Bill.

The first is to ensure that the current services that these coordinating programs offer to foster youth are not reduced or harmed in any way by the addition of new students being served without additional funding. The fixed pot of money right now that goes to them.

And second is there is currently no system that offers a regular data match between county probation and school agencies such that schools could identify the students under the Bill. We hope that something like this will exist in the future.

We would then be unable to operationalize this Bill, but until then we regret that this probably wouldn't be an implementable Bill for us on the foster youth services coordinating side. But I will end where I started.

We are talking about a student population with significant needs, and I appreciate that this Bill is promoting a conversation about those needs. We're not doing enough as an educational system for all of our students, including this special population. So on behalf of the 58 county superintendents of schools, I look forward to many more conversations to come. And thank you.

Thank you once again, is anybody in opposition? Seeing none come back to the dais. You got a motion, Senator, let me to Mister Lennox's point about implementability. I assume that's something that you'll continue working with the Superintendent side?

Absolutely, absolutely. I think that the original students within this population are the priority, and then this is inclusion. Recognizing that if we can be proactive in this area, then we can risk further trauma to these additional students.

And so we'll figure out how to have that in language and as well as recognizing that, especially in a year like this year, that funding is an issue. And when you're adding expanding the universe, that could be problematic to existing students. And that's why I think there is an opportunity, particularly to prioritize the existing students.

I appreciate that. But to that question about sharing data, making sure you matching, if you could speak to that, because that seems to me to be the more important of. The two concerns, right?

Figuring out how to do that. And so we are having those kind of conversations. And so I'm absolutely open and willing to that. If we can get that language in there, figure out what's the best way to get that language in there to ensure that there's sharing capabilities, we will do that.

That's not an issue like both, both of the concerns that were brought up as the tweener and the County Board of Education and our Superintendents, we want to address those. And so it's just a matter of how. And sometimes it takes a minute to figure out the how.

Sometimes more than a minute.

We only have a minute left, so.

I'm glad to support it. I appreciate your willingness to work with the superintendents to do that. We have a motion from Senator Cortese. Would you like to close?

Just to say that I appreciate not only the sponsors of the Bill, this is extremely important issue and it really is a proactive measure to ensure that we reduce the amount of trauma and recognize that students who are youth, who are in immediate risk of placement need these types of services, as well as recognizing our superintendents play a vital role in oversight to these type of students and we want to give them the resources that they need to be able to implement this effectively.

And I'm absolutely committed to doing that. I do not want a Bill that is a good Bill at a macro level. I want a Bill that actually will work and that will be able to see progress for these students who are the vulnerable part of our community. And we all know as legislators, that is our role, to protect the vulnerable. And so with that, I respect, respectfully ask for your aye votes.

I appreciate that. Thank you. We have a motion for Senator Cortese, Madam Secretary.

[Roll Call]

That measure currently has four votes. We'll leave it open for the time being. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Assemblymember McCarty, it's great to see you. And that is a spiffy summer suit. And welcome. You will be presenting AB 2076. And you may proceed when ready.

Yes, thank you, Mister chair. This is a topic you may be familiar with about building additional student housing in California. We created last year in the budget and two years ago through statute, the student housing revolving loan Fund.

Unfortunately, with the budget situation, we don't have a lot of General Fund Dollars laying around to invest in building new student housing. And we know the cost of students in going to college is tremendous. It's not only tuition, it's food, it's transportation, it's books. But the big cost is housing.

And so college campuses are trying to build more student housing to meet the current needs of students, but also as we attempt to grow and enroll more Californians in UC and CSU, so desperately trying to find tools to help the UC and CSU fund additional student housing.

This is an idea that came about through talking to the segments looking for a creative way to put money on the table. This would authorize. It wouldn't actually put money on the table.

It would authorize, through the budget process, the ability to borrow money from the Pooled Money Investment account into the Student Housing Revolving Fund to provide needed resources for UC and CSU to build additional student housing. With me today is a representative from the office of the President. Respectfully ask for your aye vote. Thank you so much.

Thank you very much. Mister Guerra, welcome. Please proceed.

