BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



          SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                             Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
                            2015 - 2016  Regular  Session

          AB 1207 (Lopez) - Mandated child abuse reporting:  child day  
          care personnel:  training
          
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          |Version: June 10, 2015          |Policy Vote: PUB. S. 7 - 0      |
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          |Urgency: No                     |Mandate: No                     |
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          |Hearing Date: July 6, 2015      |Consultant: Jolie Onodera       |
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          This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File. 

          

          Bill  
          Summary:  AB 1207 would require all providers, administrators,  
          and employees of licensed child day care facilities to complete  
          training in the identification and reporting of child abuse and  
          neglect under the child abuse reporting laws, as specified.  
          Fiscal Impact:  


           One-time costs, potentially in excess of $50,000 (General  
            Fund), for the Department of Social Services (DSS) to develop  
            and adopt regulations within the timeframe required for  
            implementation of the bill's provisions. 
           Minor ongoing workload for the DSS to disseminate information  
            and offer the training course online.
           Unknown, potential state costs to provide and translate  
            information and instruction materials for those training issue  
            areas that may exceed the requirements for mandated reporters  
            under the CANRA, to the extent those costs are not eligible  
            expenditures under the State's current plan funded by a  







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            federal grant.


          Background:  Existing law establishes the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting  
          Act (CANRA), which is intended to protect children from abuse  
          and neglect. Under existing law, a mandated reporter, as  
          defined, is required to make a report to a specified agency  
          whenever the person, 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. (Penal  
          Code (PC) § 11166(a).)
          Under CANRA, the definition of a "mandated reporter" includes 44  
          categories of persons, one of which includes all licensees,  
          administrators, and employees of a licensed community care or  
          child day care facility. (PC § 11165.7.) 


          Under recently enacted legislation, AB 1432 (Gatto) Chapter  
          797/2014, school districts, county offices of education, state  
          special schools, diagnostic centers, and charter schools are  
          required to annually train their employees and persons working  
          on their behalf who are mandated reporters in the duties of  
          mandated reporters under the child reporting laws. (PC §  
          11165.7(d).)

          For all other employers, CANRA specifies that employers are  
          strongly encouraged but are not required 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. (PC § 11165.7(c).) 

          Current law requires any mandated reporter, with the exception  
          of child visitation monitors, prior to commencing his or her  
          employment, to sign a statement affirming 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.  (PC § 11166.5.)

          Existing law requires that as a condition of licensure, at least  
          one director or teacher at each day care center and family day  








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          care home licensee who provides care to have at least 15 hours  
          of health and safety training, and if applicable, at least one  
          additional hour of childhood nutrition training as part of the  
          preventative health practices course. While existing law  
          provides that the training may include instruction in the  
          identification and reporting of signs and symptoms of child  
          abuse, it is not required. (Health and Safety Code § 1596.866.)


          Proposed Law:  
           This bill would impose specified training requirements on all  
          providers, administrators, and employees of licensed child day  
          care facilities, as specified. Specifically, this bill:
           Requires the Office of Child Abuse Prevention (OCAP) and the  
            Community Care Licensing Division (CCLD) within the DSS, in  
            consultation, to do all of the following: 
              o     Develop and disseminate information to all providers,  
                administrators, and employees of licensed child day care  
                facilities regarding detecting and reporting child abuse  
                and neglect. 
              o     Provide statewide instruction on the responsibilities  
                of a mandated reporter who is a provider, administrator,  
                or employee of a licensed child day care facility, as  
                specified. OCAP would be required to "provide the  
                instruction using its free online General Training Module  
                and Child Care Professionals Training Module of the Child  
                Abuse Mandated Reporter Training-California project  
                provided on the DSS website or as otherwise specified by  
                the department. This instruction content is required to  
                include, but is not necessarily limited to, all of the  
                following:
                  §         Information on the identification of child  
                    abuse and neglect, including behavioral signs or abuse  
                    and neglect. 
                  §         When to call for emergency medical attention  
                    to prevent further injury or death. 
                  §         Reporting requirements for child abuse and  
                    neglect, including guidelines on how to make a  
                    suspected child abuse report when suspected abuse or  
                    neglect takes place outside a child day care facility,  
                    or within a child day care facility, and to which  
                    enforcement agency or agencies a report is required to  
                    be made. 
                  §         Information that failure to report an incident  








