Legislation and Policy

Unlocking the Bar: Expanding Access to the Legal Profession for People with Criminal Records in California by Caroline Cohn, Debbie A. Mukamal, and Robert Weisberg identifies and examines the barriers to joining the California State Bar for individuals with criminal records and provides recommendations for expanding access for qualified applicants. This study is a joint project of the Stanford Criminal Justice Center and the Stanford Center on the Legal Profession at Stanford Law School.

AA 19-26 made $3 million available to community colleges to provide textbooks or digital course content to students in state prisons. This Certification Form must be completed in order to apply for reimbursement.

This memorandum provides information regarding available funds for colleges teaching students that are currently incarcerated in state prisons. A total of $3 million is available to colleges to provide textbooks or digital course content to students under the jurisdiction of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) who are enrolled in one or more California community college course.

The FAQs were developed for community college students with an arrest or conviction record to learn about their rights and responsibilities when seeking employment with a local California community college.

On February 8th, the California Community Colleges Chancellor issued guidance on Fair Chance Hiring Best Practices (Policy Guidance) following the December 2018 Chancellor’s legal advisory (Office of General Counsel Advisory 2018-04) regarding the use of criminal history records in hiring, promotion and retention decisions by the community colleges and districts. The policy guidance and legal advisory together pave the way for California’s higher education system to expand employment opportunities for people with arrest and conviction records. 

The Chancellor for the California Community Colleges issued groundbreaking Policy Guidance intended to expand hiring for qualified students, faculty and staff with criminal records. The Policy Guidance accompanies the legal advisory issued on December 31, 2018. A robust fair chance hiring policy positions the community colleges and districts to expand their applicant pools to compete effectively for talented, qualified, and motivated employees. We are proud to have worked with the National Employment Law Project and the Stanford Criminal Justice Center to support the Chancellor in these important efforts.

This is the California Community Colleges Inmate Education: Encouraging Results from Pilot Program report. The report was written in response to Senate Bill 1391 of 2014. 

The California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office released Legal Advisory relating to the use of criminal history in hiring. The purpose of the Advisory is to provide a survey of the applicable laws, and to suggest approaches to employment decisions that will help community colleges comply with their legal obligations.  

The California Community College Chancellor’s Office of the General Counsel released a legal opinion on residency regarding students who were moved out of state during incarceration. 

The California Community College Chancellor’s office has issued a revision to Title 5 allowing colleges to assign an “EW” to incarcerated students who are involuntarily transferred or released early. Read more to learn how this revision can impact your students.