Good morning. Did I just turn it on? Thank you. Good morning, Mister chair. Members of the Committee, my name is Mario Guerrero. I am the Legislative Director for business operation for the University of California. Thank you for having me here. Today, the University has significant demand for on campus student housing.

This is demonstrated by the over 16,000 students who were wait listed for campus housing in fall of 2023. The revolving Fund would be an important tool in helping the University finance additional beds.

The loan Fund provides a lower cost from a form of financing which would allow the University to extend its resources and ensure campus student housing remains affordable. Under this program, the University would pay back any loan it receives and 3% interest in the loan.

This is a lower interest rate than the University could get with its own financing. It would mean that there would be some project savings that could be passed on to students every year for the 30 year term of the loan.

I should also note that the University would be using its General revenue bond financing along with a revolving loan Fund to finance any student housing project. Having access to the revolving loan Fund would help the University finance additional student housing beds faster than we could with other means of financing.

In addition, since the Fund is revolving, the Fund that is paid back to the revolving Fund could also be redeployed for future student housing projects. Thank you again for your time, and we urge your support and thank you.

For your testimony to others in support of the measure. Please come forward. Welcome.

Good morning. Eric Bakke with the California State University office of the chancellor. Strong support. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Anybody else in support? Is anybody here in opposition? The measure? So please come forward. Seeing none, let's come back to the Committee Members. Questions. Comments? Senator Jones.

Quick concern. There's some concern that this is a budget item and actually should go through the budget process. Do you want to. Can you speak to that?

Yeah. In the Bill, it says upon appropriation, so this states statutory authority to do so. There have been several ideas flowed the last few years during budget times to use money in our state pooled account for state purposes, and this would authorize this to happen.

And we think this one's a little bit different because, as the UC said, they would pay interest on it as well. So the state, you know, wouldn't necessarily have much as much of a loss. So it is a policy and budget thing working in tandem, but it does, say, subject to appropriation and action of the budget.

Okay. I'm on appropriations as well, so I'm gonna lay off today and look at it in corporations. Thank you.

For my part. I appreciate your creativity and your commitment to getting this done. I'm of the belief that the housing deficit across campuses in California is one of the biggest, most pressing issues we have to solve for our students, has a huge impact on the quality of education.

So I do commend you on all your work on this. And to your point, this is subject to appropriations. That's a separate matter, but as a matter of policy, I'm glad to support it today. Do we have a motion, Senator Wilk? Any other comments, colleagues? No. Would you like to close?

Yeah. Like you said, this is such a key issue, not just for current students affording college, but we're trying to get, you know, tens of thousands or more Californians who are applying to UC at record numbers with amazing grades, trying to get them slots into UC.

And UC and CSUs come back and they say, there's one issue, housing. So this is key to our higher education goals in the long run.

And, you know, one of the things I'm most proud about working on, I created this student housing Fund, and we had $1.8 billion in the budget last year over three years, and that's just not there anymore. So what do we do? Do we throw up our hands and be like, we can't do it? No.

Thank you. We have a motion from Senator Wilk . Madam, please call the roll,

We have to look for creative ways to achieve the goals that we're after. So this is what this would do. And it's a tool in the toolbox. We're talking to the, the Administration and legislative leadership about potentially using this to build more student housing. And respectfully ask your aye vote. Thank you.

File item 13, AB 2076. McCarty. The motion is do pass to the Senate Appropriations Committee. [Roll Call]

All right, that measure currently has two votes. Assemblymember will leave it open for absent Members. Thank you.

Three votes.

Three votes. I'm sorry. And Assembly Member Rivas, welcome. You are more than welcome. And you will be presenting AB 2377. Please proceed when ready.

Good morning, Mister chair and Senators. I want to start by thanking your Committee staff for working with my office on this Bill. AB 2377 seeks to provide accommodations for students practicing religious fasting by offering them a modified exercise regimen or providing them with academic assignments related to physical education.

Specifically, this Bill requires written permission from parents for students under 18 to request PE accommodations. Fasting is the act of refraining completely or partially from consuming anything of sustenance. During Ramadan, Muslims fast every day for 30 days from sunrise to sunset as a spiritual discipline.

