Amended in Senate April 14, 2015

Senate Bill No. 332

Introduced by Senator Block

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(Coauthors: Senators Anderson and Stone)

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February 23, 2015

An act to amend begin delete Section end delete begin insert Sections end insert 11165.9 begin insert and 11169 end insert of the Penal Code, relating to child abuse reporting.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 332, as amended, Block. Child abuse reporting.

Existing law requires a mandated reporter, as defined, to report begin insert known or end insert suspected child abuse or neglect to a police department or sheriff’s department, not including a school district police or security department, begin insert a end insert county probation department, if designated by the county to receive mandated reports, or the county welfare department. begin insert Existing law requires those agencies, except for a police department or sheriff’s department, to forward to the Department of Justice, as specified, a written report of a case of child abuse or severe neglect that the agency investigates and determines is substantiated. end insert

This bill would additionally authorize a mandated reporter to make those reports to a school district police department. begin insert This bill would except a school district police department from the requirement to forward a substantiated report to the Department of Justice. end insert

By imposing additional duties on a school district, this bill would create a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.

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

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

SECTION 1.  

Section 11165.9 of the Penal Code is amended
to read:

11165.9.  

begin insert (a) end insert begin insert   end insert Reports of suspected child abuse or neglect shall
be made by mandated reporters, or in the case of reports pursuant
to Section 11166.05, may be made, to any of the following:

(1) A police department.

(2) A sheriff’s department.

(3) A school district police department, not including a school
district security department.

(4) A county probation department, if designated by the county
to receive mandated reports.

(5) The county welfare department.

(b) Any of those agencies shall accept a report of suspected
child abuse or neglect whether offered by a mandated reporter or
another person, or referred by another agency, even if the agency
to whom the report is being made lacks subject matter or
geographical jurisdiction to investigate the reported case, unless
the agency can immediately electronically transfer the call to an
agency with proper jurisdiction. When an agency takes a report
about a case of suspected child abuse or neglect in which that
agency lacks jurisdiction, the agency shall immediately refer the
case by telephone, fax, or electronic transmission to an agency
with proper jurisdiction.

(c) Agencies that are required to receive reports of suspected
child abuse or neglect may not refuse to accept a report of
suspected child abuse or neglect from a mandated reporter or
another person unless otherwise authorized pursuant to this section,
and shall maintain a record of all reports received.

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begin insert SEC. 2. end insert   

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begin insert Section 11169 of the end insert begin insert Penal Code end insert begin insert is amended to read: end insert

11169.  

(a) An agency specified in Section 11165.9 shall
forward to the Department of Justice a report in writing of every
case it investigates of known or suspected child abuse or severe
neglect that is determined to be substantiated, other than cases
coming within subdivision (b) of Section 11165.2. An agency shall
not forward a report to the Department of Justice unless it has
conducted an active investigation and determined that the report
is substantiated, as defined in Section 11165.12. If a report has
previously been filed which subsequently proves to be not
substantiated, the Department of Justice shall be notified in writing
of that fact and shall not retain the report. The reports required by
this section shall be in a form approved by the Department of
Justice and may be sent by fax or electronic transmission. An
agency specified in Section 11165.9 receiving a written report
from another agency specified in Section 11165.9 shall not send
that report to the Department of Justice.

begin delete

(b) On and after January 1, 2012, a police department or sheriff’s
department specified in Section 11165.9 shall no longer forward
to the Department of Justice a report in writing of any case it
investigates of known or suspected child abuse or severe neglect.

end delete begin insert

(b) The requirements of subdivision (a) do not apply to a police
department, sheriff’s department, or school district police
department.

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(c) At the time an agency specified in Section 11165.9 forwards
a report in writing to the Department of Justice pursuant to
subdivision (a), the agency shall also notify in writing the known
or suspected child abuser that he or she has been reported to the
Child Abuse Central Index (CACI).The notice required by this
section shall be in a form approved by the Department of Justice.
The requirements of this subdivision shall apply with respect to
reports forwarded to the department on or after the date on which
this subdivision becomes operative.

(d) Subject to subdivision (e), any person who is listed on the
CACI has the right to a hearing before the agency that requested
his or her inclusion in the CACI to challenge his or her listing on
the CACI. The hearing shall satisfy due process requirements. It
is the intent of the Legislature that the hearing provided for by this
subdivision shall not be construed to be inconsistent with hearing
proceedings available to persons who have been listed on the CACI
prior to the enactment of the act that added this subdivision.

(e) A hearing requested pursuant to subdivision (d) shall be
denied when a court of competent jurisdiction has determined that
suspected child abuse or neglect has occurred, or when the
allegation of child abuse or neglect resulting in the referral to the
CACI is pending before the court. A person who is listed on the
CACI and has been denied a hearing pursuant to this subdivision
has a right to a hearing pursuant to subdivision (d) only if the
court’s jurisdiction has terminated, the court has not made a finding
concerning whether the suspected child abuse or neglect was
substantiated, and a hearing has not previously been provided to
the listed person pursuant to subdivision (d).

(f) Any person listed in the CACI who has reached 100 years
of age shall have his or her listing removed from the CACI.

(g) Any person listed in the CACI as of January 1, 2013, who
was listed prior to reaching 18 years of age, and who is listed once
in CACI with no subsequent listings, shall be removed from the
CACI 10 years from the date of the incident resulting in the CACI
listing.

(h) If, after a hearing pursuant to subdivision (d) or a court
proceeding described in subdivision (e), it is determined the
person’s CACI listing was based on a report that was not
substantiated, the agency shall notify the Department of Justice of
that result and the department shall remove that person’s name
from the CACI.

(i) Agencies, including police departments and sheriff’s
departments, shall retain child abuse or neglect investigative reports
that result or resulted in a report filed with the Department of
Justice pursuant to subdivision (a) for the same period of time that
the information is required to be maintained on the CACI pursuant
to this section and subdivision (a) of Section 11170. Nothing in
this section precludes an agency from retaining the reports for a
longer period of time if required by law.

(j) The immunity provisions of Section 11172 shall not apply
to the submission of a report by an agency pursuant to this section.
However, nothing in this section shall be construed to alter or
diminish any other immunity provisions of state or federal law.

begin delete SEC. 2. end delete
begin insert SEC. 3. end insert   

If the Commission on State Mandates determines that
this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to
local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made
pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division
4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.