California Education Code Section 99161.5

CA Educ Code § 99161.5 (2017)  

(a) (1) The test sponsor of the Law School Admission Test shall provide testing accommodations to a test subject with a disability who makes a timely request to ensure that the Law School Admission Test accurately reflects the aptitude, achievement levels, or other factors that the test purports to measure and does not reflect the test subject’s disability. This paragraph does not constitute a change in, but is declaratory of, existing law.

(2) The process for determining whether to grant an accommodation under paragraph (1) shall be made public, and the decision whether or not to approve a request for an accommodation shall be conveyed to the requester within a reasonable amount of time. If the test sponsor of the Law School Admission Test does not approve a request for accommodation, the test sponsor shall state the reasons for the denial of the request to the requester in writing.

(3) The test sponsor of the Law School Admission Test shall establish a timely appeals process for a test subject who is denied an accommodation request. The test sponsor of the Law School Admission Test shall clearly post on the Law School Admission Test Internet Web site information regarding refund policies for individuals whose requests for accommodation are denied.

(b) Whenever a test subject has received formal testing accommodations from a postsecondary educational institution for a disability as defined in subdivision (j), (m), or (n) of Section 12926 of the Government Code, the test sponsor of the Law School Admission Test shall, consistent with existing law, give considerable weight to documentation of past modifications, accommodations, or auxiliary aids or services received by the test subject in similar testing situations when determining whether to grant an accommodation to the test subject.

(c) (1) The test sponsor of the Law School Admission Test shall not notify a test score recipient that the score of any test subject was obtained by a subject who received an accommodation pursuant to this section.

(2) The test sponsor of the Law School Admission Test shall not withhold any information that would lead a test score recipient to deduce that a score was earned by a subject who received an accommodation pursuant to this section.

(3) This subdivision does not constitute a change in, but is declaratory of, existing law.

(d) This section shall not be construed to limit or replace any other right or remedy that exists under state or federal law.

(e) This section shall not provide greater protections to persons with disabilities than those provided by Section 51 of the Civil Code.

(Amended by Stats. 2016, Ch. 82, Sec. 6. (AB 2908) Effective January 1, 2017.)

Last modified: October 25, 2018