CALIFORNIA STATUTES AND CODES
SECTIONS 32380-32385
EDUCATION CODE
SECTION 32380-32385
32380. As used in this article:
(a) "Person" means any individual, partnership, corporation,
limited liability company, association, firm, or public board,
agency, or entity.
(b) "Prepare" means to put into condition for intended use.
(c) "Degree" means any "academic degree" or "honorary degree" or
title of any designation, mark, appellation, series of letters or
words such as, but not limited to, associate, bachelor, master,
doctor, or fellow which signifies, purports, or is generally taken to
signify satisfactory completion of the requirements of an academic,
educational, technological, or professional program of study or is an
honorary title conferred for recognition of some meritorious
achievement.
(d) "Diploma" means any diploma, certificate, transcript,
document, or other writing in any language other than a degree
representing that an individual has completed any course of study.
32381. Any person who prepares, manufactures, or prints, or who
offers to prepare, manufacture, or print, for a fee or other
compensation, any document purporting to be a degree or diploma
without written authorization to do so from the school authority
shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. As used in this section, "school
authority" means any of the following:
(a) A governing board of a school district that issued or reissued
the degree or diploma, as the case may be.
(b) A private school that issued or reissued the degree or
diploma, as the case may be.
(c) Any public or private college, university, or other
institution of higher learning that issued or reissued the degree or
diploma, as the case may be.
Nothing in this section shall prohibit a person from reproducing,
or having reproduced, for his personal use a degree or diploma issued
to him by a school authority.
32382. No person shall:
(a) Sell, barter, offer to sell or barter, or conspire to sell or
barter, any diploma or degree as defined in this article.
(b) Buy, obtain by barter, attempt to buy or obtain by barter, or
conspire to obtain by barter or buy, any diploma or degree.
(c) Use in connection with any business, trade, profession, or
occupation, or attempt to use in connection with any business, trade,
profession or occupation, or conspire to use in connection with any
business, trade, profession or occupation, any degree or diploma,
which has been purchased, obtained by barter, fraudulently or
illegally issued, illegally obtained, counterfeited, materially
altered, or found.
(d) Use in connection with a business, trade, profession, or
occupation, or give or receive, any degree or diploma which has been
purchased, obtained by barter, fraudulently or illegally issued,
illegally obtained, counterfeited, materially altered, or found.
(e) Attempt to use in connection with a business, trade,
profession, or occupation, or attempt to give or receive, any degree
or diploma, which has been purchased, obtained by barter,
fraudulently or illegally issued, illegally obtained, counterfeited,
materially altered, or found.
(f) Conspire to use in connection with a business, trade,
profession, or occupation, or conspire to give or receive, any
diploma or degree evidencing the undertaking or completion of any
course of study or scholastic achievement attained if, in fact, such
course of study has not been undertaken nor completed or if such
scholastic achievement has not been attained.
32383. Any person willfully violating any provision of Section
32382 is guilty of a misdemeanor and is punishable by imprisonment in
the county jail, or by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars
($1,000) or by both such fine and imprisonment.
32384. Any court of competent jurisdiction is hereby authorized to
grant such relief as is necessary to enforce the provisions of this
article, including the issuance of an injunction.
32385. Actions for injunction under the provisions of this article
may be brought in the name of the people of the State of California
upon their own complaint or upon the complaint of any person, or in
the name of any authorized public or private school, college,
university, or other authorized institution of learning, acting on
its own behalf or the general public.