All 12 Bills in "A Call to Action" Legislative Package Pass the First House

SACRAMENTO, CA – This week, the California State Legislature passed each bill in the “A Call to Action” Legislative Package out of the first house.

The 12-bill package is based predominately on the Assembly Higher Education Committee’s report, “A Call to Action,” and aims to address and prevent sex discrimination and sexual harassment at California’s public higher education institutions.

As Chair of the Assembly Higher Education Committee, Assemblymember Mike Fong (D-Alhambra) coordinated the bill package and introduced two of the bills, Assembly Bill 2047 and Assembly Bill 2048.

AB 2047 establishes a systemwide Office of Civil Rights to oversee policies at the California State University (CSU) and University of California (UC) as well as establish a campus-based Title IX office on each UC and CSU campus. AB 2048 establishes a working group comprised of community college students, faculty, staff and administrators to evaluate the effectiveness of existing policies and make recommendations to improve how community college campuses are detecting, addressing and preventing sexual harassment.  Both bills passed out of the Assembly with bipartisan support and no “no votes.”

“The passage of our legislative package, in its entirety, is a pivotal step the Legislature is taking to strengthen sex discrimination and sexual harassment policies, oversight and accountability,” said Assemblymember Mike Fong. “Sexual harassment on college campuses denies students access to the power and promise of higher education and has no place in our higher education institutions. I thank the Legislature, especially the 10 other legislative authors of this package, for standing with survivors.”


The bills that are a part of the “A Call to Action” Legislative Package are listed below:

• AB 810 (Friedman): Requires all public higher education institutions to implement UC Davis’ policy to conduct employment verification checks to determine if an applicant for an athletic, academic or administrative position has any substantiated allegations of misconduct from their previous employer.
   
• AB 1790 (Connolly): Requires the CSU to implement recommendations from the State Audit by January 1, 2026 and submit additional reports on the CSU’s status in implementing the California State Auditor’s recommendations.
   
• AB 1905 (Addis): Places parameters around retreat rights, letters of recommendations, and settlements for employees who have a substantiated sexual harassment complaint.
   
• AB 2047 (Mike Fong): Requires the CSU and the UC to establish a systemwide office of Civil Rights to oversee and monitor the system’s efforts to prevent and address sex discrimination and sexual harassment on campus. The measure also requires each campus of the CSU and UC to establish a campus-based Title IX office to assist in addressing sexual harassment complaints that occur on campus.
   
• AB 2048 (Mike Fong): Requires the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges (CCC) to establish a community college sexual harassment and Title IX working group to examine and provide recommendations to improve existing policies for how CCCs address and prevent sex discrimination.
   
• AB 2326 (Alvarez): Requires the leadership of the CCC, CSU and UC to present to the Legislature on their efforts to address and prevent discrimination on campus, and clarifies the entities who are responsible for ensuring campus programs are free from discrimination.
   
• AB 2407 (Hart): Requires the California State Auditor to conduct an audit every three years to examine the CCC, CSU and UC’s ability to address and prevent sexual harassment on campus.
   
• AB 2492 (Irwin): Establishes additional positions on campus to assist students, faculty and staff during the adjudication of a complaint of sexual harassment. These positions are separate from the Title IX office and can assist in connecting students to the Title IX office and provide support.
   
• AB 2608 (Gabriel): Requires campuses to include drug-facilitated sexual assault prevention training to their sexual harassment training.
   
• AB 2987 (Ortega): Mandates CCC and CSU, and requests UC campuses to provide timely updates on the outcomes of sex discrimination and sexual harassment cases to those involved.
   
• SB 1166 (Dodd): Establishes annual reporting requirements for the CCC and the CSU, while also requesting the UC to conduct an annual report on the outcomes of sexual harassment complaints filed with the each campus, and a summary of how each campus has worked to prevent sex discrimination.
   
• SB 1491 (Eggman): Establishes a notification process by which students who attend a private postsecondary education institutions are informed of their right to disclose discriminatory events to the US Department of Education even if their institution is exempt from Title IX.

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Assemblymember Mike Fong represents the 49th Assembly District, which includes the cities of Alhambra, Arcadia, El Monte, Monterey Park, Rosemead, San Gabriel, San Marino, South Pasadena and Temple City, and the unincorporated areas of Pasadena and San Gabriel.  He serves as the Chair of the Assembly Higher Education Committee and the Assembly Vice Chair of the Asian American Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus.