Under current law, a pupil can't be suspended or recommended for expulsion unless the district superintent or principal determines the pupil committed a specified act, including disrupting school activities or otherwise willfully defying the authority of supervisors, teachers, administrators, school officials or other school personnel.

AB 420 eliminates the ability to suspend students in grades K-3. and to recommend expulsion in grades K-12, for pupils who disrupt school activities or otherwise willfully defy the valid authority of school personnel engaged in the performance of their duties.

The measure allows suspension or expulsion if the district's superintendent or principal determines the pupil has committed actions including causing, attempting to cause or threatening to cause physical injury to another person; willfully used force or violence on another person except in self-defense; possessed, sold or furnished a firearm, knife, explosive or other dangerous object" and a number of similar enumerated provisions (full bill text below.)

A Senate floor amendment (Aug. 13, 2014) clarified that teachers retain authority to suspend a pupil in any grade from the classroom for willful defiance or disrupting school activities, as is provided by existing law. (Existing law lets a teacher suspend a pupil from class for the day of the suspension and the following day for any of the acts that may be a cause for suspension or expulsion specified under Education Code Section 48900. AB 420 doesn't affect or eliminate that law.)

A state Senate floor amendment (Aug. 5, 2014) narrowed the bill's scope to prohibit suspension of pupils in K-3 for disruption of school activities or willful defiance, thereby limiting authority to suspend for these acts to pupils in grades 4-12.

AB 420 allows a district superintendent or principal to "use his or her discretion to provide alternatives to suspension or expulsion that are age appropriate and designed to address and correct the pupil’s specific misbehavior." It also voices "the intent of the Legislature that alternatives to suspension or expulsion be imposed against a pupil who is truant, tardy, or otherwise absent from school activities."

To view AB 420's verbatim text as enacted by the Assembly and state Senate and signed by the Governor, click here.

In 2012, Gov. Brown vetoed a similar bill (AB 2242) stating at that time in his veto message:

[Gov. Brown 2012 veto message] I cannot support limiting the authority of local school leaders, especially at a time when budget cuts have greatly increased class sizes and reduced the number of school personnel. It is important that teachers and school officials retain broad discretion to manage and set the tone in the classroom. The principle of subsidiarity calls for greater, not less, deference to our elected school boards which are directly accountable to the citizenry.

AB 420 applies in part to grades K-3, but the bill's author is quoted in a state Senate legislative analysis as saying the bill's 2018 sunset provision invites looking at "opportunities to expand this reform to more grades."

The measure passed the Assembly on May 30, 2013 but stalled in the state Senate and in Sept. 2013 was placed on the "inactive" file. In August 5, 2014, with less than a month remaining in the Sacramento legislative session, the bill was suddenly removed from the "inactive file" and within weeks passed the Senate with amendments, returned to the Assembly for concurrence and went to the Governor...who announced on Sept. 27, 2014 that he has signed it into law.

To view the Assembly vote tally that sent the measure to the Senate (52-23), click here. (LB Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal, D, voted "yes.")

To view the state Senate vote tally (24-8) on final passage, click here. (LB state Senator Ricardo Lara, D, voted "yes.")

To view the Assembly vote tally (62-16) on final passage (concurrence in Senate amendments), click here. (LB Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal, D, voted "yes.")

A state Senate floor analysis on final passage (Aug. 2014) included the following comments:

According to the author, "Existing law provides that students can be suspended or recommended for expulsion from a school district for willful defiance, defined simply as: disrupting school activities or otherwise willfully defying the valid authority of school staff. Without regard to the severity, under this highly subjective category, students can be suspended or expelled from the entire district and denied valuable instructional time for any disruptive or defiant behavior including failing to turn in homework, not paying attention, or refusing to follow directions. California has one of the highest rates of suspension in the nation, with more than 700,000 recorded suspensions in 2010-11. Nationally, nearly 43% of all out-of-school suspensions are for insubordination, whereas only .7% are for use or possession of a firearm or explosive.

"According to unofficial data obtained from the California Department of Education (CDE), it is estimated that "willful defiance" was identified as the most "severe" grounds for between 8-12% of all expulsions (about 500 expulsions) and 43% of all suspensions (five days or less) in 2012-13.

"The bill preserves the right of teachers to suspend a student from class pursuant to Section 48910.

"While the changes to Education Code 48900 are modest, the sunset provision allows for continued discussion on the subject of the use of suspensions for willful defiance in two years, and to look at opportunities to expand this reform to more grades."

In 2013, activists organized LB area students (supported in part by the "California Endowment") and pressed LBUSD to enact a policy similar to that in then-stalled AB 420. LBUSD's administration responded with a more modest version which stopped short of banning wilfull defiance; LBUSD's School Board approved the administration drafted policy 5-0 on October 8, 2013. It directed Long Beach teachers and school administrators to monitor and seek to prevent a disproportionate share of student suspensions from occurring at a given school campus or within demographic subgroups and build on existing efforts to provide alternatives to suspension or expulsion. [LBREPORT.com Oct. 2013 coverage here.]

Activists responded by citing LBUSD's action as supportive of their position and continued to urge passage of tougher statewide provisions in the then-stalled AB 420...which ultimately passed with amendments in August 2014. A state Senate legislative analysis in Aug. 2014 listed the following as AB 420 supporters...and listed no opponents:

[Aug. 2013 state Senate legislative analysis text]

SUPPORT : (Verified 8/19/14)
ACLU (co-source)
Children Now (co-source)
Fight Crime: Invest in Kids (co-source)
Public Counsel (co-source)
Tom Torlakson, State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Advancement Project
Alameda Unified School District
American Academy of Pediatrics
Association of California School Administrators
Attendance Works
Black Organizing Project
Black Parallel School Board
Brotherhood Crusade
Cadre
California Alliance of African American Educators
California Black Health Network
California Correctional Peace Officers Association
California Mental Health Directors Association
California National Organization for Women
California School Boards Association
California School Health Centers Association
California State PTA
Californians for Justice
Child Care Results
Children's Defense Fund - California
Colibri Law Group
Community Asset Development Re-defining Education
Community Coalition
Community Works
Developmental Disabilities Area Board 10
Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund
Disability Rights Legal Center
East Bay Children's Law Offices
Equality California
Families In Schools
First 5 Fresno County
Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center of Orange County
Gay-Straight Alliance Network
George Stafford and Associates
Growing up in Santa Cruz
Homeboy Industries
Inner City Struggle
Intercity Struggle
Issokson and Associates
Khmer Girls in Action
Labor/Community Strategy Center
LAUSD Board President, Monica Garcia
Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights
Legal Advocates for Children and Youth
Legal Services for Children
Liberty Hill Foundation
Los Angeles Trust for Children's Health
Los Angeles Unified School District
Los Angeles Unified School District Board President, Monica Garcia
MALDEF
MarinKids
Mental Health Advocacy Services
Mills Legal Clinic
Mission Readiness
National Lawyers Guild of Sacramento
Nutritionally for You
Pacific Community Solutions, Inc.
PACT LA Positive Alternative Choice Today
Peace Over Violence
PICO California
Policy Link
Public Counsel
Respect Institute
Restorative Schools Vision Project
San Francisco Unified School District
San Mateo County Office of Education
State Council on Developmental Disabilities
The Arc and United Cerebral Palsy California Collaboration
The Center of Orange County
The Children's Movement Fresno
The Children's Movement of California
The Violence Prevention Coalition of Greater Los Angeles
University of California Student Association
Vallejo Unified School District
Valley LEAP
Weingart East Los Angeles YMCA
Western Center on Law and Poverty
Youth and Education Law Project
Youth Law Center
Youth Leadership Institute

When the measure becomes law in 2015, its provisions will presumably trump any inconsistent portions of current LBUSD policy (including the LB Board of Education's Oct. 2013 policies); LBUSD policies not inconsistent with the new state law may survive (although we have no official word on this yet.)

Governor Brown announced that he'd signed AB 420 on Saturday Sept. 27 and there's been no immediate statement from LBUSD's administration over the weekend. LBREPORT.com will update this story with further as we learn it.

The LBUSD School Board's enactment of its 2013 policy came one week after the LB City Council (which legally doesn't govern LB schools) took up an item agendized by then-LB Councilman (and then-Carson-LB area 2014 Assembly candidate) Steven Neal (who didn't progress beyond June 2014), joined by Councilman Al Austin and Vice Mayor (then-Mayoral candidate/now Mayor) Robert Garcia that as initially agendized urged LBUSD to implement "restorative justice" measures to reduce student suspensions and expulsions.

Before that recommendation could be debated, proponent Neal revised his item to send the issue to a joint Council-School district committee for discussion with participation by teachers and school officials. On Oct. 28, 2013, the joint Council-School district committee (comprised of then-Councilmembers Johnson, Neal and Garcia + LBUSD Boardmembers McGinnis and Craighead) voted 5-0 to ask the City Manager to draft a letter supporting the LBUSD School Board enacted Student Discipline Program.

Incumbent Councilman Patrick O'Donnell (who in 2012 sought and won election to a third four-year Council term and is now running in Nov. 2014 to succeed Bonnie Lowenthal in the Assembly) prominently cites his employment as a teacher for a nearby school district as part of his campaign for Sacramento office.