People in the Jewish community who observe Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year in Judaism, practice a day long fast, intensive prayer that requires full abstention from food and liquids. Additionally, several Christian denominations practice full or partial fasting on certain occasions, including Lent.

Other states have recognized the need to provide proper accommodations for students observing religious fasting, with Illinois passing House Bill 160, which permits students to avoid rigorous physical activity during periods of religious fasting.

Currently, students from grades one through eight are required to complete 200 minutes every 10 school days, and students from nine through 12 are required 400 minutes every 10 school days to fulfill their PE requirements. There are no guidelines within the school system that provide accommodations for students who are fasting during the PE portion of the day.

The implications of fasting in the summer days are even more dangerous as factors like sweltering heat can create dangerous situations for students, such as headaches, dehydration, which may lead to fainting during exercise.

Today I have with me to provide testimony Rose Haidari, President of the Afghan Student Association from Laguna Creek High School, and Fawzia Farouk, policy and advocacy coordinator from the Council on American Islamic Relations.

Who is first Miss Haidara, welcome.

Thank you. Thank you. Chair, Vice Chair and Members, my name is Rose Haidari. I'm a student and the President of the Afghan Student Association and the President of the Muslim Student Association at Laguna Creek High School.

As a student that has participated in physical education for more than three years while in the State of religious fast, I recall experiencing extreme physical exhaustion after the activities. I can strongly affirm that physical exhaustion impacts a student's ability to focus and perform well in other academic areas.

Having reduced energy levels resulted in fatigue, which made it very difficult to concentrate and be engaged in my other important academic courses. Excusing students that are in the State of religious fasting will allow them to conserve their energy for their academic work, supporting better overall educational performance.

Participating in PE while fasting brought upon a lot of not only physical discomfort but as well as mental. It negatively impacted my ability to grasp new concepts, participate in discussions, and complete work in my other classes effectively, which overall limited my learning.

Thus, AB 2377 is very important as it will allow students to maintain their mental well being, which leads to a more positive school experience. Furthermore, excusing fostering students from physical education aligns with the educational principles of safety while also promoting a supportive, accommodative learning environment.

I request the community just vote and thank you for the opportunity to testify.

Thank you for your testimony. Miss Farouk, welcome.

Thank you. Thank you chair, Vice Chair and Committee Members, my name is Fozia Farouk and I'm the policy and advocacy coordinator at the Council on American Islamic Relations. We proudly sponsor AB 2377 a Bill that resonates deeply with my own school experiences and those of many students across California.

Reflecting back on my school journey, I faced repeated challenges during Ramadan when fasting made participating in physical education both difficult and unsafe. Like many others, I had to navigate the conflict between adhering to my religious practices and fulfilling school PE requirements, often risking my health and academic standing.

Currently, while students with medical needs can receive exemptions, those observing religious fasts lack similar accommodations. This gap impacts not just physical health, but also academic performance and emotional well being, fostering a sense of exclusion.

AB 2377 seeks to bridge this gap by allowing students to be excused from physical activities during religious fasting, ensuring they are not penalized academically. This Bill represents a step towards a more inclusive, respectful educational environment.

Drawing on successful precedents like Illinois House Bill 160, which similarly provides accommodations for students observing religious fasts, AB 2377 aligns with established practices supporting student health and inclusion.

This comparison underscores the importance and feasibility of such measures, I urge you to support AB 2377 affirming our commitment to an educational system that honors diversity and supports every student's right to participate fully and safely. Excuse me. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Is there any others here would like to testify in support of the measure? Mister Steiger.

Thank you. Anybody else? Does anybody here who'd like to testify?

Thank you, Mister chair. Mitch Steiger with CFT, a union of educators and classified professionals. Also in support.

An opposition this measure, seeing none, come back to Committee Members? Questions, comments for the authors? Moves the Bill. Senator Wilk. Moves the Bill. Okay. Glad to support the Bill. Would you like to close?

Thank you, Mister chair. In addition to our sponsors, I'd also like to thank my legislative aide, Omar that proposed this Bill idea to me based on his own experiences during Ramadan. I respectfully ask for an aye vote.

