California lawmakers said Wednesday they want an investigation of how colleges responded to non-violent protests that sprung from the Occupy movement, including a pepper-spraying incident at the University of California, Davis.

The call came as lawmakers opened a hearing at the state Capitol concerning campus police protocol at California's public universities, including the University of California and California State University systems.

Video footage of UC Davis officers spraying an orange cloud of pepper spray as student protestors sat on the ground, and images of officers jabbing protesters with batons on the University of California, Berkeley campus have sparked outrage and prompted a series of investigations.

"These images were very disturbing, disappointing and as we all know, shocking not only to us in California but to the nation," said state Sen. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach. "Something is wrong with these systems when our children struggling peacefully to have their voices heard are answered by the spray of chemical weapons and the sting of batons."

Assemblyman Marty Block, a San Diego Democrat and chairman of the Assembly Higher Education Committee, said universities have a responsibility to provide a safe environment and foster a climate for free expression.

Block said budget cuts are to blame for much of the upheaval over tuition increases and support for the Occupy Wall Street movement.

"I want to take a moment to recognize the elephant in the room that is that many of the decisions that have students and others in higher education upset, emanate from this building," Block said. "Budget cuts have been horrible and frankly we are only dealing with the resources that the taxpayers of California give us."

Top officials from the UC and California State University systems will testify at the hearing about recent campus violence.

They include UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi, who came under fire after campus officers Nov. 18 pepper-sprayed a crowd of students who were sitting peacefully, and Dr. John Welty, president of California State University, Fresno, where protesters disrupted a board meeting.

Lawmakers also plan to review an incident at UC Berkeley, where baton-wielding officers jabbed demonstrators Nov. 9.

The panel will also hear from police oversight experts and student representatives.