AB1730 - Community colleges: external resolution services for civil rights compliance: managing entity and civil rights coordinator.

Amended IN Assembly April 23, 2026 Amended IN Assembly March 19, 2026 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION Assembly Bill No. 1730 Introduced by Assembly Member Fong February 05, 2026 An act to add the heading of Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 70900) to, and to add Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 70920) to, Part 43 of Division 7 of Title 3 of the Education Code, relating to community colleges, and making an appropriation therefor. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1730, as amended, Fong. Community colleges: external resolution services for civil rights compliance: managing entity and Title IX civil rights coordinator. 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, within one year of appropriation, 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 an annual 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, entity and 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 districts, within one year of appropriation, to designate a staff person as a Title IX civil rights 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. By imposing new duties on community college districts, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. This bill, for the 2026–27 fiscal year, would appropriate $100,000,000 from the General Fund to the California Community Colleges to fund external resolution services for civil rights compliance provided by the managing entity, as provided. Digest Key Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: YES Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YES Bill Text The people of the State of California do enact as follows: SECTION 1. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (1) California has long been at the forefront of educational equity. (2) In 2020, the Legislature, in partnership with Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson, took a necessary step in addressing sexual harassment on college and university campuses by providing a codified process for adjudicating complaints of sexual or gender-based violence, including dating or domestic violence, at postsecondary educational institutions in the state. (3) In 2024, the chair of the Assembly Committee on Higher Education, Assembly Member Mike Fong, published a report on how postsecondary educational institutions in California can address sex discrimination and provide educational justice on campus. The report led to widespread reform with new laws restricting the use of informal resolutions, requiring public postsecondary educational institutions to report on the outcomes of complaints on campuses within their respective systems, and establishing staffing requirements for campus-based Title IX offices at the California State University and the University of California. (4) In compliance with Chapter 694 of the Statutes of 2024 (Assembly Bill 2048) the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, in consultation with stakeholders, submitted a report to the Legislature with recommendations for establishing systemic campus reforms that effectively prevent, detect, and address sexual harassment on community college campuses. (5) The report contained research to uncover the obstacles preventing community colleges from complying with existing state and federal laws pertaining to gender equity on campus. The report found all of the following: (A) No single community college district reviewed had campus policies or procedures in full compliance with state or federal laws or regulations. (B) Community college Title IX coordinators spent a fraction of their time working on sexual harassment prevention compliance, often balancing it with roles in student conduct, human resources, disability services, or general compliance. (C) The system lacked the finances to adequately address complaints by students and staff which has greatly contributed to the breakdown in student’s and employee’s trust in the system’s ability to handle address complaints of discrimination. (6) California set out to be the gold standard in educational equity on campus, but without structural change, California is instead creating a compliance system where community college students and employees are left unprotected. (b) (1) Given the findings and declarations described in subdivision (a), it is the intent of the Legislature to provide adequately funded infrastructure for the California Community Colleges to address complaints alleging discrimination on community college campuses, and for the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges to enter into a contract with a managing entity for purposes of externally resolving those complaints in a professional, compliant, and impartial manner. (2) It is the further intent of the Legislature that the managing entity accomplishes all of the following purposes: (A) Operating as an independent entity contracted with the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges for providing civil rights services to each community college district and campus. (B) Providing centralized, professional, and consistent trauma-informed responses to civil rights complaints received by community college districts and campuses. (C) Ensuring compliance with state and federal laws and regulations for preventing, and responding to complaints of, discrimination on community college campuses. (D) Providing scalable access to external investigators, adjudicators, advisors, advisers, advocates, and educational programming for each community college campus. SEC. 2. The heading of Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 70900) is added to Part 43 of Division 7 of Title 3 of the Education Code, to read: CHAPTER 1. Walter Stiern Act SEC. 3. Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 70920) is added to Part 43 of Division 7 of Title 3 of the Education Code, to read: CHAPTER 2. California Community College External Resolution for Civil Rights Compliance 70920. This chapter shall be known, and may be cited, as the California Community College External Resolution for Civil Rights Compliance. 