File Item 19, AB 2377. Luz Rivas. The motion is do pass to the Senate Judiciary Committee. [Roll Call]

Thank you. We do have a motion from Senator Wilk. Madam, please call the roll

That measure has four votes. We'll leave it over for the time being, but it will pass. Thank you to the witnesses for being here today.

Thank you.

Thank you. And that brings us to our last measure from assemblymember Mathis. Looking for Senator Wilk. You'll be presenting.

Senator Wilk will present. Never stopped him before. All right, I understood it sounds like a plan. All right. You will be presenting on behalf the assemblymember AB 960. And you may proceed whenever you're ready. That's how good this Bill is.

Thank you for being. Thank you for. Thank you for your patience.

That's like HIPAA information.

I don't know if they told you I was. I was at training session.

We would tell them that we covered for it. Did not show. It's all very professional. Appreciate your conscientiousness.

Well, so I think that's what the ACLU's concerns are as well, because, I mean, when I was reading the Bill, that had crossed my mind, and I know he's been having conversations with them. This is coming to judiciary next if it gets out of this Committee today.

I hate being the only responsible one in the room. Yes. All right. Mister Chairman and Members, good morning. Today on. Today, on behalf of Assemblyman Mathis I'm presenting AB 960.

I'd like to start because I know you're going to ask, Mister Chairman that the assemblyman has accepted the Committee amendments and would like to thank the Committee chair and staff for working diligently with their office. The Bill is a response to a tragic rise of school shootings.

And I will tell you from own personal experience, a school shooting can happen anywhere. Back on November 4, 2019 I was hiking three times a week to lose weight, which I did. Of course, I gained it all back.

But I came home about 7;30 in the morning, and the TV set is on, and I'm looking at a shot down and go, that looks like my neighborhood. And it was my neighborhood, because down at the bottom of the hill is the high school that my children had attended, and there was a shooting there.

Two students killed, two more wounded. Actually three students, because the shooter took his own life. And everybody that you talk to is familiar with the area - this is like the last school that they would ever think that would occur, but it, in fact, did occur.

So AB 960 would further this effort by encouraging the public, in terms of making schools safer by encouraging the public and charter schools with an enrollment of 100 pupils or more to implement a web based or app based school safety program by July 1,2030.

This Bill was inspired by an app called ActVNet, developed by the Tulare Office of Education, which maps school grounds to help coordinate emergency responses by law enforcement. The app proved incredibly effective during live, on site trial events with law enforcement. The average time to apprehend or eliminate the suspect was 53 seconds.

When crisis, as such as school shootings occur, every second counts. And we owe it to our students and school facilities to do all we can to ensure that they go home to save families. This Bill will help make this goal a reality. I respectfully ask for your aye vote. And with me today is my star witness.

Welcome, star witness. Please proceed.

Greg Hurner, on behalf of the Eric Paredes Save A Life Foundation and other Members of the Youth Heart Coalition, these foundations have been born out of tragedy, the loss of a child from sudden cardiac arrests on campuses. We are supporting this Bill because of its co benefits.

Sudden cardiac arrest is actually the number one killer of youth on campus. And I know a lot of people throw statistics around, but if you actually look at it, it is.

And we believe that having this type of emergency information available on an app or other thing is going to be critical to saving youth lives and other people that are frequenting our schools. I actually have pulled up the Pulse Point AED app here, which provides the location of over 200 AEDS in downtown Sacramento.

This is the type of information you can glean from using an app like this, and response time is critical to saving lives. California has only 8% survival rate for students on campuses. If you had an AED within the first few minutes of somebody collapsing, that could go up to 90%.

And we'd like to also just mention and thank Senator Jones and Senator Becker for co authoring SR98, which will be up on the 17th, which will recognize sudden cardiac arrest October, sudden cardiac arrest month, to bring more attention to this. Matter of fact, Senator Becker just lost a student in his district just weeks ago.

So this is a very timely and important measure from that, from that standpoint and from all the co benefits standpoints that we can get from this. Thank you.

Thank you. So it does appear you're talking about two different things, but we're talking generally about response to on campus safety incidents.

I'm just a pretty face.

Okay. Any other comments from questions from Members?

