BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2417
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 12, 2016
Consultant: Matt Dean
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer, Sr., Chair
AB
2417 (Cooley) - As Amended March 15, 2016
SUMMARY: Prohibits the Department of Justice (DOJ) from
charging fees to Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA)
Programs for background checks. Specifically, this bill:
Prohibits DOJ from charging a fee to CASA programs who submit to
DOJ fingerprint images and related information of employment and
volunteer candidates for the purpose of obtaining information
regarding any record of child abuse investigations contained in
the Child Abuse Central Index (CACI), state- or federal-level
convictions, or state- or federal-level arrests for which DOJ
establishes that the applicant was released on bail or on his or
her own recognizance pending trial.
EXISTING
LAW:1)
2)Requires that any specified mandated reporter who has
knowledge of or observes a child, in his or her professional
capacity or within the scope of his or her employment whom the
reporter knows, or reasonably suspects, has been the victim of
child abuse, shall report it immediately to a specified child
protection agency. (Pen. Code, § 11166, subd. (a).)
3)Requires specified local agencies to send DOJ reports of every
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case of child abuse or severe neglect that they investigate
and determine to be substantiated. (Pen. Code, § 11169, subd.
(a).)
4)Directs DOJ to maintain an index, referred to as CACI, of all
substantiated reports of child abuse and neglect submitted as
specified. (Pen. Code, § 11170, subds. (a)(1) & (a)(3).)
5)Allows DOJ to disclose information contained in CACI to
multiple identified parties for purposes of child abuse
investigation, licensing, and employment applications for
positions that have interaction with children. (Pen. Code, §
11170, subd. (b).)
6)Requires reporting agencies to provide written notification to
a person reported to CACI. (Pen. Code, § 11169, subd. (c).)
7)Provide that, except in those cases where a court has
determined that suspected child abuse or neglect has occurred
or a case is currently pending before the court, any person
listed in CACI has the right to hearing which comports with
due process before the agency that requested the person's CACI
inclusion. (Pen. Code, § 11169, subds. (d) & (e).)
8)Requires a reporting agency to notify the DOJ when a due
process hearing results in a finding that a CACI listing was
based on an unsubstantiated report. (Pen. Code, § 11169,
subd. (g).)
9)Requires DOJ to remove a person's name from CACI when it is
notified that the due process hearing resulted in a finding
that the listing was based on an unsubstantiated report.
(Pen. Code, § 11169, subd. (g).)
10)Provides that any person listed in CACI who has reached age
100 is to be removed from CACI. (Pen. Code, § 11169, subd.
(f).)
11)Requires the Judicial Council to establish guidelines for
CASA programs, as specified. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 100 et
seq.; Cal. Rules of Court, rule 5.655.)
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12)Authorizes CASA programs to request fingerprint background
checks. (Pen. Code, § 11170, subd. (b)(5).)
13)Authorizes DOJ to charge fees sufficient to cover the cost of
conducting fingerprint background checks. (Pen. Code, §
11005, subd. (e).)
14)Prohibits DOJ from charging a fee for fingerprint background
checks for volunteers at child care facilities who are
required to be fingerprinted if funding is provided in the
Budget. (Health & Saf. Code, §§ 1596.871 & 1596.8713.)
15)Requires background checks for child mentors in the foster
care system and prohibits DOJ from charging fees for the
background checks. (Health & Saf. Code, § 1522.06.)
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS:
1)Author's Statement: According to the author, "California has
a network of 44 local CASA programs that recruit, train and
supervise volunteers who are appointed by a judge to provide
one-on-one mentorship and advocacy to abused and neglected
children who are dependents or wards of the juvenile court.
CASA volunteers advocate on behalf of the children they serve
to ensure their educational, health and visitation needs are
met. Additionally, volunteers ensure that children are placed
in homes with families in which they will thrive.
"Children with a CASA have better outcomes. They are more likely
to find a safe permanent home, half as likely to reenter the
foster care system, and more likely to succeed in school.
Currently, there are not enough CASAs to advocate on behalf of
the foster children in need of their services.
