BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1058|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1058
Author: Baker (R), et al.
Amended: 4/20/15 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 8-0, 6/10/15
AYES: Liu, Runner, Block, Leyva, Mendoza, Monning, Pan, Vidak
NO VOTE RECORDED: Hancock
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 8/27/15
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza, Nielsen
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 35-29, 5/7/15 (FAIL) - See last page for vote
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 77-0, 5/7/15 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Pupil safety: child abuse prevention: training
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill requires the California Department of
Education (CDE) to establish guidelines and best practices for
child abuse prevention and post on its Web site links to
existing training resources. Additionally, this bill encourages
school districts, county offices of education (COEs) and charter
schools to participate in child abuse prevention training and
provide all school employees with training in child abuse
prevention at least every three years.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
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Page 2
1)Establishes the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act which
requires all school district teachers and employees to be
"mandated reporters," including instructional aides, teacher
assistants, classified employees, and employees of a school
district police or security department. Mandated reporters
are required to report to any law enforcement department
knowledge or observations they may have of a child they know
or reasonably suspect to have been the subject of child abuse
or neglect. The individual report must be made by telephone
immediately or as soon as practicable with a written or
electronic follow up within 36 hours.
2)Specifies that employers are strongly encouraged to provide
their employees who are mandated reporters with training in
the duties imposed, including training in child abuse and
neglect identification and training in child abuse and neglect
reporting. School districts that do not train their employees
in the duties of mandated reporters are required to report to
CDE the reasons why this training is not provided.
3)Requires any mandated reporter, with the exception of child
visitation monitors, prior to commencing his or her
employment, to sign a statement on a form (provided by the
employer) to the effect that he or she has knowledge of the
mandated reporting procedures and will comply with those
provisions. Further, current law provides that the statement
shall inform the employee that he or she is a mandated
reporter and inform the employee of his or her reporting
obligations and confidentiality rights. (Penal Code § 11164
et seq.)
4)Requires school districts and COEs to create comprehensive
school safety plans for their schools and requires the school
safety plans to include child abuse reporting procedures, as
specified. (Education Code § 32282)
5)Requires the Office of Child Abuse Prevention to develop and
disseminate information to all school districts and district
school personnel regarding the detection of child abuse. The
information may be disseminated by the use of literature, as
deemed suitable by the CDE. Staff development seminars and
any other appropriate means of instructing school personnel in
the detection of child abuse and neglect and the proper action
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Page 3
that school personnel should take in suspected cases of child
abuse and neglect, shall be developed by the CDE. (Education
Code § 44691)
This bill:
1)Requires the CDE, in consultation with the Office of Child
Abuse Prevention in the Department of Social Services, to
establish guidelines and best practices for child abuse
prevention, and post on its Internet Web site links to
existing training resources.
2)Encourages school districts, COEs, state special schools and
diagnostic centers operated by the CDE, and charter schools to
participate in child abuse prevention training and provide all
school employees with training in child abuse prevention at
least once every three years.
Comments
Need for the bill. According to the author's office, California
has taken important measures to ensure that school
administrators, staff, and teachers receive appropriate training
on child abuse detection and reporting, yet there are no
requirements for training on how to prevent the circumstances on
campus that might allow the abuse to happen. AB 1432 (Gatto,
Chapter 797, Statutes of 2014) made an important step towards
reducing child abuse by requiring school districts to ensure
teachers and other school employees complete annual training on
the identification and reporting requirements when child abuse
is suspected. This bill builds upon the pivotal groundwork of
AB 1432 by including in state law the requirement that specified
training of teachers or other school employees also includes
abuse prevention training, i.e., how to avoid situations that
could become compromising or improper. The author further
states that this bill will help to protect children from
predators on campus, and it will help protect teachers and staff
from false claims of abuse.
Existing training. While it is unclear how wide spread the
availability of child abuse prevention materials may be, there
are some online training programs currently available. These
training materials focus on training teachers on what types of
behavior may cross the line in terms of appropriateness and
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provide examples of behavior that could protect the teacher from
false child abuse claims. Examples include not sending personal
emails and texts to students, not giving students rides in cars,
and not being alone in a classroom with a student without the
door open.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, the CDE
indicates that 0.5 positions and about $59,000 General Fund is
needed to establish guidelines and best practices for child
abuse prevention with the Department of Social Services and for
the CDE to post links to existing training resources on its Web
site. The CDE cites minor ongoing costs to maintain the Web
site and provide technical assistance to local educational
agencies.
SUPPORT: (Verified8/28/15)
California Catholic Conference
California State PTA
Child Abuse Prevention Center
Child Abuse Prevention Council of Contra Costa County
Child Abuse Prevention Council of San Joaquin County
Partners in Prevention
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/28/15)
Department of Finance
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 77-0, 5/7/15
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Chang, Chau,
Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly,
Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina
Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez,
Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Holden, Irwin, Jones,
Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low,
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Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin,
Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Perea,
Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Mark
Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams,
Wood, Atkins
NO VOTE RECORDED: Campos, Roger Hernández, Steinorth
Prepared by:Lenin Del Castillo / ED. / (916) 651-4105
8/30/15 19:27:41
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