BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1657
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 19, 2005
Counsel: Heather Hopkins
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Mark Leno, Chair
AB 1657 (Evans) - As Amended: April 12, 2005
SUMMARY : Provides that, until July 1, 2011, counties may enter
into grants with the Office of Emergency Services (OES) for the
recovery of services associated with the provision of child
victim forensic evidentiary interviews. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Provides that a county may enter into grants for interview
services with OES for the recovery of costs associated with
the provision of child victim forensic evidentiary interviews
conducted by child advocacy centers, as specified, and in
accordance with its adopted interagency protocol agreements.
2)Provides that the grants for interview services shall provide
funding for capacity building expenditures and training
related to conducting a forensic evidentiary interview.
3)Provides that personnel costs of child advocacy centers
incurred by the representatives of the various participating
county departments are not eligible within the scope of the
grants.
4)Defines "child victim" as a person under 18 years of age who
has been reported to an agency specified in Penal Code Section
11165.9 to be a known or suspected victim of child abuse as
described in Penal Code Section 11165.6.
5)Provides that the amount of the grants shall be determined by
OES, in consultation with an advisory group established by
that office, comprised of representatives from the following
disciplines: prosecutors, law enforcement, victims services,
pediatric medicine, and child protective services.
6)Provides that OES shall draw funds from the Child Advocacy
Center Fund for purposes of entering into grants for interview
services.
AB 1657
Page 2
7)Provides that OES shall develop grant requirements and award
those grants beginning on July 1, 2006.
8)Changes how portions of monies in the State Penalty Fund are
allocated:
a) Increases the amount transferred once per month into the
Peace Officers' Training Fund from 23.99% to 33.49%.
b) Decreases the amount transferred once per month into the
Driver Training Penalty Assessment Fund from 25.70% to 1%.
c) Increase the amount transferred once per month from the
Victim-Witness Assistance Fund from 8.84% to 16.64%.
d) Provides that once per month there shall be transferred
into the Child Advocacy Center Fund an amount equal to 7.2%
of the state penalty funds deposited into the State Penalty
Fund during the preceding month.
9)Provides that each county may establish child advocacy centers
to coordinate the activities of the various agencies involved
in the investigation and prosecution of alleged child abuse
and mitigation of family violence, including those that
provide medical services and follow-up treatment to victims of
child abuse or family violence, or both. The purpose of these
centers is to protect victims of child abuse by minimizing
traumatizing interviews through the coordination of efforts of
district attorneys, child welfare social workers, law
enforcement, and medical personnel, among others, and to
assist prosecution by reducing the chances of conflicting or
inaccurate information by asking age-appropriate questions to
help procure information that is admissible in court.
10)Provides that members of the child advocacy center shall, at
a minimum, consist of a representative from the district
attorney's office, the sheriff's department, a police
department, child protective services, and may include medical
and mental health professionals.
11)Provides that members of the local child advocacy center
shall be trained to conduct child forensic interviews. The
training shall include instruction in risk assessment; the
dynamics of child abuse, including the abuse of children with
AB 1657
Page 3
special needs; child sexual abuse and rape of children; and
legally sound and age-appropriate interview and investigation
techniques.
12)Creates a Child Advocacy Center Fund is for the purposes of
supporting county child advocacy centers. Money appropriated
from the fund shall be made available through OES to any
public or private nonprofit agency for the establishment or
maintenance, or both, of child advocacy centers that provide
comprehensive child advocacy services, as specified.
13)Provides that to qualify for state funding pursuant to
Government Code Section 13969.7, each county that establishes
or maintains a child advocacy center pursuant to Penal Code
Section 11166.6 shall develop an interagency protocol
agreement for the investigation of child abuse and neglect
that shall be signed by appropriate persons from the office of
the district attorney, the sheriff's department, local police
departments, child protective services or an equivalent agency
administering child welfare, and public health and medical
examiners.
EXISTING LAW :
1)States legislative intent that in each county, law enforcement
agencies and the county welfare or probation department shall
develop and implement cooperative arrangements in order to
coordinate existing duties in connection with the
investigation of suspected child abuse or neglect cases.
[Penal Code Section 11166.3(a).]
