SENATE BILL No. 48
Introduced by Senator Gonzalez
December 16, 2024
An act to add Section 234.8 to the Education Code, and to amend Section 7284.6 of the Go vernment Code, relating to immigration enforcement, and declaring the ur gency thereof, to tak e ef fect immediately.
legislative counsel’s digest
SB 48, as introduced, Gonzalez. Immigration enforcement:
schoolsites: prohibitions on access, sharing information, and la w enforcement collaboration.
Existing law prohibits, except as required by state or federal la w or as required to administer a state- or federally supported educational program, school officials and emplo yees of a school district, county office of education, or charter school from collecting information or documents regarding citizenship or immigration status of pupils or their family members.
This bill would prohibit school districts, county offices of education, or charter schools and their personnel from granting a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, or other federal official engaging in immigration related in vestigation or enforcement, permission to access a school campus without a judicial w arrant. The bill would require a local educational agency and its personnel, to the extent possible, to have the denial of permission for access witnessed and documented. The bill would also prohibit a local educational agency and its personnel from disclosing or providing, in writing, verbally, or in any other manner, the education records of or any information about a pupil, pupil’s family and household, school emplo yee, or teacher to a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, or any
99 other federal official engaging in immigration related investigation or enforcement, without a judicial w arrant, and re garding a pupil’ s educational records or personal information, without the written consent of the pupil’s parent or legal guardian. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
Existing law, the California Values Act, generally prohibits California law enforcement agencies from investigating, interrogating, detaining, detecting, or arresting persons for immigration enforcement purposes.
Existing law provides certain limited e xceptions to this prohibition, including transfers of persons pursuant to a judicial w arrant and providing certain information to federal authorities re garding serious and violent felons in custody.
This bill would prohibit California la w enforcement agencies from collaborating with, or providing any information about a pupil, pupil’s family and household, school employee, or teacher in writing, verbally, on in any other manner, to immigration authorities regarding proposed or currently underway immigration enforcement actions when the actions could be or are taking place within a radius of one mile of any schoolsite.
To the e xtent this bill w ould impose additional duties on local la w enforcement agencies or officials, the bill w ould impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimb urse 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 w ould declare that it is to tak e effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Vote: 2⁄3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
line 1 SECTION 1. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the line 2 following:
line 3 (1) Immigrant f amilies are f acing increased threats of line 4 deportation.
99 — 2 — SB 48
line 1 (2) According to estimates as recent as 2022, 46 percent of line 2 California’s 9 million children are part of immigrant f amilies, 1 line 3 in 5 California children li ve in mix ed-status f amilies, and 93 line 4 percent of children in mix ed-status f amilies are United States line 5 citizens.
line 6 (3) California schools report that United States Immigration line 7 and Customs Enforcement agents ha ve tar geted and detained line 8 pupils’ parents as they transport the pupils to or from school. line 9 (4) A report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and line 10 Cultural Organization found that in the United States, deportation line 11 fears have an impact on school attendance.
line 12 (5) The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural line 13 Organization found that the fear is e xacerbated if schools allo w line 14 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to search the line 15 facilities or collect immigration information on pupils. line 16 (6) A report by the California Advisory Committee to the United line 17 States Commission on Ci vil Rights found that an increase in line 18 families’ fear of deportation has a “chilling ef fect on education line 19 for undocumented children and children of undocumented parents,” line 20 resulting in decreased school attendance and school funding, which line 21 is intended to support all pupils.
line 22 (7) Studies ha ve also sho wn strong associations between line 23 increased immigration enforcement and increased absenteeism for line 24 Latinx pupils and children from immigrant families. This research line 25 also demonstrated that deportation threats ha ve many effects on line 26 the academic success of Latinx pupils and pupils from immigrant line 27 families, including difficulties with concentration in school, lower line 28 achievement in mathematics, repeated grade levels, and an increase line 29 in dropout rates in some areas where intense immigration line 30 enforcement action takes place.