No. We got to have the pros and the cons first.

I'm so sorry. So, Members, Members of public and support, I'm sorry. Would you like to explain support or opposition? A tweener. Tweener. Tweener's good.

Becca Cramer-Mowder on behalf ACLU California Action, we don't have an official position. Just wanted to thank the author's office for working with us on our concerns. We're hopeful that they can be addressed in the next Committee.

Appreciate that. Next, please

Hi, Catalina Sanchez with Electronic Frontier Foundation. And again, we also thank the author for working with us. We look forward to continuing our work. Thank you.

All right. Very good. Thanks you. And , his proxy. Thanks you. Going back to the Committee? Did I ask for opposition? There is no opposition. Right. So. All right. Do we have a motion? Senator Cortes, you have a question? Please. zero, I'm sorry. I'm not doing very well here.

On the plans where in terms of the mapping and the exits and all of the, what's the privacy and protection? Because if in the wrong hands, they could also.

And I've been told that he's confident that all those concerns are going to be addressed with amendments when it comes to judicial.

Okay. Yeah. I mean, I, on the face of it, I understand the opportunity for quick response, but I also know in the wrong hands it might create more harm for students if someone knows all of the exits, emergency plans and so forth.

Go ahead. Yeah, go ahead.

Yeah. And it's also a careful balancing act because we want to make sure that information that does need to be protected is protected, but also that information that has a reason to be disclosed needs to be disclosed.

And so, for example, wanting to make sure that folks who are checking these emergency plans to make sure that they are accessible for students with disabilities, for example, also have access to this information.

And so that's part of what we are working with the author's office on, is what that balance is to ensure that there's public disclosure for records that are important for the public to know and that there's also privacy protections, For example, we also wouldn't want to accidentally disclose information about students in any of this. And so working on that balance with the author's office.

But those concerns apply equally to printed matter, correct?

Right. Which my understanding is much of it is available for disclosure and sharing with the public.

Yeah. And I appreciate that. I've gotten a briefing from one of the companies that offers this app based service. And so their assertion is that this is thoroughly protected, that it uses data from inside, but it doesn't disclose that data to the outside by way of identifying where a threat might be or mapping and providing information to first responders.

And so pretty clear that if you wrote that down, that's probably more susceptible to a privacy breach than digitally. So, I mean, clearly there's work to be done here, but, you know, the privacy concerns are not unique to the digital version of this.

Correct.

Okay, well, I guess it's going to be up to the Senate to do the Assembly's work.

You said that. I did not. You're doing a fine thing.

I think Senator Cortese had a question as well.

Yes, please.

It's really more of a similar comment. I know that the, because of work I've done here and also prior in my local government experience that this, the school safety plans are filed with the state in March. Those plans themselves are sort of basically, you know, narrative types of plans.

They're not, you know, school site detail as called out in this Bill. So I have almost no problem with putting up the school safety plans on a public facing web base or Internet based site.

I do have significant concerns with putting up detail around, you know, that would show things like where security cameras are and where they're not, where power boxes are that can be shut down and where they're not on a web based, web based, you know, platform. What I think would.

Would make more sense to me, and, you know, maybe judicial will figure this all out, as you're saying, is on that kind of information to have, you know, some kind of secure drive that is distributed out to first responders so they have that information.

But short of putting it on a web based platform, I think once you do that, we get into a whole bunch of other issues, including, I know something that our colleague Senator Humberg is quite familiar with, which is federal Section 230, which then disallows you to file any kind of suit.

If that information is moved along somewhere either shared or hacked or uploaded or downloaded, there is no state, possible state action that you could bring to have it removed.

We've seen it with CSAM, we've seen it with just about everything that we've tried to create a state action for in terms of addressing nefarious activities that move information around on the Internet.

So I think hopefully they'll figure it out if they haven't figured it out by the time, and that's really what my comment boils down to, by the time it gets to the fore and that piece is still left the way it is right now, pretty sure I would stay off or vote on the floor.

But I do like the rest of the public facing information because I think those school safety plans have not been disseminated very well among, you know, the community, parents, teachers.

