BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 1264
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 26, 2012
Counsel: Stella Choe
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Tom Ammiano, Chair
SB 1264 (Vargas) - As Amended: April 25, 2012
SUMMARY : Makes any athletic coach, including but not limited
to, an assistant coach or graduate assistant involved in
coaching at a public or private postsecondary institution,
mandated reporters for the purposes of the Child Abuse and
Neglect Reporting Act (CANRA).
EXISTING LAW :
1)Defines "mandated reporter" under CANRA as any of the
following: a teacher; an instructional aide; a teacher's aide
or teacher's assistant employed by any public or private
school; a classified employee of any public school; an
administrative officer or supervisor of child welfare and
attendance, or a certificated pupil personnel employee of any
public or private school; an administrator of a public or
private day camp; an administrator or employee of a public or
private youth center, youth recreation program, or youth
organization; an administrator or employee of a public or
private organization whose duties require direct contact and
supervision of children; any employee of a county office of
education or the State Department of Education, whose duties
bring the employee into contact with children on a regular
basis; a licensee, an administrator, or an employee of a
licensed community care or child day care facility; a Head
Start program teacher; a licensing worker or licensing
evaluator employed by a licensing agency as defined; a public
assistance worker; an employee of a child care institution,
including, but not limited to, foster parents, group home
personnel, and personnel of residential care facilities; a
social worker, probation officer, or parole officer; an
employee of a school district police or security department;
any person who is an administrator or presenter of, or a
counselor in, a child abuse prevention program in any public
or private school; a district attorney investigator,
inspector, or local child support agency caseworker unless the
SB 1264
Page 2
investigator, inspector, or caseworker is working with an
attorney appointed to represent a minor; a peace officer, as
defined, who is not otherwise described in this section; a
firefighter, except for volunteer firefighters; a physician
and surgeon, psychiatrist, psychologist, dentist, resident,
intern, podiatrist, chiropractor, licensed nurse, dental
hygienist, optometrist, marriage and family therapist,
clinical social worker, professional clinical counselor, or
any other person who is currently licensed as a health care
professional as specified; any emergency medical technician I
or II, paramedic, or other person certified to provide
emergency medical services; a registered psychological
assistant; a marriage and family therapist trainee, as
defined; a registered unlicensed marriage and family therapist
intern; a state or county public health employee who treats a
minor for venereal disease or any other condition; a coroner;
a medical examiner, or any other person who performs
autopsies; a commercial film and photographic print processor,
as defined;
a child visitation monitor, as defined; an animal control
officer or humane society officer, as defined; a clergy
member, as defined; any custodian of records of a clergy
member, as specified; any employee of any police department,
county sheriff's department, county probation department, or
county welfare department; an employee or volunteer of a Court
Appointed Special Advocate program, as defined; any custodial
officer, as defined; any person providing services to a minor
child, as specified; an alcohol and drug counselor, as
defined; a clinical counselor trainee, as defined; and a
registered clinical counselor intern. ÝPenal Code Section
11165.7(a).]
2)Provides that volunteers of public or private organizations,
except a volunteer of a Court Appointed Special Advocate
program, whose duties require direct contact with and
supervision of children are not mandated reporters but are
encouraged to obtain training in the identification and
reporting of child abuse and neglect and are further
encouraged to report known or suspected instances of child
abuse or neglect to a specified agency. ÝPenal Code Section
11165.7(b).]
3)Strongly encourages employers to provide their employees who
are mandated reporters with training in the duties imposed by
CANRA. This training shall include training in child abuse
SB 1264
Page 3
and neglect identification and training in child abuse and
neglect reporting. Whether or not employers provide their
employees with training in child abuse and neglect
identification and reporting, the employers shall provide
their employees who are mandated reporters with a statement
that informs the employee that he or she is a mandated
reporter and informs the employee of his or her reporting
obligations and of his or her confidentiality rights. ÝPenal
Code Section 11165.7(c).]
4)Encourages public and private organizations to provide their
volunteers whose duties require direct contact with and
supervision of children with training in the identification
and reporting of child abuse and neglect. ÝPenal Code Section
11165.7(f).]
5)Requires a mandated reporter to make a report to a specified
agency 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. The mandated reporter shall
make an initial report to the agency immediately or as soon as
is practicably possible by telephone and the mandated reporter
shall prepare and send, fax, or electronically transmit a
written follow-up report thereof within 36 hours of receiving
the information concerning the incident. The mandated
reporter may include with the report any nonprivileged
documentary evidence the mandated reporter possesses relating
to the incident. ÝPenal Code Section 11166(a).]
