Amended in Assembly March 18, 2016

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 2723

Introduced by Assembly Member Chávez

February 19, 2016

An act to amend Section begin delete 602 end delete begin insert 300 end insert of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to juveniles.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 2723, as amended, Chávez. begin delete Juveniles: wards. end delete begin insert Juvenile dependency: prostitution. end insert

begin insert

Existing law establishes the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, which may adjudge certain children to be dependents of the court under certain circumstances, including when the child is abused, a parent or guardian fails to adequately supervise or protect the child, as specified, or a parent or guardian fails to provide the child with adequate food, clothing, shelter, or medical treatment. Existing law declares that a child is within the dependency jurisdiction of the juvenile court if the child is a victim of sexual trafficking, or receives food, shelter, or money in exchange for specified sexual acts, as a result of the failure or inability of his or her parent or guardian to protect the child, and declares that this is declaratory of existing law.

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This bill would additionally include a child within the dependency jurisdiction of the juvenile court if the child solicits or engages in any act of prostitution or loiters in a public place with the intent to commit prostitution, and the child’s parent or guardian has failed to protect the child. The bill would state that these provisions are declaratory of existing law.

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The Arnold-Kennick Juvenile Court Law provides that any person who is under 18 years of age when he or she violates any criminal law while in this state, except an age curfew ordinance or any other specified offense, comes within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, which may adjudge the person a ward of the court.

end delete begin delete

This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to that provision.

end delete

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.

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

begin insert

begin insert SECTION 1. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Section 300 of the end insert begin insert Welfare and Institutions Code end insert
begin insert is amended to read: end insert

300.  

A child who comes within any of the following
descriptions is within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court which
may adjudge that person to be a dependent child of the court:

(a) The child has suffered, or there is a substantial risk that the
child will suffer, serious physical harm inflicted nonaccidentally
upon the child by the child’s parent or guardian. For purposes of
this subdivision, a court may find there is a substantial risk of
serious future injury based on the manner in which a less serious
injury was inflicted, a history of repeated inflictions of injuries on
the child or the child’s siblings, or a combination of these and other
actions by the parent or guardian that indicate the child is at risk
of serious physical harm. For purposes of this subdivision, “serious
physical harm” does not include reasonable and age-appropriate
spanking to the buttocks if there is no evidence of serious physical
injury.

(b) (1)  The child has suffered, or there is a substantial risk that
the child will suffer, serious physical harm or illness, as a result
of the failure or inability of his or her parent or guardian to
adequately supervise or protect the child, or the willful or negligent
failure of the child’s parent or guardian to adequately supervise
or protect the child from the conduct of the custodian with whom
the child has been left, or by the willful or negligent failure of the
parent or guardian to provide the child with adequate food,
clothing, shelter, or medical treatment, or by the inability of the
parent or guardian to provide regular care for the child due to the
parent’s or guardian’s mental illness, developmental disability, or
substance abuse. A child shall not be found to be a person described
by this subdivision solely due to the lack of an emergency shelter
for the family. Whenever it is alleged that a child comes within
the jurisdiction of the court on the basis of the parent’s or
guardian’s willful failure to provide adequate medical treatment
or specific decision to provide spiritual treatment through prayer,
the court shall give deference to the parent’s or guardian’s medical
treatment, nontreatment, or spiritual treatment through prayer alone
in accordance with the tenets and practices of a recognized church
or religious denomination, by an accredited practitioner thereof,
and shall not assume jurisdiction unless necessary to protect the
child from suffering serious physical harm or illness. In making
its determination, the court shall consider (1) the nature of the
treatment proposed by the parent or guardian, (2) the risks to the
child posed by the course of treatment or nontreatment proposed
by the parent or guardian, (3) the risk, if any, of the course of
treatment being proposed by the petitioning agency, and (4) the
likely success of the courses of treatment or nontreatment proposed
by the parent or guardian and agency. The child shall continue to
be a dependent child pursuant to this subdivision only so long as
is necessary to protect the child from risk of suffering serious
physical harm or illness.

(2) The Legislature finds and declares that a child who is
sexually trafficked, as described in Section 236.1 of the Penal
Code, or who receives food or shelter in exchange for, or who is
paid to perform, sexual acts described in Section 236.1 or 11165.1
of the Penal Code, begin insert or who has engaged in the conduct described
in subdivision (b) of Section 647 or Section 653.22 of the Penal
Code, end insert and whose parent or guardian failed to, or was unable to,
protect the child, is within the description of this subdivision, and
that this finding is declaratory of existing law. These children shall
be known as commercially sexually exploited children.

(c) The child is suffering serious emotional damage, or is at
substantial risk of suffering serious emotional damage, evidenced
by severe anxiety, depression, withdrawal, or untoward aggressive
behavior toward self or others, as a result of the conduct of the
parent or guardian or who has no parent or guardian capable of
providing appropriate care. A child shall not be found to be a
person described by this subdivision if the willful failure of the
parent or guardian to provide adequate mental health treatment is
based on a sincerely held religious belief and if a less intrusive
judicial intervention is available.

(d) The child has been sexually abused, or there is a substantial
risk that the child will be sexually abused, as defined in Section
11165.1 of the Penal Code, by his or her parent or guardian or a
member of his or her household, or the parent or guardian has
failed to adequately protect the child from sexual abuse when the
parent or guardian knew or reasonably should have known that
the child was in danger of sexual abuse.

