BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 776|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 776
Author: Chu (D)
Amended: 8/24/05 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 7-0, 6/28/05
AYES: Alquist, Poochigian, Cedillo, Margett, Migden,
Perata, Romero
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 73-0, 5/5/05 (Passed on Consent) - See
last page for vote
SUBJECT : Mandatory child abuse and neglect reporting
SOURCE : California Association of Marriage and Family
Therapists
DIGEST : This bill creates a bypass mechanism allowing
initial mandated child abuse or neglect reports to be made
by fax or electronically when a reporters reasonable
efforts" to make an initial report by telephone have
failed, as specified.
Senate Floor Amendments of 8/25/05 are double-jointing to
conform the language to AB 299 (Maze), Chapter 42, Statutes
of 2005.
ANALYSIS : Current law establishes the Child Abuse and
CONTINUED
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Neglect Reporting Act. [Section 11164 et seq. of the Penal
Code]
Current law enumerates 37 categories of mandated reporters.
[Section 11165.7 of the Penal Code]
Receiving Agencies
Current law requires that "(r)eports of suspected child
abuse or neglect shall be made by mandated reporters to any
police department or sheriff's department, not including a
school district police or security department, county
probation department, if designated by the county to
receive mandated reports, or the county welfare department.
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."
This bill provides that 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.
Process for Mandated Reporting
Current law generally requires mandated reporters who have
knowledge of or observe a child in their professional
capacity or within the scope of their employment and whom
they know or reasonably suspect has been the victim of
child abuse or neglect, to immediately make a report to a
child protection agency, as specified.
Current law requires that the "mandated reporter shall make
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a report to the agency immediately or as soon as is
practicably possible by telephone, and the mandated
reporter shall prepare and send a written report thereof
within 36 hours of receiving the information concerning the
incident."
This bill revises this language to characterize the report
made "immediately" as "an initial" report, and characterize
the written report required within 36 hours as the
"follow-up" report.
This bill additionally revises this section to include the
following:
1. Provide that, if "after reasonable efforts a mandated
reporter is unable to submit an initial report by
telephone, he or she shall immediately or as soon as is
practicably possible, by fax or electronic transmission,
make a one-time automated written report on the form
prescribed by the Department of Justice, and shall also
be available to respond to a telephone follow-up call by
the agency with which he or she filed the report. A
mandated reporter who files a one-time automated written
report because he or she was unable to submit an initial
report by telephone is not required to submit a written
follow-up report."
2. Provide that, the "one-time automated written report
form prescribed by the Department of Justice shall be
clearly identifiable so that it is not mistaken for a
standard written follow-up report."
3. Require that the "automated one-time report shall
contain a section that allows the mandated reporter to
state the reason the initial telephone call was not able
to be completed."
4. Require that the "reason for the submission of the
one-time automated written report in lieu of the (normal
procedure) shall be captured in the Child Welfare
Services/Case Management System (CWS/CMS)."
5. Require the department to "work with stakeholders to
modify reporting forms and the CWS/CMS as is necessary
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to accommodate the changes enacted by these provisions."
This bill provides that nothing in these provisions "shall
supersede the requirement that a mandated reporter first
attempt to make a report via telephone, or that agencies
specified in Section 11165.9 accept reports from mandated
reporters and other persons as required."
Operative Dates
This bill requires that these "bypass" provisions "shall
not become operative until the CWS/CMS is updated to
capture the information prescribed in this subdivision,"
and that these provisions "shall become inoperative three
years after this subdivision becomes operative or on
January 1, 2009, which ever occurs first."
Report
This bill requires that, on the inoperative date of these
provisions, a report shall be submitted to the counties and
the Legislature by the Department of Social Services that
reflects the data collected from automated one-time reports
indicating the reasons stated as to why the automated
one-time report was filed in lieu of the initial telephone
report.
Legislative Findings and Declarations
This bill makes specified legislative findings and
declarations.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/25/05)
California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists
(source)
California District Attorneys Association
California District Attorneys Association
California Probation, Parole and Correctional Association
California Psychological Association
California State Sheriffs' Association
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Office of the San Bernardino County Sheriff
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author states:
"Under the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act
(CANRA), health care providers, teachers and others are
required to report suspected child abuse to local law
enforcement or the county welfare department by
telephone.
"The telephone report must be made immediately or as
soon as is practically possible. The mandated reporter
must then, within 36 hours, follow-up by submitting a
written report to the local agency. Failure to report
is a crime and could also result in personal liability.
"According to the sponsors of the bill, mandated
reporters are unable or mistakenly dissuaded from
making the telephone report. Reasons for this vary
from not being able to get through to a live person
because the line is busy or there is no answer, or that
the mandated reporter is informed by the intake worker
that the suspected abuse "isn't reportable" and
therefore causes confusion regarding the necessity to
file a written report.
"If a marriage family therapist is unable to file the
telephone report and asks the California Association of
Marriage and Family Therapists what to do, they are
instructed to submit a written report regardless of the
response or inability to get through to the local
agency. However, many reporters do not contact the
Association and fail to file the appropriate reports
because of the ambiguous or incorrect advice of the
local agency employee. This jeopardizes the safety of
the child and has legal repercussions for the
therapist.
"This bill seeks to rectify this situation by
clarifying the statutory requirements relating to
mandated reporters and telephonic reports."
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ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Aghazarian, Arambula, Baca, Bass, Benoit, Berg,
Bermudez, Blakeslee, Bogh, Calderon, Canciamilla, Chan,
Chavez, Chu, Cogdill, Cohn, Coto, Daucher, De La Torre,
DeVore, Dymally, Emmerson, Evans, Frommer, Garcia,
Goldberg, Hancock, Harman, Haynes, Shirley Horton,
Houston, Huff, Jones, Karnette, Keene, Klehs, Koretz, La
Malfa, La Suer, Laird, Leno, Lieber, Liu, Matthews,
McCarthy, Montanez, Mountjoy, Mullin, Nakanishi, Nation,
Nava, Negrete McLeod, Niello, Oropeza, Parra, Pavley,
Plescia, Richman, Ridley-Thomas, Ruskin, Saldana,
Salinas, Spitzer, Strickland, Torrico, Tran, Umberg,
Vargas, Villines, Walters, Wyland, Yee, Nunez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Gordon, Jerome Horton, Leslie, Levine,
Maze, Sharon Runner, Wolk
RJG:mel 8/25/05 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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