California Bill to Make Bribery Legal for UC Officials Passes Through Committee

Alec Sheer

As children, and throughout our duration in grade school, we have all been taught that bribery is not ethical, nor legal.

California, however, a state known for its eccentric lifestyle and political affairs, will be adding to its unique notoriety if its legislature chooses to pass Assembly bill (A.B.) 173.

This is a bill that exempts University of California officials and contractors from four statutes in the CA public contract code: Sections 10522, 10523, 10524, and 10525. The text of these sections read as follows:

Section 10522: “Any officer or employee of the University of California who corruptly performs any official act under this chapter to the injury of the university is guilty of a felony.”

Section 10523: “Any person contracting with the University of California by oral or written contract who corruptly permits the violation of any contract made under this chapter is guilty of a felony.”

Section 10524: “Persons convicted under Section 10522 or 10523 are also liable to the University of California for double the amount the university may have lost or be liable to lose by reason of the acts made crimes by this article.”

Section 10525: “Willful violation of any other provision of this chapter shall constitute a misdemeanor.”

A.B. 173 will now head to the floor.

UPDATE: A.B. 173 passed the floor. The public California university system, known as one of the best in the world for its world- class institutions such as the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California, Los Angeles, has now introduced a system that actually corrupts the nature of the educational institution and might see a decline in academic credibility in upcoming years. The bill must be revisited in order to ensure that the UC system does not allow bribery of officials and compromise academic value.

Alec Scheer is the founder of We Are 1776, a news organization dedicated to facts and documents, advocating the philosophies of Voluntaryism, free markets, and freedom. Their goal is to post high caliber articles, videos, podcasts, and many other forms of content. Please visit his Facebook Page for the latest in activist solutions.