Henry Stern
- Democratic
- Senator
- District 27
Author
Existing law, commonly known as the Cyberbullying Protection Act, requires a social media platform, as defined, to disclose all cyberbullying reporting procedures in the social media platform's terms of service and to establish a mechanism within its internet-based service that allows an individual, whether or not that individual has a profile on the internet-based service, to report cyberbullying or content that violates the existing terms of service. The act defines "cyberbullying" to mean any severe or pervasive conduct made by an electronic act, as specified, committed by a pupil or group of pupils directed toward one or more pupils that has, or can reasonably be predicted to have, certain effects, including placing a reasonable pupil in fear of harm to that pupil's person or property. The act makes a social media platform that violates its provisions liable for a civil penalty of not more than $7,500 for each intentional violation to be assessed and recovered in a civil action brought in the name of the people of the State of California by the Attorney General. The act also authorizes a court to order injunctive relief to obtain compliance with these provisions. This bill would generally apply the act's provisions to minors rather than pupils. The bill would define the phrase "severe or pervasive conduct" to include only content that has, or can be reasonably predicted to have, specified harmful, detrimental, or substantially interfering effects. The bill would provide that "severe conduct" may also include conduct that, among other things, calls for self-injury or suicide of a minor or a specific person or of a group of individuals related to a minor. The bill would additionally require the mechanism required by the act to meet additional criteria, including that the mechanism provides, within 36 hours of receipt of a report, written confirmation to the reporting individual that the social media platform received that individual's report. The bill would authorize civil actions for relief only by a parent or legal guardian or a teacher or administrator who submits a report of cyberbullying to the social media platform, a city attorney, a district attorney, a county counsel, or the Attorney General. The bill would increase the civil liability for violating the act to $75,000 and would authorize a court to award reasonable attorney's fees and costs to the prevailing plaintiff, as specified. This bill would state that its provisions are severable. The bill would also make a nonsubstantive change.
From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (July 2). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on JUD.
From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (June 18). Re-referred to Com. on JUD.
From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on P. & C.P.
In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk.
Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 34. Noes 0. Page 4102.) Ordered to the Assembly.
Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading.
From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 5. Noes 0. Page 3986.) (May 16).
Set for hearing May 16.
May 13 hearing: Placed on APPR suspense file.
Set for hearing May 13.
Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 10. Noes 0. Page 3728.) (April 23).
Set for hearing April 23.
April 16 set for first hearing canceled at the request of author.
From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on JUD.
Set for hearing April 16.
From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 18.
Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.
| Bill Text Versions | Format |
|---|---|
| SB1504 | HTML |
| 02/16/24 - Introduced | |
| 04/03/24 - Amended Senate | |
| 04/30/24 - Amended Senate | |
| 05/16/24 - Amended Senate | |
| 06/04/24 - Amended Assembly | |
| 06/24/24 - Amended Assembly |
| Document | Format |
|---|---|
| 04/19/24- Senate Judiciary | |
| 05/10/24- Senate Appropriations | |
| 05/16/24- Senate Appropriations | |
| 05/18/24- Sen. Floor Analyses | |
| 06/17/24- Assembly Privacy and Consumer Protection | |
| 06/30/24- Assembly Judiciary |
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