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Bill would expand campus harassment rules to cover tech‑facilitated harassment
Summary
AB 2212 (HEAR Survivors Act) would amend higher‑education harassment definitions to explicitly include tech‑facilitated harassment—cyberbullying, cyberstalking and doxxing—so institutions must train, update policies and provide resources; student survivors and campus groups urged support while trustees and committee members sought clarity about operational implementation.
Assemblymember presented AB 2212 as required modernization of post‑secondary harassment rules to reflect the role of modern digital technologies in campus harassment. The bill would add technology‑facilitated harassment to existing categories of sexual exploitation and violence in education code, meaning institutions’ training, discipline and reporting procedures would need to account for online harms.
Student witnesses described personal experiences of online harassment that escalated into blackmail, mental‑health harm and academic disruption; one speaker cited a 2025 state‑wide study noting higher rates of online harms among community‑college students and low reporting rates. Committee members asked how trustees and governing boards would be expected to act and how training and policy updates would be implemented; the author said the bill adds the new definition and that implementation details would be shaped by amendments accepted in the Senate education committee.
The committee moved the bill as amended with a due‑pass recommendation to Appropriations. Members generally expressed support while noting the policy and operational challenges institutions will face in updating procedures and training.