70921. For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions apply: (a) “Board of Governors” means the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges established in Section 70900. (b) “California Community Colleges” means a postsecondary education system consisting of community college districts and community college campuses described in Section 70900. (c) “Chancellor” means the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges. (d) “Chancellor’s office” means the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges. (e) “Governing board” means a board of trustees that oversees a community college district pursuant to Section 70902. (f) “Managing entity” means the entity contracted pursuant to Section 70922. (g) “Sexual harassment” has the same meaning as used in Section 66262.5. 70922. (a) On or before June 1, 2027, and every three years thereafter, Within one calendar year of an appropriation by the Legislature for this express purpose, the board of governors shall enter into a three-year contract with a managing entity to administer on behalf of the California Community Colleges external resolution services for civil rights compliance. The three-year contract shall not be subject to the competitive bidding process outlined in Sections 10339 and 10340 of the Public Contract Code. The contract shall comply with the requirements established pursuant to this chapter. (b) The services provided by the managing entity shall include all the following: (1) Developing and recommending a nondiscrimination policy for the California Community Colleges. The nondiscrimination policy shall comply with all of the following: (A) The policy shall include federal and state nondiscrimination laws and regulations, including, but not limited to, Subchapter 5 (commencing with Section 59300) of Chapter 10 of Division 6 of Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations, Title IX of the federal Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 1681 et seq.), Title VI, Title VII, and Title VIII of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 2000d et seq., 42 U.S.C. Sec Sec. 2000e et seq., and 42 U.S.C. Sec. 3601 et seq.), Section 504 of the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. Sec. 794), the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (Part 2.8 (commencing with Section 12900) of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code), Section 304 of the federal Violence Against Women Act of 2013, as amended into the federal Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (20 U.S.C. Sec. 1092(f)), and Sections 66281.4, 66281.5, 66281.8, 67385, 67385.7, and 67386. (B) The policy shall be updated annually to reflect changes in federal regulations and state law. (C) The policy shall include nationally recognized best practices for policies and procedures to address and prevent discrimination on community college campuses. (D) The policy shall provide streamlined procedures to ensure complaints alleging discrimination are handled addressed in a trauma-informed and timely manner. (E) The policy shall provide prevention plans and awareness programming for community college districts to implement annually. (2) Conducting, Providing a pool of well-trained individuals available to oversee and conduct, in coordination with the Title IX civil rights coordinator for a community college district, full-service grievance procedures for all Title IX and sexual harassment complaints filed, pursuant to Section 66281.8, by students and employees of a community college maintained by the community college district. These procedures shall include intake, supportive measures, investigations, live hearings, formal and informal resolutions, and appeals of Title IX complaints. Appeals shall be handled in collaboration with the chancellor’s office pursuant to Section 70927. (3) Addressing grievances and complaints alleging a violation of the nondiscrimination policy described in paragraph (1). (4) Providing access to trauma-informed investigators, advocates, advisors, advisers, process facilitators, and decisionmakers for the grievance and complaint processes and procedures. (5) Maintaining a roster of external investigators and hearing officers. The individuals on the roster shall comply with applicable due process requirements and impartiality standards, and shall be trained on the nondiscrimination laws and regulations described in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) and trauma-informed practices. (6) Coordinating with the Title IX civil rights coordinator for each community college district to implement disciplinary sanctions on respondents who are found to have violated the nondiscrimination policy described in paragraph (1). These sanctions may include, but are not limited to, educational programs for respondents. (7) (A) Offering complainants and respondents referrals to advocacy and support services. (B) Offering respondents referrals to support services. (8) Developing and implementing an annual training for the Title IX civil rights coordinators for community college districts on the nondiscrimination policy described in paragraph (1) and prevention strategies. The curriculum of the this training shall satisfy all of the following: (A) Be developed and delivered to each community college district Title IX civil rights coordinator with mandates and mandated annual recertification cycles. (B) Include modules on trauma-informed practices, cultural competency, due process, and California-specific legal requirements. (C) Have a flexible modality for both in-person and virtual completion of the training. (D) Be annually updated to reflect changes in federal and state laws and regulations and in best practices, including, but not limited to, those described in subparagraph (C) of paragraph (1), and to address patterns o [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]