6)Any mandated reporter who fails to report an incident of known
or reasonably suspected child abuse or neglect as required by
this section is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by up to
six months confinement in a county jail or by a fine of one
thousand dollars ($1,000) or by both that imprisonment and
fine. If a mandated reporter intentionally conceals his or
her failure to report an incident known by the mandated
reporter to be abuse or severe neglect under this section, the
failure to report is a continuing offense until a specified
agency discovers the offense. ÝPenal Code Section 11166(c).]
7)Defines "child" under CANRA as a person under the age of 18
years. (Penal Code Section 11165.)
SB 1264
Page 4
8)Defines "child abuse or neglect" under CANRA to include
physical injury or death inflicted by other than accidental
means upon a child by another person, sexual abuse as defined,
neglect as defined, the willful harming or injuring of a child
or the endangering of the person or health of a child as
defined, and unlawful corporal punishment or injury as
defined. "Child abuse or neglect" does not include a mutual
affray between minors. "Child abuse or neglect" does not
include an injury caused by reasonable and necessary force
used by a peace officer acting within the course and scope of
his or her employment as a peace officer. (Penal Code Section
11165.6.)
9)Requires any person who reasonably believes that he or she has
observed the commission of any of the following offenses where
the victim is a child under the age of 14 years shall notify a
peace officer:
a) Murder;
b) Rape; and,
c) Any lewd or lascivious act upon or with the body, or any
part or member thereof, of a child with the intent of
arousing, appealing to, or gratifying the lust, passions,
or sexual desires of that person or the child by use of
force, violence, duress, menace, or fear of immediate and
unlawful bodily injury on the victim or another person.
ÝPenal Code Section 152.3(a).]
10)States that the failure to notify as required pursuant to the
provisions above is a misdemeanor and is punishable by a fine
of not more than $1,500, by imprisonment in a county jail for
not more than six months, or by both that fine and
imprisonment. ÝPenal Code Section 152.3(c).]
11)Excludes from the reporting requirements above the following:
a) A person who is related to either the victim or the
offender, including a husband, wife, parent, child,
brother, sister, grandparent, grandchild, or other person
related by consanguinity or affinity;
b) A person who fails to report based on a reasonable
mistake of fact; and,
SB 1264
Page 5
12)A person who fails to report based on a reasonable fear for
his or her own safety or for the safety of his or her family.
ÝPenal Code Section 152.3(e).]
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Author's Statement : According to the author, "After reading
the grand jury report, I got sick. I couldn't believe those
men, who are adults and leaders, didn't take the abuse they
witnessed and learned of immediately to the police. Ý] Our
children's safety must always come first, and we should hold
University coaches of every level accountable for reporting
sexual abuse."
2)Background : According to background materials provided by the
author, "At the end of 2011, prosecutors filed criminal
charges against Jerry Sandusky, the assistant football coach
at Penn State for nearly fifteen years, for alleged sexual
abuse charges. In the case against Sandusky, the Grand Jury
found that there had been at least eight victims of sexual
assaults throughout his career at Penn State. The head coach
of the Penn State football team, Joe Paterno, allegedly knew
of instances of sexual abuse but failed to report these
directly to Child Welfare Services. Instead, he reported to a
supervisor who also failed to report to Child Welfare
Services. . . .'ÝT]hese men protected their football team
rather than the innocent boys? and Ýthis] should never happen
again.'"
3)Penal Code Section 152.3 : Under existing law, any person who
reasonably believes that he or she has observed the commission
of rape or a forcible lewd or lascivious act upon a child
under the age of 14 shall notify a peace officer. Failure to
notify a peace officer is punishable by a fine of not more
than $1,500, by imprisonment in a county jail for not more
than six months, or by both that fine and imprisonment.
(Penal Code Section 152.3.) Regardless of whether an
individual is deemed a mandated reporter for the purposes of
CANRA, any person who witnesses rape or a forcible lewd or
lascivious act upon a child under the age of 14 is required
under current law to notify a peace officer, and faces
criminal prosecution if he or she fails to do so.
SB 1264
Page 6
4)Rise in Incidents of Child Sex Abuse ? According to a recent
news article, "The overwhelming media coverage after the
arrest of Miramonte Elementary School teacher Mark Berndt for
allegedly spoon-feeding his semen to blindfolded children has
intensified discussion among school officials, parents and
children about abuse. But whether more children are being
abused or more abusers are being caught is difficult to say.
