Amended in Assembly April 5, 2016

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 1883

Introduced by Assembly Member Cooley

February 11, 2016

An act to add and repeal Article 7 (commencing with Section 18974) of Chapter 11 of Part 6 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to child sexual abuse, and making an appropriation therefor.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1883, as amended, Cooley. Child sexual abuse: prevention pilot program.

Existing law authorizes the Office of Child Abuse Prevention to fund, through allocations provided to local counties, child abuse and neglect prevention and intervention programs. Existing law creates the State Children’s Trust Fund in the State Treasury and requires money in the fund to be allocated to the State Department of Social Services for the purpose of funding child abuse and neglect prevention and intervention programs.

This bill would establish the Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Program as a pilot program in no more than 3 counties, as selected by the State Department of Social Services from among counties that volunteer to participate and based on specified criteria, to provide child sexual abuse prevention and intervention services through public or private nonprofit programs that provide those services. The bill would annually appropriate $50,000 from the General Fund to each county that is selected to conduct a pilot program, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would provide that public or private nonprofit agencies shall be eligible for this funding if specified evidence is provided and would encourage counties to give priority for funding to existing programs that have demonstrated effectiveness in child sexual abuse prevention or intervention or commercial sexual exploitation prevention or intervention. The bill would require each participating county to annually report to the State Department of Social Services, the Assembly Committee on Human Services, and the Senate Committee on Human Services specified information, including statistics on the increase or decrease of reports of child sexual abuse within the county. These provisions would be repealed on January 1, 2020.

Vote: ²⁄₃. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Article 7 (commencing with Section 18974) is
added to Chapter 11 of Part 6 of Division 9 of the Welfare and
Institutions Code, to read:

 

Article 7.  Child Sexual Abuse Prevention and Intervention
Programs

 

18974.  

(a) The Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Program is
hereby established as a pilot program in no more than three
counties to provide child sexual abuse prevention and intervention
services through public or private nonprofit programs that provide
child sexual abuse prevention and intervention services.

(b) The sum of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) is hereby
appropriated annually from the General Fund to each county that
voluntarily chooses and is selected to conduct a pilot program
under this article to prevent and reduce child sexual abuse.

(c) The State Department of Social Services shall select counties
to participate in the Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Program, from
among the counties that notify the department of their intention to
begin delete participate, based on the end delete begin insert participate. The end insert agency’s determination

begin delete that the counties have end delete begin insert shall be based on the following criteria: end insert

begin insert (1) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert The county has end insert significant incidences of child sexual abuse
or commercially sexually exploited begin delete children and have end delete begin insert children. end insert

begin insert (2) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert The county has identified end insert a public or private nonprofit
organization with experience in child sexual abuse issues or
commercial sexual exploitation issues that begin delete is designated to end delete begin insert will end insert act
as the primary administrator for the pilot program.

begin insert

(3) A county shall be given priority for demonstrating that school
districts within its jurisdiction are utilizing moneys from the Student
Support and Academic Enrichment Grants created by the federal
Every Student Succeeds Act (Public Law 114-95) to provide
training for all school personnel on preventing and recognizing
child sexual abuse.

end insert

(d) Each participating county is encouraged to efficiently use
these funds by giving priority to programs currently serving the
needs of at-risk children that meet the criteria in Section 18974.1
and that have demonstrated effectiveness in child sexual abuse
prevention or intervention or commercial sexual exploitation
prevention or intervention. The funds appropriated under this
section shall not supplant or replace any existing funding for
programs currently serving the needs of at-risk children, but may
only 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.

18974.1.  

(a) The county board of supervisors of a participating
county shall allocate the pilot program funds according to the
provisions of this article. The county board of supervisors may
delegate the administration of the pilot program funds to the county
social services department.

(b) Public or private nonprofit agencies shall be eligible for
funding provided that evidence is submitted 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, including, but
not limited to, one of the following:

(1) The county welfare department.

(2) A public law enforcement agency.

(3) The county probation department.

(4) The county board of supervisors.

(5) The county public health department.

(6) The county mental health department.

(7) Any school district.

(c) The administering local agency shall, with oversight and
review from the county board of supervisors, 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. To the extent applicable, the
county shall 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.

(d) Each participating county shall annually report to the State
Department of Social Services, the Assembly Committee on
Human Services, and the Senate Committee on Human Services
information including, but not limited to, all of the following:

(1) Changing public attitudes or public opinion polls showing
increased awareness of prevention techniques for child sexual
abuse.

(2) The amount of educational materials distributed to
stakeholder groups that address and promote child sexual abuse
prevention and prevention techniques.

(3) Statistics on the increase or decrease of reports of child
sexual abuse within the county.

(4) Identified best practices used by the pilot program that 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.

18974.2.  

This article shall remain in effect only until January
1, 2020, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2020, deletes or extends
that date.