BILL NUMBER: SB 332 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 14, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Senator Block
( Coauthors: Senators
Anderson and Stone )
FEBRUARY 23, 2015
An act to amend Section Sections
11165.9 and 11169 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
known or suspected child abuse or neglect to a police
department or sheriff's department, not including a school district
police or security department, a county probation
department, if designated by the county to receive mandated reports,
or the county welfare department. 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.
This bill would additionally authorize a mandated reporter to make
those reports to a school district police department. This bill
would except a school district police department from the req
uirement to forward a substantiated report to the Department of
Justice.
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. (a) 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.
SEC. 2. Section 11169 of the Penal Code
is amended to read:
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.
(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.
(b) The requirements of subdivision (a) do not apply to a police
department, sheriff's department, or school district police
department.
(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.
SEC. 2. SEC. 3. 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.