BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1707
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1707 (Ammiano)
As Amended March 13, 2012
Majority vote
PUBLIC SAFETY 5-1 APPROPRIATIONS 13-4
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|Ayes:|Ammiano, Cedillo, Hagman, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Harkey, |
| |Mitchell, Skinner | |Blumenfield, Bradford, |
| | | |Charles Calderon, Campos, |
| | | |Davis, Hall, Hill, Lara, |
| | | |Mitchell, Nielsen, Norby |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Knight |Nays:|Donnelly, Gatto, Solorio, |
| | | |Wagner |
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SUMMARY : Removes non-reoffending minors from the Child Abuse
Central Index (CACI) after 10 years, and amends the CACI notice
provisions. Specifically, this bill :
1)Provides that, on or after January 1, 2013, if a person is
listed in the CACI as a perpetrator of abuse due to an
incident that occurred when the person was under 18 years old,
the listing shall be deleted from the CACI 10 years after the
incident, if no other incidents have occurred.
2)Requires reporting agencies to provide notice of the CACI
report to the attorney of a known or suspected abuser, if any,
when the subject is a minor or nonminor dependent of the
juvenile court (a foster child).
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires that any specified mandated reporter who has
knowledge of or observes a child, in his or her professional
capacity or within the scope of his or her employment whom the
reporter knows, or reasonably suspects, has been the victim of
child abuse, shall report it immediately to a specified child
protection agency.
2)Requires specified local agencies to send the California
Department of Justice (DOJ) reports of every case of child
AB 1707
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abuse or severe neglect that they investigate and determine to
be substantiated.
3)Directs the DOJ to maintain an index, referred to as the CACI,
of all substantiated reports of child abuse and neglect
submitted as specified.
4)Allows DOJ to disclose information contained in the CACI to
multiple identified parties for purposes of child abuse
investigation, licensing, and employment applications for
positions that have interaction with children.
5)Requires reporting agencies to provide written notification to
a person reported to the CACI.
6)Provides that, except in those cases where a court has
determined that suspected child abuse or neglect has occurred
or a case is currently pending before the court, any person
listed in the CACI has the right to hearing which comports
with due process before the agency that requested the person's
CACI inclusion.
7)Requires a reporting agency to notify the DOJ when a due
process hearing results in a finding that a CACI listing was
based on an unsubstantiated report.
8)Requires the DOJ to remove a person's name from the CACI when
it is notified that the due process hearing resulted in a
finding that the listing was based on an unsubstantiated
report.
9)Provides that any person listed in CACI who has reached age
100 is to be removed from CACI.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
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.
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COMMENTS : According to the author, "Children can be listed on
CACI as 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.
"AB 1707 provides an avenue for the removal of single-offense
minors from the CACI. Specifically if a person is listed in the
CACI as a perpetrator of abuse due to an incident that occurred
when the person was under 18 years old, the listing shall be
removed from the CACI 10 years after the incident, if no other
incidents have occurred. 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.
"AB 1707 will also improve the use and operation of CACI by
providing important clean up. Listing conduct of
non-reoffending minors can make CACI less effective because it
loads CACI with questionable data and wastes the time of
subsequent investigators that rely on in conducting
investigations and background checks."
Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion
of this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Sandy Uribe / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744
FN: 0003325