Law enforcement officials stressed that they don't believe
that more abuse is occurring. Rather, the Miramonte episode
has sparked some people to come forward and others to be more
watchful, they say. Los Angeles Police Capt. Fabian E.
Lizarraga, who oversees child sex crime investigations, said
the department has seen an increase in allegations of 'child
annoyance' more than of more serious sexual misconduct."
ÝWinton, Blume, and Allen, Spate of arrests shows rise in
reporting, not in abuse, police say, L.A. Times (Jan. 24,
2012).]
A recent Sacramento Bee article named several coaches, pastors
and school administrators in the Sacramento region who have
been arrested or charged with molesting children. The article
notes, however, that crime statistics indicate a decline in
sex offenses against children. "Through November, Sacramento
police wrote 61 crime reports involving sex offenses against
children, down 25 percent from the previous year, police data
show. Officers took another 118 informal reports of sex
offenses against minors, down 20 percent from the prior year.
The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department also showed a
decline in child sex offenses through the first 11 months of
2011, but the drop was slight." ÝBreaton, Mentors accused of
child molestation betray our trust, Sacramento Bee (Jan. 15,
2012).]
5)Related Legislation :
a) AB 1434 (Feuer) makes an employee of a public or private
institution of higher education a mandated reporter for the
purposes of CANRA. AB 1434 is pending hearing by the
Senate Committee on Public Safety.
b) AB 1435 (Dickinson) makes athletic coaches, athletic
administrators, and athletic directors employed by a public
or private youth center, youth recreation program, or youth
organization mandated reporters for the purposes of CANRA.
SB 1264
Page 7
AB 1435 is pending hearing by the Senate Public Safety
Committee.
c) AB 1438 (Bradford) makes it a misdemeanor punishable by
up to six months in the county jail to fail to report to a
peace officer an instance of known or suspected child
sexual abuse. AB 1438 is pending hearing by the Senate
Committee on Public Safety.
d) AB 1564 (Lara) makes volunteers of public and private
organizations, including non-profits, mandated reporters
under CANRA, and revokes a non-profit's tax exempt status
if an employee or volunteer fails to report an instance of
known or suspected child abuse. AB 1564 was never heard by
this Committee.
e) AB 1628 (Beall) makes technical, non-substantive changes
to the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act. AB 1628 was
held in the Assembly Committee on Appropriations.
f) AB 1713 (Campos) expands the list of persons identified
as mandated reporters to include commercial-film and
photographic-print or image processors, and also expands
the list of media to which CANRA provisions apply to
include, among other things, any representation of
information, data, or an image. AB 1713 is pending hearing
by the Senate Committee on Appropriations.
g) AB 1817 (Atkins) expands the list of persons identified
as mandated reporters to include commercial computer
technicians. AB 1817 is pending hearing by the Senate
Committee on Appropriations.
6)Previous Legislation :
a) SB 646 (Watson), Chapter 1444, Statutes of 1987,
established CANRA, which requires specified persons who
have knowledge of or observe a child in their professional
capacity or within the scope of their employment, whom the
person knows or reasonably suspects has been the victim of
child abuse to report the known or suspected instance of
child abuse to a child protective agency, as defined.
b) AB 1241 (Rod Pacheco), Chapter 916, Statutes of 2000,
expanded the list of mandated reporters and training
SB 1264
Page 8
requirements under CANRA, and required that specified
additional information be included in a report of suspected
abuse or neglect.
c) AB 525 (Chu), Chapter 701, Statutes of 2006, expanded
the definition of "child abuse and neglect" to include
instances in which a child suffers or is at substantial
risk of suffering serious emotional damage.
d) AB 673 (Hayashi), Chapter 393, Statutes of 2007, added
death by other than accidental means to the definition of
"child abuse and neglect," and clarified that a mandated
reporter not acting in his or her private capacity or in
the course and scope of his or her employment may report
instances of known or suspected child abuse.
e) AB 2380 (Lowenthal), Chapter 123, Statutes of 2010,
clarified that a "reasonable suspicion" that a child has
been a victim of child abuse or neglect does not require
certainty that a child has been abused, and may be based on
credible information from other individuals.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
American Academy of Pediatrics
California Catholic Conference, Inc.
California Probation, Parole and Correctional Association
California State Sheriffs Association
Child Abuse Prevention Council of Contra Costa County
Crime Victims United of California
Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office
The Child Abuse Prevention Center
Opposition
Legal Services for Prisoners with Children
Analysis Prepared by : Stella Choe / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744
SB 1264
Page 9