BILL NUMBER: SB 993INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Senator De Len (Coauthors: Assembly Members Cedillo and Mendoza) FEBRUARY 2, 2012 An act to add Section 51221.6 to the Education Code, relating to school curriculum. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 993, as introduced, De Len. School curriculum: social sciences: Bracero program. Existing law requires the adopted course of study for grades 7 to 12, inclusive, to include instruction in social sciences, and requires that instruction to provide a foundation for understanding the history, resources, development, and government of California and the United States of America. This bill would authorize instruction in social sciences for grades 7 to 12, inclusive, to include instruction on the Bracero program, and would express the encouragement of the Legislature for that instruction to include a component drawn from personal testimony, as provided. The bill would specify that this instruction shall be carried out in a manner that does not result in new duties or programs being imposed on school districts. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 51221.6 is added to the Education Code, to read: 51221.6. (a) Instruction in the area of social sciences, as required pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 51220, may include instruction on the Bracero program. (b) The Legislature encourages the instruction described in subdivision (a) to include, but not be limited to, a component drawn from personal testimony, especially in the form of oral or video histories of individuals who were involved with the Bracero program. The oral histories used as part of the instruction regarding the Bracero program are encouraged to do all of the following: (1) Exemplify the economic and cultural effects of the Bracero program, including, but not limited to, its effects on the railroad system, agriculture, and immigration in the United States of America. (2) Contain the views and comments of their subjects regarding the reasons for their participation in the Bracero program and their immigrant story, generally. (c) This section shall be carried out in a manner that does not result in new duties or programs being imposed on the school district. In that regard, the Legislature finds and declares that this section does not mandate costs to local agencies or school districts and that materials used to comply with this section shall be part of normal curriculum materials purchased by school districts in their normal course of business and purchasing cycles.