BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 2018
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|Author: |Ridley-Thomas |
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|Version: |May 27, 2016 Hearing |
| |Date: June 15, 2016 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Lenin DelCastillo |
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Subject: Mandated Child Abuse Reporting Employee Training Act
of 2016
SUMMARY
This bill establishes the Mandated Child Abuse Reporting
Employee Training Act of 2016 for the purpose of providing
information, statewide guidance, and training to each employee
and administrator of a community college district who is a
mandated reporter regarding the detection and reporting of child
abuse.
BACKGROUND
Existing law:
1) Establishes the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act
(CANRA) for the purpose of protecting children from abuse
and neglect.
2) Provides that under the CANRA, all school district teachers
and employees are considered to be "mandated reporters,"
including instructional aides, teacher assistants,
classified employees, and employees of a school district
police or security department. Also defines the following
as mandated reporters:
a) An employee or administrator of a public or
private postsecondary educational institution, whose
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duties bring the administrator or employee into
contact with children on a regular basis, or who
supervises those whose duties bring the administrator
or employee into contact with children on a regular
basis; and
b) Any athletic coach, including, but not limited
to, an assistant coach or graduate assistant involved
in coaching, at public or private postsecondary
educational institutions.
3) Requires mandated reporters 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.
4) 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.
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.)
ANALYSIS
This bill establishes the Mandated Child Abuse Reporting
Employee Training Act of 2016 as follows:
1) Specifies that the Act is established in order to provide
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training to each employee and administrator of a community
college district (CCD) who is a mandated reporter, as
defined, regarding the detection and reporting of child
abuse.
2) Requires the governing board of each CCD to do both of the
following:
a) Provide annual training, using the online
training module developed by the California Department
of Education (CDE), in consultation with the Office of
Child Abuse Prevention in the California Department of
Social Services, on the detection and reporting of
child abuse, or as specified, to employees and
administrators of the district who are mandated
reporters, as defined and specified. Mandated
reporter training shall be provided to employees and
administrators of the district hired during the course
of the school year. Requires the training to include
information that failure to report an incident of
known or reasonably suspected child abuse or neglect,
as specified, 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; and,
b) Develop a process for all persons required to
receive training to provide proof of completing the
training within the first six weeks of each academic
year or within the first six weeks of that person's
employment. Provides that the process may include,
but not necessarily be limited to, the use of a
sign-in sheet or the submission of a certificate of
completion to the applicable governing board of the
CCD.
3) Specifies that a person employed by more than one CCD or by
more than one college in a single CCD, shall only be
required to receive the required training one time in each
academic year.
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4) Requires community college districts (CCD) that do not use
the online training module to report to the California
Department of Education (CDE) and to the California
Community Colleges Chancellor's Office the training being
used in its place.
5) Amends the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (CANRA) to
require that community college districts (CCDs) annually
train their employees pursuant to the Mandated Child Abuse
Reporting Employee Training Act of 2016, as specified.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill. The author's office indicates that
"there have been recent changes to the list of mandated
reporters, to include faculty and staff that work on
postsecondary educational institutions. This impacts the
California Community College system because minors are
regularly on campus either as a student who is
dual-enrolled in K-12 and community college classes or a
child who is on campus at a childcare facility while his or
her parent attends class." Further, the author argues that
"faculty and staff that are mandated reporters have not
received training on identifying child abuse or neglect or
properly reporting suspected abuse or neglect. The lack of
training is a serious problem because a child who is a
victim of abuse or neglect may not receive the care he or
she needs if an employee who reported the abuse did not
adhere to the requirements of the Child Abuse and Neglect
Reporting Act. Additionally, an employee who reports an
incident of child abuse or neglect may be punished by a
fine, jail time, or both, for not strictly adhering to the
Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act."
2) Implementation issues for the community colleges.
Training and notification of reporting requirements to all
of the mandated reporters under CANRA of the 113 community
colleges varies. According to the California Community
Colleges Chancellor's Office, the colleges provide training
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but it is unclear to what extent. In some cases, the
training may be limited to only providing an employee with
a copy of the statement regarding his or her duties as a
mandated reporter.