line 31 (8) Current law guarantees that all children have a right to free line 32 public education, regardless of their immigration status, and a right line 33 to be in a public school learning en vironment that is free of line 34 discrimination, harassment, b ullying, violence, or intimidation line 35 based on ethnicity, shared ancestry, or national origin. line 36 (9) The California Constitution provides all pupils and school line 37 personnel, regardless of immigration status, the inalienable right line 38 to attend campuses that are safe, secure, and peaceful. 99 SB 48 — 3 —
line 1 (10) Increases in school absenteeism cause school re venue to line 2 decline in California, where school funding is connected to pupil line 3 attendance.
line 4 (b) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature to do all of the line 5 following:
line 6 (1) Declare that California must take action to protect California line 7 pupils and ensure that guarantees in the law providing pupils with line 8 an education regardless of their immigration status are followed. line 9 (2) Protect needed school revenue that will be diminished as a line 10 result of immigration enforcement threats on or near school line 11 campuses. These deportation threats cause f amilies, including line 12 families of citizens of the United States, to be afraid to send their line 13 pupils to school, thereby reducing school revenue and preventing line 14 pupils of all backgrounds from obtaining a quality education. line 15 (3) Assure families that California schools will not cooperate line 16 with United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials line 17 who are or plan to be on or near a schoolsite. Pupils’ safety, line 18 well-being, and access to education are paramount. It is also critical line 19 to preserve school funding in the face of declining enrollment and line 20 other f actors that reduce school re venue. By refraining from line 21 cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials line 22 who seek to access school campuses and communities surrounding line 23 school campuses, California will safe guard pupils, families, and line 24 school employees, and preserve schools’ attendance-based revenue. line 25 SEC. 2. Section 234.8 is added to the Education Code , line 26 immediately following Section 234.7, to read:
line 27 234.8. (a) (1) A local educational agenc y and its personnel line 28 shall not grant a United States Immigration and Customs line 29 Enforcement officer , or other federal official eng aging in line 30 immigration related investigation or enforcement, permission to line 31 access a school campus without a judicial warrant. line 32 (2) A local educational agenc y and its personnel shall, to the line 33 extent possible, have the denial of permission for access pursuant line 34 to paragraph (1) witnessed and documented.
line 35 (b) A local educational agenc y and its personnel shall not line 36 disclose or pro vide in writing, v erbally, or in an y other manner, line 37 the education records of or any information about a pupil, pupil’s line 38 family and household, school emplo yee, or teacher to a United line 39 States Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, or any other line 40 federal official eng aging in immigration related in vestigation or 99 — 4 — SB 48
line 1 enforcement, without a judicial w arrant and, regarding a pupil’s line 2 education records or personal information, without the written line 3 consent of the pupil’s parent or legal guardian. line 4 (c) For purposes of this section, “local educational agenc y” line 5 means a school district, county office of education, or charter line 6 school.
line 7 SEC. 3. Section 7284.6 of the Government Code is amended line 8 to read:
line 9 7284.6. (a) California law enforcement agencies shall not:
line 10 (1) Use agenc y or department mone ys or personnel to line 11 investigate, interrog ate, detain, detect, or arrest persons for line 12 immigration enforcement purposes, including any of the following:
line 13 (A) Inquiring into an individual’s immigration status. line 14 (B) Detaining an individual on the basis of a hold request. line 15 (C) Providing information regarding a person’s release date or line 16 responding to requests for notification by providing release dates line 17 or other information unless that information is a vailable to the line 18 public, or is in response to a notification request from immigration line 19 authorities in accordance with Section 7282.5. Responses are never line 20 required, but are permitted under this subdi vision, provided that line 21 they do not violate any local law or policy.
line 22 (D) Providing personal information, as defined in Section 1798.3 line 23 of the Civil Code, about an individual, including, but not limited line 24 to, the indi vidual’s home address or w ork address unless that line 25 information is available to the public.
line 26 (E) Making or intentionally participating in arrests based on line 27 civil immigration warrants.
