BILL NUMBER: AB 2723 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 18, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Chávez
FEBRUARY 19, 2016
An act to amend Section 602 300 of
the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to juveniles.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2723, as amended, Chávez. Juveniles: wards.
Juvenile dependency: prostitution.
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.
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.
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.
This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to that
provision.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 300 of the Welfare
and Institutions Code is amended to read:
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, or who has engaged in the conduct described in
subdivision (b) of Section 647 or Section 653.22 of the Penal Code,
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.
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.