As the bill requires the community college districts to provide
more uniform and consistent training, it is not clear if the
local districts would elect to provide this training to all of
their employees or only to those employees they determine to be
mandated reporters. The existing CANRA defines a mandated
reporter, in part, as an employee of a public or private
postsecondary educational institution whose duties bring him or
her into contact with children on a "regular basis." The number
of minors who are in regular contact with an employee will vary
from campus to campus, and one campus may interpret what
constitutes "regular" contact differently from another campus.
Further, it may be difficult for the employees to distinguish
who is a minor and who is not. To help address this issue, at
the author's request, staff recommends that the bill be amended
to require the community college districts to develop a process
to identify the students that are minors enrolled in classes and
provide that information only to the faculty and or employees
who are mandated reporters.
3) Existing training. While it is unknown how wide spread
the availability of child abuse prevention materials there
may be for the community colleges to utilize, 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 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. School
districts may already incorporate any of this child abuse
prevention training into existing mandated reporter
training activities.
4) Related efforts to protect students. Several pieces of
legislation have been introduced in recent years to take
extra steps deemed necessary to ensure that children are
better protected. Part of the rationale is the notion that
school employees are not always aware of their duty to
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report incidents of child abuse and neglect or are unsure
of the proper procedures for making reports. Additionally,
recent incidents have highlighted the lack of training of
educators in their role as a mandated reporter. In either
case, this could lead to incidents of unreported child
abuse by school employees.
For example, AB 1432 (Gatto, Chapter 797, Statutes of 2014)
required the California Department of Education, in consultation
with the California Department of Social Services, to develop
and disseminate information to all school districts, county
offices of education, and charter schools on child abuse;
develop guidelines on mandated reporter responsibilities and
reporting requirements; and, develop a means of instructing
school personnel.
5) Fiscal impact. According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, this bill could result in one-time General Fund
costs of around $60,000 for the California Community
College (CCC) Chancellor's Office to establish statewide
guidelines and information about detecting and reporting
child abuse, and significant state reimbursable costs to
implement mandated Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act
(CANRA) training at 72 districts and 113 campuses,
including ensuring compliance with the training
requirement. Assuming administrative costs of $3,000 per
campus, statewide costs would be $340,000. To the extent
districts choose to utilize an online training module,
ongoing training costs should be minimal. Costs could be
more substantial in districts choosing to develop their own
training module. There could also be costs incurred to
compensate 90,000 CCC staff for training time. To the
extent districts successfully file mandate claims for staff
training time; costs could be in the low millions of
dollars.
6) Related legislation.
AB 2621 (Gomez) requires a local educational agency (LEA) or an
entity providing private school instruction that maintains an
employee code of conduct to provide a written copy of that
document to the parent or guardian of each enrolled student at
the beginning of each school year and also post it on their Web
site. This bill is pending on the Senate Floor.
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AB 1058 (Baker, Chapter 748, Statutes of 2015) required 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.
AB 1432 (Gatto, Chapter 797, Statutes of 2014) required
school districts to annually train employees on their
duties regarding the mandated reporting when child abuse
and neglect is suspected.
AB 135 (Buchanan) from 2014 would have required local
educational agencies to adopt policies and provide
employees with regular reminders of their responsibilities
as mandated reporters. This measure failed passage in the
Senate Appropriations Committee.
AB 1338 (Buchanan) from 2013, would have required the
governing board of a school district and county office of
education and the governing body of a charter school, to
adopt a policy on the reporting of child abuse and the
responsibilities of mandated reporters in accordance with
the Child Abuse and Neglect and Reporting Act and review
the mandated reporting requirements with all school
personnel within the first six weeks of each school year.
This measure failed passage in the Assembly Appropriations
Committee.
SUPPORT
California School Employees Association
California Teachers Association
National Association of Social Workers - California Chapter
OPPOSITION
None received.
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