Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, administered by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in the state. Existing law establishes community college districts throughout the state under the administration of community college district governing boards.

Existing law prohibits a person from being subjected to discrimination on the basis of specified attributes, including, among others, disability, gender, nationality, race or ethnicity, or immigration status, in a program or activity conducted by a postsecondary educational institution that receives, or benefits from, state financial assistance or enrolls students who receive state student financial aid, including, among others, community colleges.

This bill would require the board of governors, on or before June 1, 2027, and every 3 years thereafter, to enter into a contract with a managing entity, as defined, to administer on behalf of the California Community Colleges external resolution services for civil rights compliance, including, among other services, developing and recommending a nondiscrimination policy, assisting the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges in developing a campus discrimination prevention training program for students and employees, and addressing grievances and complaints alleging discrimination, as specified. The bill would also require the board of governors to approve and annually update the nondiscrimination policy recommended by the managing entity, require the governing boards of community college districts to adopt the policy, and impose a fine on community college districts that do not adopt the policy, as provided. The bill would further require community college districts to designate a staff person as a Title IX coordinator tasked with specified duties, including, among others, responding to complaints alleging discrimination and maintaining a record system of files on those complaints, as specified. The bill would establish, for a complainant or respondent dissatisfied with an administrative decision made by the managing entity or the Title IX coordinator regarding the outcome of the complaint, a process to appeal that decision to the chancellor’s office, as provided.

This bill would establish in the State Treasury the External Resolution Services Fund as a continuously appropriated fund, thereby making an appropriation, for the payment of the above-described services rendered by the managing entity, as provided. The bill would require a community college district to deposit into the fund the district’s proportional share of the payment for the services rendered by the managing entity in the prior fiscal year based on the number of full-time equivalent students in the community college district, as provided. If a community college district does not pay its proportional share into the fund, the bill would require that amount to be withheld from the community college district’s 2nd principal apportionment.