BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 1178
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Date of Hearing: June 15, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Patrick O'Donnell, Chair
SB
1178 (Vidak) - As Introduced February 18, 2016
SENATE VOTE: 36-0
SUBJECT: Superintendent of Public Instruction: child abuse and
neglect: poster
SUMMARY: Requires the California Department of Education (CDE)
to create a poster informing children of the telephone number to
call to report child abuse or neglect. Specifically, this bill:
1)Authorizes the CDE to partner with local, state, and federal
agencies as well as nonprofit entities for purposes of the
design and content of the poster.
2)Requires the poster to incorporate the additional following
elements:
a) A note that directs a child to dial "911" in case of
emergency.
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b) To be no smaller than 8.5 inches by 11 inches.
c) To be produced in five languages, including English,
Spanish, and the top three languages other than English and
Spanish that are spoken in the state as determined by the
Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI).
3)Requires the SPI, on or before July 1, 2017, to post on the
CDE's Internet Web site all five versions of the poster for
public download.
4)Expresses the Legislature's encouragement for school
districts, charter schools, and private schools to post the
appropriate version or versions of the poster in an area of
the school where pupils frequently congregate.
5)Contains an urgency clause in order for the SPI to have
sufficient time to complete the poster required pursuant to
this bill.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Requires the CDE to adopt guidelines to be disseminated to
parents or guardians of pupils that describe the procedures
that a parent or guardian can follow in filing a complaint of
child abuse with the school or a child protective services
agency against a school employee or other person that commits
an act of child abuse against a pupil at a schoolsite.
(Education Code (EC) Section 33308.1)
2)Defines "child abuse or neglect" as including physical injury
or death inflicted by other than accidental means upon a child
by another person, sexual abuse, neglect, the willful harming
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or injuring of a child or the endangering of the person or
health of a child, and unlawful corporal punishment or injury.
(Penal Code (PC) Section 11165.6)
3)Specifies a list of mandated reporters, including a teacher,
an instructional and teacher's aide, a classified employee, an
administrative officer or supervisor of child welfare and
attendance, a county office of education (COE) or CDE employee
whose duties bring the employee into contact with children on
a regular basis, and a school district or security department
employee, and requires mandated reporters to report suspected
child abuse or neglect to any police department or sheriff's
department. (PC Sections 11165.7 and 11165.9)
4)Requires the CDE, in consultation with the Office of Child
Abuse Prevention in the State Department of Social Services,
to develop and disseminate information to all school
districts, COEs, state special schools and diagnostic centers
operated by the CDE, and charter schools, and their school
personnel in California, regarding the detection and reporting
of child abuse. (EC Section 44691)
5)Requires school districts, COEs, state special schools and
diagnostic centers operated by the CDE, and charter schools to
provide annual training to their employees and persons working
on their behalf who are mandated reporters on mandated
reporting requirements. (EC Section 44691)
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
COMMENTS: State mandated reporters. Under the Child Abuse and
Neglect Reporting Act, specified employees of public and private
agencies, including public and private schools, are designated
state mandated reporters. In education institutions, these
designated officials include teachers, instructional and
teacher's aides, classified employees, administrative officers
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or supervisors of child welfare and attendance, COE or CDE
employees whose duties bring the employees into contact with
children on a regular basis, and school district or security
department employees. Mandated reporters are required to report
any suspected incidences of child abuse and neglect to any
police or sheriff department. Local educational agencies,
including charter schools, are required to provide training to
school employees on the mandated reporting requirements, and
school employees are required to provide proof of completing the
training within the first six weeks of each school year or
within the first six week of employment.
Purpose of the bill. The author states, "Child abuse affects
children of every age, race, and income level. It often takes
place in the home and comes from a person the child knows and
trusts - a parent, relative, babysitter, or friend of the
family." The author further states that mandated reporting laws
only work to the extent that employees are able to identify the
signs of abuse and that there may be times when a victim may not
display any signs.
This bill requires the CDE to create a poster to inform children
of the appropriate telephone number to call to report child
abuse and neglect. The bill requires the poster to be at least
8.5 inches by 11 inches, include instruction to call 911 in
emergencies, and be translated in Spanish, and three other top
languages, as determined by the SPI. The bill authorizes the
CDE to partner with public and private agencies in the design
and content of the poster, requires the CDE to post the posters
on its Internet Web site, and encourages local educational
agencies and private schools to post the posters in areas where
pupils frequently gather.
According to the author, the Texas Department of Family and
Protective Services received 38,000 more calls of suspected
abuse following the 2013 enactment of a law similar to one
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proposed by this bill.
The Children's Advocacy Centers of California, writing in
support of the bill, states, "Statistics show that most
children, particularly children who have been sexually abused,
are not likely to disclose their abuse at all; others wait until
years after the abuse has stopped to tell someone. Any tool
that lets children know it [is] okay to tell what happened to
them, and that, even more, points them to a safe resource they
contact, could be critical to reaching children who might
otherwise stay silent or have their abuse continue un-noticed
and un-reported."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Children's Advocacy Centers of California
Crime Victims United of California
Opposition
None on file
SB 1178
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Analysis Prepared by:Sophia Kwong Kim / ED. / (916)
319-2087