"Pursuant to a policy intended to support mentorship to foster
youth, the DOJ is prohibited from charging fees to qualifying
nonprofit organizations, childcare facilities and foster youth
mentors. CASA programs are excluded from this benefit which
can limit the pool of potential volunteers and affect services
provided to children in the foster care system.
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"AB 2417 includes CASAs in an existing fee exemption for State
Department of Justice (DOJ) criminal history background checks
which are vital to protecting these vulnerable children."
2)Background: CASA volunteers are deemed as officers of the
court for the purpose of representing juveniles and wards of
the court without other representation. This allows CASA
advocates to represent children in proceedings that affect
them. CASA programs recruit volunteers to serve as advocates
for these children, and trains them in accordance with minimum
guidelines set by the Judicial Council. These guidelines
require that CASA advocates and employees be fingerprinted and
run through a CACI background check to ensure the advocates
and employees does not have a history of child abuse or
neglect. Currently, CASA programs must pay a fee to DOJ to
process this mandatory background check. This mandatory
expense is burdensome, given that these programs are
non-profits relying heavily on volunteers. Yet, under
existing law, there is no fee for background checks of child
care mentors serving youths in the foster care system and
child care facility volunteers. This bill would extend the
fee prohibition for background checks to CASA program
volunteers and employees.
3)Argument in Support: According to the California Court
Appointed Special Advocates, "California CASA Association
works to ensure children in the foster care system have both a
voice and the services they need for a stable future, by
strengthening California's network of local CASA programs and
advocating for progressive child welfare policy and practice.
California CASA represents a network of 44 local programs
operating in 50 different counties around the state.
"These 44 local programs recruit, train, and supervise
volunteers who are appointed by a judge to provide one-on-one
mentorship and advocacy to abused and neglected children who
are under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court. CASA
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programs are required by law to fingerprint each CASA
volunteer to screen for criminal background before allowing
them to mentor and advocate for children.
"Currently, California nonprofits that serve children do not
have to pay the California Department of Justice
administrative fee for state criminal background (CORI)
checks; however, as the law is currently written, CASA
programs are not included in this exemption. AB 2417 (Cooley)
amends Penal Code Section 11105.04 to bring CASA programs in
line with similarly situated from non-profits, and exempts
programs from paying this fee.
"California's CASA programs all operate on tight budgets that
depend on a variety of funding streams. All budgetary
pressures impact the number of children in foster care who can
have the guidance and advocacy of CASA. By saving programs the
administrative fees associated with a state CORI check,
programs will be able to instead invest these dollars in
serving additional youth.
"Based on the current DOJ fee of $32 dollars per a state CORI
check and the 2,600 volunteers trained during the last fiscal
year, we estimate this change would save our network
approximately $83,200 annually. These network wide savings
present great opportunity for our programs to grow, meeting a
great need presented in many of our communities. Also,
amending the law this way would stop CASA programs from being
the only youth-serving nonprofit organizations required to pay
this fee."
4)Prior Legislation:
a) AB 424 (Gaines), Chapter 71, Statutes of 2015,
authorized the appointment of a CASA in a juvenile
delinquency proceeding, and provides that a CASA shall be
considered court personnel for purposes of inspecting the
case file of a dependent child or ward of the juvenile
court.
b) AB 2343 (Torres), Chapter 256, Statutes of 2012,
requires DOJ to furnish a copy of criminal background
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information to the person to whom the information relates
if the information is a basis for an adverse employment,
licensing, or certification decision.
c) AB 1979 (Bass) Chapter 382, Statutes of 2006, specifies
that candidates for mentoring foster children shall be
subject to a criminal background investigation prior to
having unsupervised contact with the children. This bill
would prohibit the Department of Justice and the State
Department of Health Services from charging a fee for a
state-level criminal offender record information search and
criminal background investigation.
d) SB 618 (Chesbro) Chapter 934, Statutes of 1999, limited
the prohibition on fees being charged for the processing of
fingerprints or for the obtaining of certain criminal
records to volunteers at a child care facility who are
required to be fingerprinted.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
California Court Appointed Special Advocates (Sponsor)
Child Advocates of El Dorado County
Children Now
Opposition
None
Analysis Prepared
by: Matt Dean / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744
AB 2417
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