line 28 (F) Assisting immigration authorities in the activities described line 29 in Section 1357(a)(3) of Title 8 of the United States Code. line 30 (G) Performing the functions of an immigration officer, whether line 31 pursuant to Section 1357(g) of Title 8 of the United States Code line 32 or any other law, regulation, or policy, whether formal or informal. line 33 (2) Place peace officers under the supervision of federal agencies line 34 or employ peace officers deputized as special federal officers or line 35 special federal deputies for purposes of immigration enforcement. line 36 All peace officers remain subject to California la w go verning line 37 conduct of peace officers and the policies of the employing agency. line 38 (3) Use immigration authorities as interpreters for la w line 39 enforcement matters relating to individuals in agency or department line 40 custody.
99 SB 48 — 5 —
line 1 (4) Transfer an indi vidual to immigration authorities unless line 2 authorized by a judicial w arrant or judicial probable cause line 3 determination, or in accordance with Section 7282.5. line 4 (5) Provide office space exclusively dedicated for immigration line 5 authorities for use within a city or county law enforcement facility. line 6 (6) Contract with the federal government for use of California line 7 law enforcement agency facilities to house individuals as federal line 8 detainees for purposes of ci vil immigration custody , e xcept line 9 pursuant to Chapter 17.8 (commencing with Section 7310). line 10 (b) Notwithstanding the limitations in subdi vision (a), this line 11 section does not prevent any California law enforcement agency line 12 from doing any of the following that does not violate an y policy line 13 of the law enforcement agency or any local law or policy of the line 14 jurisdiction in which the agency is operating:
line 15 (1) Investigating, enforcing, or detaining upon reasonable line 16 suspicion of, or arresting for a violation of, Section 1326(a) of line 17 Title 8 of the United States Code that may be subject to the line 18 enhancement specified in Section 1326(b)(2) of Title 8 of the line 19 United States Code and that is detected during an unrelated la w line 20 enforcement acti vity. Transfers to immigration authorities are line 21 permitted under this subsection only in accordance with paragraph line 22 (4) of subdivision (a).
line 23 (2) Responding to a request from immigration authorities for line 24 information about a specific person’ s criminal history, including line 25 previous criminal arrests, convictions, or similar criminal history line 26 information accessed through the California La w Enforcement line 27 Telecommunications System (CLETS), where otherwise permitted line 28 by state law.
line 29 (3) Conducting enforcement or investigative duties associated line 30 with a joint law enforcement task force, including the sharing of line 31 confidential information with other law enforcement agencies for line 32 purposes of task force in vestigations, so long as the follo wing line 33 conditions are met:
line 34 (A) The primary purpose of the joint law enforcement task force line 35 is not immigration enforcement, as defined in subdi vision (f) of line 36 Section 7284.4.
line 37 (B) The enforcement or investigative duties are primarily related line 38 to a violation of state or federal la w unrelated to immigration line 39 enforcement.
99 — 6 — SB 48
line 1 (C) Participation in the task force by a California la w line 2 enforcement agency does not violate an y local la w or polic y to line 3 which it is otherwise subject.
line 4 (4) Making inquiries into information necessary to certify an line 5 individual who has been identified as a potential crime or line 6 trafficking victim for a T or U Visa pursuant to Section line 7 1101(a)(15)(T) or 1101(a)(15)(U) of Title 8 of the United States line 8 Code or to comply with Section 922(d)(5) of Title 18 of the United line 9 States Code.
line 10 (5) Giving immigration authorities access to intervie w an line 11 individual in agency or department custody. All interview access line 12 shall comply with requirements of the TRUTH Act (Chapter 17.2 line 13 (commencing with Section 7283)).
