SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California lawmakers are considering a bill that would give schools the authority to expel students for sexting at school or school events, though many are critical of the legislation.

Assemblyman Ed Chau, a Monterey Park Democrat, introduced Assembly Bill 2536 last month to address students who send nude or sexually explicit “photographs and visual recordings” electronically “with the purpose or effect of humiliating or harassing a pupil,” the Los Angeles Times reports.

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The news site notes that California laws already cover cyberbullying, revenge porn and child pornography.

The new bill gives schools an avenue to punish students for sexting that doesn’t meet the threshold for other crimes, Chau told the Times, and also requires schools to discuss sexting in sex ed classes, including potential legal repercussions.

A 2011 survey of middle and high school students conducted by the American Association of University Women showed the most common online harassment is “unwelcome sexual comments, jokes or pictures or having someone post them about or of you.”

The Sacramento Bee highlighted other research:

A 2012 study published in the journal Pediatrics found that over a quarter of Texas high school students surveyed had emailed or texted a naked picture of themselves. More than half had been asked to send one. A follow-up study published in 2014 found a correlation between sexting and sexual behavior but did not suggest that sexting caused sexually risky behavior, a finding the authors said suggests that sexting is “a new normal part of adolescent sexual development.”

“Over the last few years we have heard many stories about the impacts of sexting. Sexting has real consequences,” Chau told the Bee. “You basically have a sexting issue and then that issue is exacerbated by the proliferation of these smartphones.”

Instances of students caught sending nude images of classmates, in both consensual and non-consensual situations, are now virtually a daily occurrence nationally, with reactions from law enforcement ranging from no charges filed to felony child pornography cases.

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Chau said he’s not sure how AB 2536 would impact cases of consensual sexting.

“The consent issue I think we need to look at a little more closely,” Chau said. “I don’t want to have a weak policy – I want to have a policy in which we take a strong position.”

Several legal and education experts told the Times they don’t believe Chau’s proposed legislation is the best approach to address the student sexting epidemic.

Both Catherine Hill, vice president of research at the American Association of University Women, as well as My Mobile Watchdog CEO Robert Lotter believe it’s counter-productive to expel students for sexting at school.

“Expelling a child isn’t solving the problem, because the child can continue the activity from home,” Lotter told the Times.

Sameer Hinduja, director of the Cyberbullying Research Center at Florida Atlantic University also pointed out that the law would require administrators to determine a student’s intent in sending inappropriate images.

AB 2536 “seems to assume that identifying intent is easy. And it’s totally not in these types of situations,” she said.

“I would be afraid that we’re staring to infringe on civil liberties.”