BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1707
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Date of Hearing: April 18, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1707 (Ammiano) - As Amended: March 13, 2012
Policy Committee: Public
SafetyVote: 5-1
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill:
1)Removes persons from the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Child
Abuse Central Index (CACI) who were listed in CACI as the
result of an incident that occurred when the person was under
18 years old, once the listing is more than 10 years old and
if have there been no other incidents since the initial
report.
2)Requires mandated reporting agencies to provide notice of CACI
reports to the attorney of a known or suspected abuser when
the subject is a minor or a juvenile court dependent (a foster
child).
FISCAL
1)Unknown minor, probably less than $100,000 statewide, ongoing
reimbursable mandated costs to local agencies for additional
reporting requirements.
2)Absorbable ongoing costs to DOJ to purge 10-year old listings
of minors with no additional reports.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale. The author's intent is to create a CACI 10-year
washout for minors and foster children to protect them from
potentially life-long limitations regarding employment.
According to the author, "Children can be listed on CACI as
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perpetrators of physical abuse if they injure another child in
circumstances other than a mutual fight or an accident.
Children can also be listed on CACI as perpetrators of sexual
abuse due to any reported sexual behavior between the child
and another child, even if the behavior is consensual.
Children in the foster-care system are especially vulnerable
to being listed on CACI because they may act out due to past
abuse and because their behavior is subject to closer scrutiny
by child welfare agency case workers than that of children in
the general population?.
"By removing non-reoffending minors, AB 1707 would protect
youth from suffering life-long restrictions on job
opportunities and licensing eligibility due to misbehavior
that occurred when they were under 18."
2)CACI was created by the Legislature in 1965 to protect the
health and safety of children. It is not an index of persons
convicted of any crime; it is an index of persons against whom
reports of child abuse or neglect have been made,
investigated, and determined by the reporting agency (local
welfare departments and law enforcement) to meet the
requirements for inclusion, according to standards that have
changed over the years. Child abuse investigations are
reported by local social services and probation departments to
CACI. DOJ is the repository of local reports.
CACI information is available to help law enforcement
investigation and prosecution. Information is also provided to
social services agencies to help screen applicants for
licensing or employment in child care facilities and foster
homes, and to aid in background checks for other possible
child placements. CACI information is restricted and
controlled by the Penal Code.
CACI includes (a) names and personal descriptors of suspects
and victims; (b) the reporting agency that investigated the
incident; (c) case name or number assigned by the
investigating agency; (d) the type of abuse investigated; and
(e) substantiated finding regarding the investigation.
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3)CACI figures . According to DOJ, there are about 700,000
persons on CACI. About 53,000 were minors at the time the
report was made; there have been no subsequent reports on
about 47,500 of these persons.
4)Support . According to the County Welfare Directors Association
of California, "There is growing concern that being listed as
a perpetrator of abuse in CACI can result in a young person
being unable to gain employment or licensure later in life. In
some cases these individuals do not know that they have been
listed in the index and find out only later, when seeking
employment or licensure in a profession that requires a CACI
check."
5)Opposition : According to the California District Attorneys
Association, "It is important to have records of abusive acts
against children for both law enforcement and employment
purposes. Often, substantiated acts of abuse do not result in
the filing of criminal charges, but it is nevertheless
essential to have a repository for reports of these acts.
CACI reports can be very useful in criminal investigations and
prosecutions by providing information about prior acts
including child protective services (CPS) reports and records.
The facts that an act of abuse was committed by a juvenile
and 10 years has passed since that act are not valid reasons
to remove this vital information from the CACI, especially
since the reports now in the CACI are limited to those that
are substantiated."
Analysis Prepared by : Geoff Long / APPR. / (916) 319-2081