California Community Colleges: prohibited acts: electronic listening or recording devices.

(1) Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Existing law prohibits the use by any person, including a student, of any electronic listening or recording device in any classroom without the prior consent of the instructor, except as specified. Existing law provides that any person, other than a student, who willfully violates this provision is guilty of a misdemeanor, and requires that any student violating this provision be subject to appropriate disciplinary action. This bill would provide that it is not a violation of that provision if the person, including a student, reasonably believed that he or she was recording activities in the classroom that violate state or federal law or regulation, or applicable local agency policy. The bill would prohibit a community college district or campus from prohibiting or limiting the use of a recording that is subject to specified exceptions in a disciplinary action against an instructor. (2) Under existing law, the segments of postsecondary education in this state are the University of California, the California State University, the California Community Colleges, independent institutions of higher education, and private postsecondary educational institutions. This bill would prohibit an administrator, professor, teacher or other faculty member, or any other person acting on behalf of a higher education institution, from, among other things, preventing a student from providing information to, or testifying before, any public body conducting an investigation, hearing, or inquiry, if the student has reasonable cause to believe that the information discloses a violation of a law.