California students who overdose on drugs or alcohol will soon have a formal chance to get help before they get hauled into a conduct hearing. Under Assembly Bill 602, the state’s public colleges must offer students access to rehabilitation services before imposing discipline for substance use tied to an overdose or medical emergency, with the policy required on every campus by July 1. The law tells the University of California, California State University and the community college systems to put student health and safety first when they write conduct rules. Supporters say the change is meant to strip away the fear that keeps roommates from calling 911 in a crisis, while campus leaders successfully pushed lawmakers to avoid creating blanket amnesty.
What AB 602 requires
AB 602 revises the Education Code so that any student who seeks or receives medical treatment related to drug or alcohol use must be given the chance to complete an appropriate rehabilitation program before the campus can hit them with disciplinary sanctions for that use. Colleges may record that a student completed such a program in an administrative file, but the underlying overdose or medical assistance cannot be entered in the student’s disciplinary record. The protection is limited to a single incident per academic term, so this is a structured second chance, not an unlimited free pass. These provisions are spelled out in the bill text and legislative summary, according to California Legislative Information.
Survivor testimony that pushed the bill
Student stories helped drive AB 602 across the finish line. A UC Berkeley student who overdosed and later said the university put him on academic probation told lawmakers his roommates hesitated to dial 911 because they were worried about campus discipline. Student drafters and advocates argued that statewide rules would make it clearer that calling for help in an emergency should not automatically end a classmate’s academic career. Those accounts and the bill’s background are detailed by CalMatters.
Limits lawmakers added
Lawmakers scaled back earlier versions of the bill after campus officials warned it could be interpreted as broad amnesty for substance-related conduct. The final text drops proposed protections for witnesses who call for help and sets a hard limit of once per semester, quarter or other academic term for using the rehabilitation-before-discipline option. An Assembly analysis summarizing those changes also notes that the Senate pushed back the timeline so campuses would have until July 1, 2026 to adopt their own implementing rules, according to a bill analysis by the Assembly.
Recovery programs already on some campuses
Many colleges are not starting from scratch. Several campuses already run collegiate recovery programs that offer peer support, sober events and referrals to counseling and treatment. UC Berkeley’s Collegiate Recovery Program provides peer coordinators, harm reduction resources and on-campus support, according to UC Berkeley, and UC Davis runs an “Aggies for Recovery” program with meetings and recovery resources for students, per UC Davis. Advocates say AB 602 is intended to standardize access to that kind of help so students across the state see a clear pathway to treatment when something goes wrong.
How campuses will respond
California State University officials have said the system has not yet created a single, systemwide blueprint to carry out AB 602, and some administrators have warned that the law should not be interpreted as offering complete amnesty for conduct like assault or property damage that might occur alongside substance use. The measure builds on California’s 2023 Campus Opioid Safety Act, which requires many public colleges to provide naloxone and overdose education on campus. Putting AB 602 into practice will mean weaving treatment options, counseling capacity and funding decisions into student conduct policies, as reported by CalMatters and described by the California Department of Public Health on the Campus Opioid Safety Act page.
Legal note
AB 602 does not touch federal crime-reporting rules and it explicitly preserves colleges’ authority to discipline students for conduct that is unrelated to an overdose, including sexual violence or selling and distributing drugs. The bill also includes language outlining potential state reimbursement if the Commission on State Mandates finds that it created new local costs, and it leaves key implementation questions, such as who operates the required programs, how long students have to complete them and how they are funded, to each system and campus. For the full statutory language and chapter history, the text is available via LegiScan.
