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Proposed legislation in California designed to protect college journalists
Legislation in response to Hosty v. Carter decision, state publishers association says
March 8, 2006
CALIFORNIA —
Two student press-friendly bills are making their way through the California
State Assembly — one that would prohibit the theft of free publications
and another that is designed to protect the First Amendment rights of college
journalists.
Assemblyman George Plescia, R-San Diego, authored the
theft bill and Assemblyman Joe Nation, D-San Rafael, authored the college press
rights bill. The California Newspaper Publishers Association sponsored both
bills.
The bill extending protection to college journalists is in
response to the Hosty v. Carter
decision out of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said Jim Ewert, legal
counsel for the CNPA. The appeals court decision held that the Supreme Court's
1988 Hazelwood decision limiting high
school student free expression rights could extend to college and university
campuses. The U.S. Supreme Court decided last month not to hear the
Hosty case, letting stand the June 2005
decision out of the 7th Circuit.
Ten days after the 7th Circuit
decision, the general counsel for the California State University system sent a
memo to university presidents saying the
Hosty decision could impact
California.
"[T]he case appears to signal that CSU campuses may have
more latitude than previously believed to censor the content of subsidized
student newspapers, provided that there is an established practice of
regularized content review and approval for pedagogical purposes," wrote CSU
general counsel Christine Helwick at that time.
Although the 7th
Circuit’s ruling is only
applicable in Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin, Ewert said the memo raised some
concerns amongst student press advocates in the Golden
State.
“Ordinarily we wouldn’t be that concerned about a
7th Circuit decision,” Ewert said. “[The memo] just sent ripples
throughout the student press. We thought it might be a good idea to ask the
legislature to extend the speech protection that exists in the law now to
student publications.”
And by explicitly including the student
press in California’s Leonard law, the proposed legislation does just
that, Ewert said.
The Leonard Law protects student speech by making
it illegal to enforce any rule on California’s college campuses that would
punish a student for speech that would be protected under the First Amendment or
California’s Constitution off school grounds. The legislative history of
the law states: "It is the intent of the Legislature that a student shall have
the same right to exercise his or her right to free speech on campus as he or
she enjoys when off campus."
Ewert said the proposed bill would make
it clear that the Leonard Law protecting freedom of expression on
California’s campuses clearly extends to the student press.
The
bill prohibiting the theft of newspapers would make it a misdemeanor to take
more than five copies of a free newspaper with the intent to recycle them for
money, sell or barter them, deprive others of the ability to read the
publication or harm a business competitor, according to CNPA’s Legislative
Bulletin, an online publication.
“It is not just the newspaper
itself that is being taken, it’s the advertising that is not being seen by
the eyes that are intended to see them,” Ewert said. “[Publications]
are stolen simply based on the content of the story or an editorial piece. The
public, as well as the advertisers, are deprived.”
Because most
high school and college newspapers are free, the bill should give student
editors in the state more ammunition when their publications are stolen, student
press advocates have said.
Both bills, which were introduced Feb. 24,
have to be in print for 30 days before they are put before committees, Ewert
said. The bills likely will go before the committees at the end of March or
early April.
—by Ricky
Ribeiro, SPLC staff writer. Staff writer Evan Mayor contributed to this
report.
© 2006 Student Press Law Center
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