Name That Section - Frequently Used Education Code and Title 5 Sections for Community College Districts

a) No person in the State of California shall, on the basis of race, national origin, ethnic group identification, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, color, genetic information, or disability, be unlawfully denied full and equal access to the benefits of, or be unlawfully subjected to discrimination under, any program or activity that is conducted, operated, or administered by the state or by any state agency, is funded directly by the state, or receives any financial assistance from the state. Notwithstanding Section 11000, this section applies to the California State University.

As discussed below, the Legislature’s response to Proposition 209 is found in its amendments to this statutory scheme.

2. T HE P ASSAGE OF P ROPOSITION 209 166 In 1999, California enacted Proposition 209, which amended the California Constitution to require that “the State shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment.” As interpreted by the California Supreme Court, many of the traditional tools utilized to achieve diverse staffing have been called into question, including targeted recruitment. In particular, in Hi-Voltage Wire Works, Inc. v. City of San Jose , 167 the California Supreme Court read Proposition 209 to prohibit targeted recruitment efforts in the context of public contracting. While the case did not deal directly with public sector hiring, the Court’s interpretation and analysis were so expansive, that it has been read to reach targeted recruitment efforts in the hiring context. This conclusion was reinforced by the Court’s ruling in Connerly v. State Personnel Board , 168 which directly addressed hiring practices in community colleges. 1. T HE S TATUTORY R ESPONSE TO P ROPOSITION 209 Despite the invalidation of traditional district affirmative action programs by Proposition 209, promoting diversity in the workplace remains a legal obligation for community colleges. As noted above, the California legislature has long held that community colleges must strive to employ a highly diverse staff, and Title 5 regulations continue to require Equal Employment Opportunity (“EEO”) Plans and hiring and recruiting procedures designed to increase diversity. 2. T HE R EGULATORY R ESPONSE TO P ROPOSITION 209 Sweeping revisions to Title 5 regulations controlling hiring were adopted to bring the regulations into alignment with Proposition 209. However, they still required districts to implement strategies to prevent and correct adverse impacts against what were called “minorities” or “historically underrepresented groups” in the pre-Proposition 209 era, and were re-labeled “monitored groups” in the post-Proposition 209 regulations. Subsequently, starting in approximately 2010, a group of community college leaders and Liebert Cassidy Whitmore C. T HE D IVERSITY C OMMITMENT P OST -P ROPOSITION 209

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