BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  AB 465
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 1, 2013

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                  Mike Gatto, Chair

           AB 465 (Bonilla and Maienschein) - As Amended:  April 18, 2013 

          Policy Committee:                              Public  
          SafetyVote:   

          Urgency:      No                  State Mandated Local Program:   
          No     Reimbursable:               

           SUMMARY  

          This bill clarifies that a community youth athletic program may  
          request state and federal background checks, as well as  
          subsequent arrest notification, for a volunteer coach or hired  
          coach candidate. 

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Negligible new costs to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for  
          additional background checks since the background checks  
          authorized in this bill can already be done under current law.

          Background checks are generally supported by fees charged to the  
          requesting entity, in this case a community youth athletic  
          program. Nonprofits, however, cannot be charged a fee, and since  
          most youth athletic programs are nonprofits, DOJ has to absorb  
          the costs of these background checks. The fee is generally $32  
          per background check, plus a fee for fingerprint rolling that  
          can be as high as $65. The rolling fee would presumably be  
          passed on to program participants. If, for example, a program  
          administers a dozen teams, with two coaches per team and 12  
          participants per team, the pass-through cost of the rolling fee  
          could be in the range of $1,200, meaning the additional fee per  
          participant could be in the range of $10. 

           COMMENTS  

           1)Rationale  . The authors' intent is to protect children by  
            clarifying that background checks may be requested on youth  
            league coaches and volunteers. They note current law requires  
            background checks of  teachers and coaches working in school  








                                                                  AB 465
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            settings, and that criminal background checks on employees and  
            volunteers may be requested by various licensing agencies and  
            non-profit employers, and they contend the same should be  
            required of youth league coaches, many, if not most, of whom  
            are volunteers.

           2)Support  . The California State Sheriffs' Association states,  
            "California already has established standards to prevent  
            individuals with a criminal background from being employed by  
            school districts, or from being involved with any sports teams  
            that are administered by schools.  Unfortunately, this  
            requirement does not extend to all private youth sports  
            organizations, and the lack of consistency in performing and  
            obtaining accurate background checks jeopardizes the safety of  
            our children."


           Analysis Prepared by  :    Geoff Long / APPR. / (916) 319-2081