2)Authorizes counties to establish interagency child death teams
and a protocol, as specified, to assist local agencies in
identifying and reviewing suspicious child deaths and
facilitating communication among persons who perform autopsies
and the various persons and agencies involved in child abuse
or neglect cases. (Penal Code Section 11174.32.)
3)Provides that, subject to available funding, the Attorney
General, working with the California Consortium of Child Abuse
Councils, shall develop a protocol for interagency child death
teams for use by counties in order to facilitate communication
among persons who perform autopsies and the agencies involved
in child abuse or neglect cases. (Penal Code Section
11174.33.)
AB 1657
Page 4
4)Defines "multidisciplinary personnel" as a team of three or
more persons, as specified, trained in the prevention of
prevention, identification, and treatment of child abuse and
neglect. [Welfare and Institutions Code Section 18951(d).]
5)Declares that it is in the public interest to assist residents
of California in obtaining compensation for the pecuniary
losses they suffer as a direct result of criminal acts.
[Government Code Section 13950(a).]
6)Provides for the reimbursement of victims, both direct victims
and specified derivative victims, of specific types of crimes
for certain expenses with limits on those expenses (both
dollar amounts and time limits on treatment). Included are
expenses for medical, mental health, specified non-medical
care, loss of income, job retraining, residential security,
disability access, relocation and funeral expenses.
(Government Code Section 13957.)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Author's Statement : According to the author, "This bill
allows counties to establish Child Advocacy Centers (CACs).
These facilities are sometimes referred to as
'Multidisciplinary Interview Centers' (MDICs). This bill
provides that CACs may submit claims to OES to recover the
costs of these centers. CACs provide a safe, child-friendly
place for a child to disclose sexual or physical abuse. Child
advocates have long been concerned about the traumatic
experience of a child who must describe in exacting detail his
or her sexual abuse at the hands of a family member or
stranger, and also undergo the intensely invasive medical
examination necessary to protect the child from future abuse
and prosecute his or her abuser. In the past, a child victim
would have to disclose his or her sexual abuse first to a
trusted adult, then to a Child Protective Services social
worker, then to a law enforcement officer, then to a district
attorney, and then once again retell this painful story
several times in open court. Multiple interviews can also
introduce inconsistencies in courtroom evidence, complicating
efforts to prosecute child abusers. To minimize this trauma
and create better evidence, CACs record a single interview,
AB 1657
Page 5
and gather medical evidence in some cases, for the use in
family and criminal courts.
"The pressing need for CACs has prompted local government
agencies to join together and share the funding from their
operating budgets, straining the normal operations those
budgets were intended to support. The use of Driver Training
Penalty Assessment Funds (DTPAF) will ease, but not eliminate,
the struggle local governments undergo to support these vital
facilities. The statutory purpose of the DTPAF is to support
driver training efforts in public schools. These funds are no
longer used for that purpose but, instead, transferred to the
Peace Officer Training Fund and the Victim/Witness Assistance
Fund. This added support is reflected in the increased State
Penalty Fund sharing ratios contained in the bill. This bill
allows these important activities to maintain or increase
their funding, as well as bring much-needed support to child
victims of crime."
2)Child Advocacy Centers : According to background provided by
the author, "State support for CACs, sometimes referred to as
MDICs was proposed in AB 1497 (Negrete McLeod) of 2001. AB
1497 passed both houses in excess of a two-thirds margin, but
was vetoed. In his veto message, Governor Davis stated that
he did not want Victim Restitution Fund money to support
programs outside of the direct out-of-pocket expenses of crime
victims. AB 2294 (Wolk), of the 2003-04 Legislative Session,
continued in that effort. AB 2294 died in Assembly
Appropriations Committee as a result of concerns over the
funding source.
"This bill draws funding from DTPAF, a fund whose statutory
purpose is to fund driver training. Public schools no longer
offer driver training. This bill reduces this obsolete fund
and creates the CAC Fund in its place, as well as increases
State Penalty Fund sharing ratios for those funds that have
received DTPAF transfers in the past, increasing their funding
and making it more permanent. CACs support the needs of child
crime victims, specifically sexual abuse and physical abuse.