So what's really interesting about that, again, because of the school shooting. So the school safety plan for Saugus High School, 150 pages long, it's a book because I printed it out, but they drill, they do drills all the time. And when that happened, those kids, it was like clockwork.

It was really amazing how they filed out, they went to the safe spot, which was a quite large park across the street. And the California Department of Education was like, that's exactly how you're supposed to do it.

So those plans, I don't know if they, my kids aren't in school anymore, but if they get distributed, but they should. But those students are drilled on what to do and not to do. True. And it saves lives.

And I'm on judiciary as well.

I appreciate that, Vice Chair.

Thank you, Mister chair, and I appreciate your comments, Senator Cortesian. You know, in the absence of the author, you know, to your point, we probably have to work these issues through, hopefully with the author.

I will say, you know, the analysis notes that the fear of school shootings is a real thing. And I was a participant in a career day at my kids school recently, and I was struck as I got into the later grades, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th grade, that was the one thing that kids wanted to talk about, their fear of shootings, fear of on campus school shooters.

And giving them the assurance that there is a program and a response process in place is probably really important.

oh, absolutely. So I was at a rural elementary school, I think fourth grade, because that's when they learn about California history to speak. And I asked them, what. What. What law would you like me to introduce? And a little girl said, we need metal detectors at our school. So I feel safe.

And this is like, in the middle of nowhere, so it's. It's prevalent and it's everywhere. And we need to do all we can to ensure the safety of our children.

I'll move it as a courtesy.

All right, so Senator Cortese moves the Bill. Would you like to close on behalf of the Assembly Member?

I appreciate that. So we have a motion, or do we have any motion from Senator Glazer, I believe. No, it wasn't Glazer. Senator. Smallwood Cuevas, did you make a motion? No. No, we don't.

Don't leave me hanging out to drive with Assemblyman Mathis. Kill it in the next Committee if you're gonna kill it. No, I mean, I know. I look at. We all are looking to do what's right for our students. Clearly this needs more work.

I pledge to you that I'll make sure that the assemblyman gets that done for you. And respectfully ask for an aye vote.

All right, we have a motion for Senator Cortese. Mister Horner, thank you for your testimony. Madam, please call the roll file.

Item three, AB 960, Mathis. The motion is do pass as amended, to the Senate Judiciary [Roll Call]

Thank you, Mister. Six votes and it is out. So thank you very much and thank you again. Let's go back to the first item on the agenda. And how are you going to do it? Let's start with the consent calendar. We're going to reopen the roll on consent. And madam consultant, please proceed on the consent calendar.

[Roll Call]

All right, consent calendars out. Seven votes to zero. Next item, please file item nine.

AB 2033. Reyes motion is due past the Senate Human Services Committee. Current vote is three ayes and no nos, with the chair and Vice Chair voting aye. [Roll Call]

That measures at seven votes to zero.

Next, please file item 10, AB 2046. Brian. Motion is do pass as amended, to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Current vote is two ayes and one no, with the chair voting aye and the Vice Chair voting no. Glazer Glazer, aye Gonzalez, aye Gonzalez, aye. Small Wood cuevas. Small Wood cuevas, aye.

All right, that measure is out five votes to 1655. Next motion.

File item 12, AB 2137. Quirk Silva. The motion is do pass to the Senate Appropriations Committee. The current vote is four ayes and no no's, with the chair and Vice Chair voting aye. [Roll Call]

That measure is out seven votes to zero.

Next, please file item 13, AB 2076. Mccarty motion is do pass to the Senate Appropriations Committee. Current vote is three ayes and no nos. [Roll Call]

That measures up six votes to zero.

Next, please file item 19, AB 2377. Luz Rivas. Motion is do pass to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The current vote is four ayes and no Nos with the chair and Vice Chair voting aye. [Roll Call]

And that measures out seven votes to zero.

And last item, file item 24, AB 3223. Wilson Motion is do pass to the Senate Appropriations Committee. Current vote is four ayes and no nos with the chair and Vice Chair voting aye. [Roll Call]

All right, that measures out seven votes to zero. That closes the roll. That completes our hearing for today. This hearing of the Senate Committee education is adjourned. Thank you very much to staff and to the sergeants.