BILL ANALYSIS Ó Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair AB 1434 (Feuer) - Child abuse reporting: specified postsecondary employees. Amended: June 25, 2012 Policy Vote: Public Safety 7-0 Urgency: No Mandate: Yes Hearing Date: August 16, 2012 Consultant: Jolie Onodera SUSPENSE FILE. Bill Summary: AB 1434 would add an employee or administrator of a public or private postsecondary institution whose duties bring the person into contact with children on a regular basis, or who supervises those whose duties bring the person into contact with children on a regular basis, as to child abuse or neglect occurring on that institution's premises or at an official activity of, or program conducted by, the institution, to the list of mandated child abuse and neglect reporters, as specified. Fiscal Impact: First-year cost pressure to public postsecondary institutions potentially in excess of $200,000 (General Fund) to develop training modules, policies and forms. Annual cost pressure to public postsecondary institutions for ongoing training and administrative costs associated with noticing, tracking, and compliance. Potential costs, likely less than $150,000 (General Fund) for increased state prison commitments to the extent increasing the number of mandated reporters results in additional felony convictions. Potential ongoing costs (Local Revenue Fund 2011/General Fund) to county child welfare services departments for fielding and investigation of increased mandated reports. Ongoing costs to the Judicial Branch, likely in the range of $25,000 to $50,000 (General Fund) for additional misdemeanor and felony court filings. Minor, absorbable costs to the Department of Justice (DOJ) to process additional CANRA reports. Non-reimbursable local law enforcement costs due to additional reporting and investigation, as well as increased AB 1434 (Feuer) Page 1 enforcement for failure to report, offset to a degree by fine revenue. Background: Current law establishes the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act, which generally is intended to protect children from abuse and neglect. Existing law enumerates 40 categories of persons who are mandated child abuse and neglect reporters and provides that, except as specified, "a mandated reporter shall make a report?whenever the mandated reporter, in his or her professional capacity or within the scope of his or her employment, has knowledge of or observes a child whom the mandated reporter knows or reasonably suspects has been the victim of child abuse or neglect." This bill and several others this session (see Related Legislation) have been introduced largely in response to the incidents at Penn State in 2011. Proposed Law: This bill would add to the existing list of mandated reporters any employee or administrator of a public or private postsecondary institution whose duties bring the employee or administrator into contact with children on a regular basis, or who supervises those whose duties bring the employee or administrator into contact with children on a regular basis, as to child abuse or neglect occurring on that institution's premises or at an official activity of, or program conducted by, the institution. This bill provides that nothing in this section shall be construed as altering the lawyer-client communication privilege as set forth in the Evidence Code, as specified. Related Legislation: AB 1435 (Dickinson) 2012 makes an athletic coach, athletic administrator, or athletic director employed by any public or private school that provides kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, a mandated reporter. This bill is scheduled to be heard in this Committee today. AB 1438 (Bradford) 2012 expands the existing crime for failing to notify a peace officer of a specified violent crime against a child under 14 to include non-forcible child molestation. This bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Public Safety. AB 1434 (Feuer) Page 2 AB 1564 (Lara) 2012 makes volunteers of public or private organizations including nonprofit organizations, whose duties require direct contact with and supervision of children, mandated reporters. This bill was not heard in the Assembly Committee on Public Safety. AB 1713 (Campos) 2012 expands the existing definition of commercial film and photographic print processors who are mandated reporters to include several enumerated types of computer-related data and imagery. This bill is scheduled to be heard in this Committee today. AB 1817 (Atkins) 2012 would make commercial computer technicians, as specified, mandated reporters. This bill has been referred to this Committee for analysis. SB 1264 (Vargas) 2012 would add to the existing list of mandated reporters any athletic coach, including, but not limited to, an assistant coach or a graduate assistant involved in coaching, at public or private postsecondary institutions. This bill has been referred to the Assembly Committee on Appropriations. Staff Comments: Under current law, there are 40 enumerated categories of mandated reporters including teachers, instructional aides and others, which already may include the individuals covered by the provisions of this bill. Current statute, however, does not clearly specify higher education employees. To the extent this bill expands the number of mandated reporters could result in an increased number of incidents reported and prosecuted, resulting in annual state incarceration costs of $50,000 to $150,000 General Fund. The Judicial Council may incur increased misdemeanor filings related to a mandated reporter's failure to report an incident of child abuse or neglect, as well as increased felony filings for investigated reports of abuse that could lead to prosecution and incarceration. The annual impact to the Judicial Branch could range from approximately $25,000 to $50,000 for 50 new misdemeanor or 25 felony filings per year. Although not mandated, employers are strongly encouraged to provide their employees who are mandated reporters with training AB 1434 (Feuer) Page 3 in the duties imposed. Based upon the development of a similar training program instituted at the University of California (UC) on sexual harassment, one-time cost pressure to develop training course content and materials at public postsecondary institutions could be in the range of $200,000 (General Fund). There would likely be annual ongoing cost pressure associated with continued training for staff as well as administrative costs for noticing, tracking, and compliance. Local law enforcement could also incur non-reimbursable enforcement costs due to increased reporting and investigations, as well as enforcement costs associated with failure to report, offset to a degree by fine revenue.