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                    of known or reasonably suspected child abuse or  
                    neglect, as required by PC § 11166, is a misdemeanor  
                    punishable by up to six months confinement in a county  
                    jail, or by a fine of $1,000, or by both. 
                  §         Information on protective factors that may  
                    help prevent abuse, including dangers of shaking a  
                    child, safe sleep practices, psychological effects of  
                    repeated exposure to domestic violence, safe and  
                    age-appropriate forms of discipline, how to promote a  
                    child's social and emotional health, and how to  
                    support positive parent-child relationships. 
                  §         Information on recognizing risk factors that  
                    may lead to abuse, such as stress and social  
                    isolation, and available resources to which a family  
                    may be referred to help prevent child abuse and  
                    neglect. 
                  §         Information on childhood stages of development  
                    in order to help distinguish whether a child's  
                    behavior or physical symptoms are within range for his  
                    or her age and ability, or are signs of abuse or  
                    neglect. 
                  §         Best practices on how a provider,  
                    administrator, or employee of a licensed child day  
                    care facility might communicate with a family before  
                    and after making a suspected child abuse report." 
                 Requires DSS to translate information and instruction  
               materials into non-English languages spoken by a  
               substantial number of child care providers, administrators,  
               and employees of licensed child day care facilities, as  
               specified. 
                 Requires that on or before March 30, 2017, a person who,  
               on January 1, 2017, is a provider, administrator, or  
               employee of a licensed child day care facility to complete  
               mandated reporter training and complete renewal mandated  
               reporter training every three years, as specified. 
                 Requires that on and after January 1, 2017, a person who  
               becomes an administrator or employee of a licensed child  
               day care facility to complete mandatory reporter training  
               within the first 90 days that he or she is employed at the  
               facility and to complete renewal mandatory reporter  
               training every three years, as specified.
                 Requires that on and after January 1, 2017, a person who  
               applies for a license to be a provider of a child day care  
               facility to complete mandatory reporter training as a  








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               precondition to licensure and to complete renewal mandatory  
               reporter training every three years, as specified.
                 Requires a provider of a licensed child day care  
               facility to obtain proof from an administrator or employee  
               of the facility that the person has completed mandated  
               reporter training in compliance with the bill's provisions.
                 Requires training to include information that failure to  
               report an incident of known or reasonably suspected child  
               abuse or neglect, as required by PC § 11166, is a  
               misdemeanor punishable by up to six months confinement in a  
               county jail, or by a fine of $1,000, or by both that  
               imprisonment and fine.
                 Requires a person taking the training to complete the  
               training using the online training module provided by OCAP.
                 Requires DSS to issue a notice of deficiency at the time  
               of a site visit to a provider of a licensed child day care  
               facility who is not in compliance with the training  
               requirements. The provider is required to, at the time the  
               notice is issued, develop a plan of correction to correct  
               the deficiency within 90 days of receiving the notice.  
               Authorizes DSS to revoke the facility's license if the  
               facility fails to correct the deficiency within the 90-day  
               period.
                 Provides that a deficiency under this subdivision is not  
               subject to civil penalties and is not a serious violation,  
               as specified.
                 Provides that a provider, administrator, or employee of  
               a licensed child care facility is exempt from the detecting  
               and reporting child abuse training if he or she has limited  
               English proficiency and training is not made available in  
               his or her primary language.
                 Requires DSS to adopt regulations to implement this  
               section.
                 Provides that the bill's provisions become operative on  
               January 1, 2017.
                 Requires a child care licensee applicant to take  
               training in the duties of mandated reporters under the  
               child abuse reporting laws as a condition of licensure, and  
               a child care administrator or an employee of a licensed  
               child day care facility to take training in the duties of  
               mandated reporters during the first six weeks when he or  
               she is employed by the facility.










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          Prior  
          Legislation:  AB 1832 (Gatto) Chapter 797/2014 requires local  
          education agencies to annually train employees on their duties  
          regarding the mandated reporting of child abuse and neglect, as  
          specified.


          Staff  
          Comments:  In order to meet the implementation timeframes  
          specified in the bill, the DSS could incur one-time costs  
          potentially in excess of $50,000 to develop and adopt  
          regulations. The ongoing costs to disseminate information and  
          provide the training course online are estimated to be minor and  
          absorbable.
          At the time of this analysis, it was unclear whether the  
          mandated training components related to information on  
          protective factors that may help prevent abuse (including  
          dangers of shaking a child, safe sleep practices, psychological  
          effects of repeated exposure to domestic violence, safe and  
          age-appropriate forms of discipline, how to promote a child's  
          social and emotional health, and how to support positive  
          parent-child relationships) would be eligible expenditures under  
          the State's existing federal grant currently used to meet the  
          requirements of CANRA, as training on the protective factors  
          that may prevent abuse may exceed the requirements of mandated  
          reporters under the CANRA. To the extent these expenditures are  
          not federally eligible, an alternative funding source would be  
          required.




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