(e) The child is under the age of five years and has suffered
severe physical abuse by a parent, or by any person known by the
parent, if the parent knew or reasonably should have known that
the person was physically abusing the child. For the purposes of
this subdivision, “severe physical abuse” means any of the
following: any single act of abuse which causes physical trauma
of sufficient severity that, if left untreated, would cause permanent
physical disfigurement, permanent physical disability, or death;
any single act of sexual abuse which causes significant bleeding,
deep bruising, or significant external or internal swelling; or more
than one act of physical abuse, each of which causes bleeding,
deep bruising, significant external or internal swelling, bone
fracture, or unconsciousness; or the willful, prolonged failure to
provide adequate food. A child shall not be removed from the
physical custody of his or her parent or guardian on the basis of a
finding of severe physical abuse unless the social worker has made
an allegation of severe physical abuse pursuant to Section 332.

(f) The child’s parent or guardian caused the death of another
child through abuse or neglect.

(g) The child has been left without any provision for support;
physical custody of the child has been voluntarily surrendered
pursuant to Section 1255.7 of the Health and Safety Code and the
child has not been reclaimed within the 14-day period specified
in subdivision (g) of that section; the child’s parent has been
incarcerated or institutionalized and cannot arrange for the care of
the child; or a relative or other adult custodian with whom the child
resides or has been left is unwilling or unable to provide care or
support for the child, the whereabouts of the parent are unknown,
and reasonable efforts to locate the parent have been unsuccessful.

(h) The child has been freed for adoption by one or both parents
for 12 months by either relinquishment or termination of parental
rights or an adoption petition has not been granted.

(i) The child has been subjected to an act or acts of cruelty by
the parent or guardian or a member of his or her household, or the
parent or guardian has failed to adequately protect the child from
an act or acts of cruelty when the parent or guardian knew or
reasonably should have known that the child was in danger of
being subjected to an act or acts of cruelty.

(j) The child’s sibling has been abused or neglected, as defined
in subdivision (a), (b), (d), (e), or (i), and there is a substantial risk
that the child will be abused or neglected, as defined in those
subdivisions. The court shall consider the circumstances
surrounding the abuse or neglect of the sibling, the age and gender
of each child, the nature of the abuse or neglect of the sibling, the
mental condition of the parent or guardian, and any other factors
the court considers probative in determining whether there is a
substantial risk to the child.

It is the intent of the Legislature that this section not disrupt the
family unnecessarily or intrude inappropriately into family life,
prohibit the use of reasonable methods of parental discipline, or
prescribe a particular method of parenting. Further, this section is
not intended to limit the offering of voluntary services to those
families in need of assistance but who do not come within the
descriptions of this section. To the extent that savings accrue to
the state from child welfare services funding obtained as a result
of the enactment of the act that enacted this section, those savings
shall be used to promote services which support family
maintenance and family reunification plans, such as client
transportation, out-of-home respite care, parenting training, and
the provision of temporary or emergency in-home caretakers and
persons teaching and demonstrating homemaking skills. The
Legislature further declares that a physical disability, such as
blindness or deafness, is no bar to the raising of happy and
well-adjusted children and that a court’s determination pursuant
to this section shall center upon whether a parent’s disability
prevents him or her from exercising care and control. The
Legislature further declares that a child whose parent has been
adjudged a dependent child of the court pursuant to this section
shall not be considered to be at risk of abuse or neglect solely
because of the age, dependent status, or foster care status of the
parent.

As used in this section, “guardian” means the legal guardian of
the child.

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SECTION 1.  

Section 602 of the Welfare and Institutions Code
is amended to read:

602.  

(a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), any person
who is under 18 years of age when he or she violates any law of
this state or of the United States or any ordinance of any city or
county of this state defining crime, other than an ordinance
establishing a curfew based solely on age, is within the jurisdiction
of the juvenile court, which may adjudge that person to be a ward
of the court.

(b) Any person who is alleged, when he or she was 14 years of
age or older, to have committed one of the following offenses shall
be prosecuted under the general law in a court of criminal
jurisdiction:

(1) Murder, as described in Section 187 of the Penal Code, if
one of the circumstances enumerated in subdivision (a) of Section
190.2 of the Penal Code is alleged by the prosecutor, and the
prosecutor alleges that the minor personally killed the victim.

(2) The following sex offenses, if the prosecutor alleges that
the minor personally committed the offense and alleges that one
of the circumstances enumerated in subdivision (d) or (e) of Section
667.61 of the Penal Code applies:

(A) Rape, as described in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of
Section 261 of the Penal Code.

(B) Spousal rape, as described in paragraph (1) of subdivision
(a) of Section 262 of the Penal Code.

(C) Forcible sex offenses in concert with another, as described
in Section 264.1 of the Penal Code.

(D) Forcible lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14 years
of age, as described in subdivision (b) of Section 288 of the Penal
Code.

(E) Forcible sexual penetration, as described in subdivision (a)
of Section 289 of the Penal Code.

(F) Sodomy or oral copulation in violation of Section 286 or
288a of the Penal Code, by force, violence, duress, menace, or fear
of immediate and unlawful bodily injury on the victim or another
person.

(G) Lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14 years of age,
as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 288, unless the defendant
qualifies for probation under subdivision (d) of Section 1203.066
of the Penal Code.

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