line 14 (c) Notwithstanding the exceptions in subdivision (b), California line 15 law enforcement agencies shall not collabor ate with, or pr ovide line 16 any information about a pupil, pupil’s family and household, school line 17 employee, or teacher in writing, verbally, or in any other manner, line 18 to immigr ation authorities r egarding pr oposed or curr ently line 19 underway immigration enforcement actions when the actions could line 20 be or are taking place within a radius of one mile of a schoolsite. line 21 (c)
line 22 (d) (1) If a California la w enforcement agenc y chooses to line 23 participate in a joint la w enforcement task force, for which a line 24 California la w enforcement agenc y has agreed to dedicate line 25 personnel or resources on an ongoing basis, it shall submit a report line 26 annually to the Department of Justice, as specified by the Attorney line 27 General. The law enforcement agency shall report the follo wing line 28 information, if known, for each task force of which it is a member:
line 29 (A) The purpose of the task force.
line 30 (B) The federal, state, and local la w enforcement agencies line 31 involved.
line 32 (C) The total number of arrests made during the reporting period. line 33 (D) The number of people arrested for immigration enforcement line 34 purposes.
line 35 (2) All law enforcement agencies shall report annually to the line 36 Department of Justice, in a manner specified by the Attorney line 37 General, the number of transfers pursuant to paragraph (4) of line 38 subdivision (a), and the of fense that allo wed for the transfer line 39 pursuant to paragraph (4) of subdivision (a).
99 SB 48 — 7 —
line 1 (3) All records described in this subdi vision shall be public line 2 records for purposes of the California Public Records Act (Division line 3 10 (commencing with Section 7920.000)), including the line 4 exemptions provided by that act and, as permitted under that act, line 5 personal identifying information may be redacted prior to public line 6 disclosure. To the e xtent that disclosure of a particular item of line 7 information would endanger the safety of a person involved in an line 8 investigation, or would endanger the successful completion of the line 9 investigation or a related investigation, that information shall not line 10 be disclosed.
line 11 (4) If more than one California la w enforcement agenc y is line 12 participating in a joint task force that meets the reporting line 13 requirement pursuant to this section, the joint task force shall line 14 designate a local or state agenc y responsible for completing the line 15 reporting requirement.
line 16 (d)
line 17 (e) The Attorney General, by March 1, 2019, and annually line 18 thereafter, shall report on the total number of arrests made by joint line 19 law enforcement task forces, and the total number of arrests made line 20 for the purpose of immigration enforcement by all task force line 21 participants, including federal la w enforcement agencies. To the line 22 extent that disclosure of a particular item of information w ould line 23 endanger the safety of a person in volved in an in vestigation, or line 24 would endanger the successful completion of the investigation or line 25 a related investigation, that information shall not be included in line 26 the Attorney General’s report. The Attorney General shall post the line 27 reports required by this subdi vision on the Attorney General’s line 28 internet website.
line 29 (e)
line 30 (f) This section does not prohibit or restrict an y government line 31 entity or official from sending to, or recei ving from, federal line 32 immigration authorities, information regarding the citizenship or line 33 immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of an individual, or from line 34 requesting from federal immigration authorities immigration status line 35 information, lawful or unlawful, of any individual, or maintaining line 36 or exchanging that information with an y other federal, state, or line 37 local government entity, pursuant to Sections 1373 and 1644 of line 38 Title 8 of the United States Code.
line 39 (f)
99 — 8 — SB 48
line 1 (g) Nothing in this section shall prohibit a California la w line 2 enforcement agenc y from asserting its o wn jurisdiction o ver line 3 criminal law enforcement matters.
line 4 SEC. 4. If the Commission on State Mandates determines that line 5 this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimb ursement to line 6 local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made line 7 pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division line 8 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
line 9 SEC. 5. This act is an ur gency statute necessary for the line 10 immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within line 11 the meaning of Article IV of the California Constitution and shall line 12 go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
line 13 To ensure that schools continue to pro vide children and their line 14 families guaranteed access to school campuses without fear of line 15 deportation, harassment, or intimidation by Immigration and line 16 Customs Enforcement officials and to retain critically needed line 17 attendance-based funding, it is necessary that this act tak e effect line 18 immediately.
O
99 SB 48 — 9 —