Bill > AB2212

This bill updates California’s Equity in Higher Education Act starting August 1, 2027, to explicitly include modern and digital forms of misconduct within the legal definitions of sexual harassment and sexual exploitation at postsecondary educational institutions. Specifically, the legislation introduces clear definitions for terms such as “affirmative consent” (meaning an ongoing, conscious, and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity that cannot be assumed through silence or past relationships), “sextortion” (threatening to use intimate images to force someone to perform sexual acts or provide items of value), “digitized sexually explicit material” (such as deepfakes or computer-generated nude images created without written consent), and “technology-facilitated sexual harassment.” Additionally, the bill maintains and cross-references existing hiring protocols—such as those for community colleges, the California State University, the University of California, and independent institutions—which generally require job applicants for academic, athletic, or administrative roles to disclose any recent final decisions or substantiated allegations of sexual harassment or misconduct from previous employers only after meeting minimum qualification standards.