BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 883
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 883 (Cooley)
As Amended June 15, 2014
2/3 vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |77-0 |(January 29, |SENATE: |33-0 |(August 26, |
| | |2014) | | |2014) |
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Original Committee Reference: HUM. S.
SUMMARY : Establishes the Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Program.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Makes a number of legislative findings regarding the
consequences of child abuse, child sexual abuse, and neglect.
2)Establishes the Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Program as a
pilot program, in no more than three counties, to provide
child sexual abuse prevention and intervention services, as
specified.
3)Appropriates $50,000 from the state General Fund, on an annual
basis, to each county that voluntarily chooses and is selected
to conduct a pilot program to reduce and prevent child sexual
abuse and requires the funds to only be used to supplement the
expansion of existing programs or the collaboration of
separate existing programs within the county, or fund newly
created programs within the county if no current programs
exist to serve the needs of children at risk of sexual abuse
or commercial sexual exploitation.
4)Requires the Department of Social Services (DSS) to select
three counties from among the counties that notify DSS of
their intention to participate, based on the agency's
determination that the counties have significant incidences of
child sexual abuse or commercially sexually exploited children
and have a public or private nonprofit organization with
experience in child sexual abuse issues or commercial sexual
exploitation issues that is designated to act as the primary
administrator for the pilot program.
5)Requires the county board of supervisors of a participating
county to allocate the funding provided through the pilot, as
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specified.
6)Provides that public or private nonprofit agencies shall be
eligible for funding under the pilot if they can submit
evidence, as part of the application to the county, that the
proposed services are not duplicated in the community, are
based on needs of children at risk, and are supported by a
local public agency, as specified.
7)Encourages participating counties to give priority to programs
that have demonstrated effectiveness in serving at-risk
children, as specified.
8)Requires each participating county to annually report to DSS
and the Legislature on the following:
a) Changing public attitudes or public opinion polls
showing increased awareness of prevention techniques for
child sexual abuse;
b) The amount of educational materials distributed to
stakeholder groups that address and promote child sexual
abuse prevention and prevention techniques;
c) Statistics on the increase or decrease of reports of
child sexual abuse within the county; and
d) Identified best practices used by the pilot program
which may be replicated and used by other counties,
including, but not limited to, community outreach, data
collection and analysis, and the creation of educational
materials.
1)Establishes a January 1, 2019, sunset date for the pilot
program.
The Senate amendments :
1)Add commercial sexual exploitation prevention and intervention
to the issues that can be addressed using funding under the
pilot program.
2)Clarify that the local child sexual abuse prevention and
intervention agencies administering the pilot program must be
public or private nonprofit programs.
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3)Expand the data collection role of the local agencies
administering the pilot program in selected counties by
requiring them, with oversight from the county board of
supervisors, to include and integrate the pilot program in the
county system improvement plan, county self-assessments, and
the county plan for other federal and state child abuse
prevention programs. Require the county to provide similar
assurances, data, and outcome assessments to the Office of
Child Abuse Prevention with respect to the pilot program as
are provided regarding other federal and state child abuse
prevention programs, to the extent applicable.
4)Delete the requirement for participating counties to propose
multiyear plans that identify how they will advance certain
objectives related to the pilot program.
5)Delete the requirement for counties to provide DSS and the
Legislature a complete and accurate accounting of all funds
received and spent for purposes of implementing the pilot
program.
6)Delete the requirement that each pilot program include
components to strengthen the capacity of schools and youth
serving organizations to prevent sexual abuse.
7)Delete language authorizing each pilot program to create
guidelines to assess the community's overall understanding of
child sexual abuse.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee:
1)Annual costs of up to $150,000 (General Fund) through 2018 to
fund up to three pilot counties.
2)Minor administrative costs (General Fund) to DSS to review
applications for county pilot selection and to review annual
reports.
COMMENTS : This bill creates a pilot program that would provide
state funding to three counties for the purpose of establishing
new programs or supplementing funding for existing programs that
provide child sexual abuse prevention and early intervention
services. While most programs serve children who are already
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victims of child sexual abuse, this bill seeks to target funding
to programs and efforts that can prevent child sexual abuse.
Child sexual abuse: Child sexual abuse involves any sexual
activity with a child where consent is not given or cannot be
given due to the age of the child. This includes sexual contact
that is accomplished by force or threat of force, regardless of
the age of the children involved or the perpetrators, and it
also includes any sexual contact between an adult and a child,
regardless of whether the child understands the sexual nature of
the activity. In the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services' 2011 Child Maltreatment Report, there were 4,890 cases
of child sexual abuse reported in California.
Long term effects of child abuse: According to information from
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), child
maltreatment, including physical abuse, sexual abuse and
neglect, among other detrimental experiences, causes stress that
can disrupt early brain development. When this stress turns
into chronic stress, the development of a child's nervous and
immune systems can be compromised, which results in a higher
risk for physical and mental health problems when the child
becomes an adult. The CDC notes that these problems include
alcoholism, depression, drug abuse, eating disorders, obesity,
high-risk sexual behaviors, smoking, suicide, and certain
chronic diseases.
Child sexual abuse prevention efforts across the country: While
the rate of reported child sexual abuse varies widely from state
to state, there have been a number of measures signed into law
in other states over the past few years that focus on sexual
abuse prevention and education programs. Many of the laws have
been based on "Erin's Law," which was originally signed in
Illinois in response to the sexual abuse a young woman named
Erin Merryn suffered at the hands of a neighbor and a cousin
when she was a young child. In California, SCR 73 (Yee),
Resolution Chapter 87, Statutes of 2012, encouraged school
districts to include age-appropriate instruction related to
child sexual abuse in school curricula, which was also aimed at
prevention. The number of legislative bills that seek to
address and prevent child sexual abuse across the states is
indicative of changes in public perception. The actions various
Legislatures have taken, along with related advocacy at the
local level, offer opportunities for more victims to speak out
about their own sexual abuse and provide information to whole
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communities about how they can play a role in child sexual abuse
prevention and intervention.
Need for the bill: Noting the high prevalence of sexual abuse
experienced by children, the author states, "Although the state
aggressively prosecutes child sexual predators and requires
mandated reporting for suspected abuse, there is a lack of focus
on preventing the abuse before it occurs. Funding and training
are needed to teach adults about warning signs. By building up
community collaboration, this measure strengthens the
prioritization of stopping child sexual abuse."
Support: The California Catholic Conference writes, "Child
sexual abuse is a significant problem in every community, and
sadly is found in every region, race, creed, socio-economic
status or gender; it crosses all boundaries and drastically
impacts too many lives?Prevention begins simply by heightening
awareness and breaking the silence by starting a conversation
with parents, caregivers, educators and lawmakers about the
topic."
Opposition: None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Myesha Jackson / HUM. S. / (916)
319-2089
FN: 0005117