CACs reduce the traumatic effects of multiple sexual abuse
interviews on child victims, and the need to gather good
evidence to assist in the prosecution of child abusers."
3)Recent Task Force Report Includes Recommendation to Support
MDICs : AB 2442 (Keeley), Chapter 1064, Statutes of 2002,
AB 1657
Page 6
established the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act Task
Force to review all aspects of the Child Abuse and Neglect
Reporting Act (CANRA) and, more specifically, to address the
value of the Child Abuse Central Index in protecting children
and any recommended changes to CANRA. The Task Force issued a
report on its conclusions in March 2004 and one of the
recommendations of the Investigations and Definitions
Subcommittee that "[p]olicy-makers should seek opportunities
to support creation and use of Multi-Disciplinary Interview
Centers (MDICs)." The recommendation reads, in relevant part:
The Task Force received testimony and information that
indicates that MDICs are effective at accomplishing
these goals. However, MDICs are not available
statewide. One reason for the lack of MDICs in all
areas of the state is the cost of developing,
implementing and operating the centers. There have
been several attempts by the Legislature to provide
funding to promote the development of more MDICs;
however, recent state fiscal problems have prevented
their enactment.
4)Arguments in Support : According to California Consortium of
Multidisciplinary Interview Centers and Teams, "In 1989, the
California Legislature determined that there was a continuing
need to improve the system for investigating child sexual
abuse and, in particular, the system for interviewing
children. The Attorney General, through a pilot project, was
successful in demonstrating that Multidisciplinary CACs
succeed in eliminating unnecessary repetitive interview of
children; streamlining investigative practices; improving the
truth-finding process; and protecting the rights of children,
their families, and the accused. Since that time, almost
every county in California has either successfully established
a multidisciplinary program to deliver these services or are
currently working toward such goals. Funding for these
programs has been the major stumbling block for counties large
and small. Without assistance, child abuse professionals
statewide find it extremely difficult to provide this
essential service to abused children and their families. The
enactment of this bill would provide the support needed to
ensure that ALL children in California be afforded the same
level of service, regardless of the size or economic make-up
of the community in which they live."
AB 1657
Page 7
5)Prior Legislation :
a) AB 2294 (Wolk), of the 2003-04 Legislative Session,
would have allowed counties to establish MDICs and submit
claims to the California Victim Compensation and Government
Claims Board for costs incurred by the MDICs associated
with child victim forensic interviews. AB 2294 was held in
the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
b) AB 1497 (Negrete-McLeod), of the 2001-02 Legislative
Session, was substantially similar to AB 2294 and was
vetoed. The Governor's veto message read, in relevant
part:
I am concerned that the use of the Victims
Restitution Fund for purposes other than reimbursing
direct and derivative victims of criminal acts for
their out-of-pocket expenses would set a costly
precedent and have a negative long-term fiscal
impact on the Victims Restitution Fund. In
addition, counties currently provide resources to
support these very important forensic evidentiary
interviews, and no justification to support
supplanting those funds with state resources has
been offered.
c) AB 1724 (Gallegos), of the 1999-2000 Legislative
Session, would have established the Child Abuse
Multidisciplinary Intervention Account, funded by the
General Fund, to provide support for child abuse
multidisciplinary teams and multidisciplinary centers. AB
1724 was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
d) SB 647 (Rainey), of the 1999-2000 Legislative Session,
would have established an account in the General Fund for
local child abuse multidisciplinary teams and centers. SB
647 was held in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Consortium of Multidisciplinary
Interview Centers and Teams (Sponsor)
AB 1657
Page 8
Calaveras Works and Human Services Agency
California District Attorneys Association
Chief of Police, City of Fresno
Child Abuse Division, Calaveras County Officer of the District
Attorney
Crime Victims United of California
District Attorney, Alpine County
District Attorney, Calaveras County
District Attorney, Contra Costa County
District Attorney, County of Yolo
District Attorney, Imperial County
District Attorney, Sacramento County
District Attorney, Siskiyou County
Imperial County Probation Department
Multi-Disciplinary Interview Center of Yolo County
Santa Clara County Victim Witness Assistance Center
Volunteer Center of Napa Valley
3 private citizens
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Heather Hopkins / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744