BILL NUMBER: AB 1949 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 17, 2006
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Jerome Horton
FEBRUARY 2, 2006
An act to amend Section 11172 of the Penal Code, relating
to child abuse. An act to amend Section 19613.3 of
the Business and Professions Code, relating to horse racing.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1949, as amended, Jerome Horton Child abuse:
reporting. Horse racing.
Existing law provides for the recognition of horsemen's and
horsewomen's organizations by the California Horse Racing Board. Each
organization, except for the thoroughbred horsemen's and horsewomen'
s organizations, and except an organization that solely represents
owners, or solely represents trainers, shall provide for the
representation of owners and trainers on its board of directors. Each
thoroughbred horsemen's and horsewomen's organization, except one
that solely represents trainers, shall provide for the representation
of owners and owner-trainers on its board. Existing law provides
that the organization representing owners who are also licensed as
trainers, and their spouses who are licensed as owners, shall
comprise a class of owner-trainers, which may elect 3 of its members
to the board of directors of the owner's organization, while all
other directors shall be owners and not owner-trainers. The board of
the thoroughbred owners' organization shall not exceed 15 members and
all members shall have equal standing. Existing law further provides
that the thoroughbred trainers' organization may appoint 3 persons
who qualify as owner-trainers, to the board of the thoroughbred
owners' organization. This provision will be repealed as of January
1, 2007.
This bill would require that the Board of Directors for the
thoroughbred trainers' organization and thoroughbred owners'
organization to appoint 3 mutually agreed upon persons who qualify as
owner-trainers to the board of the thoroughbred owners'
organization. This bill would maintain these provisions in effect
until January 1, 2008.
(1) Existing law identifies those persons who are mandated
reporters for purposes of reporting child abuse. Existing law
requires the reports filed by mandated reporters concerning abuse and
neglect to include certain specified information about the victim
and the information that gave rise to the suspicion of abuse and its
source. Under existing law, a mandated reporter shall not be civilly
or criminally liable for a report authorized by these provisions.
This bill would prohibit immunity from civil or criminal liability
for an official or employee of a government agency who is a mandated
reporter and, within the scope of his or her official duties, that
official or employee, intentionally or with a reckless disregard for
the truth, misrepresents child abuse or neglect, as specified.
(2) This bill would make other technical, nonsubstantive changes
to these provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes
no . State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 19613.3 of the
Business and Professions Code is amended to read:
19613.3. (a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), (c), (d),
and (e) relating to thoroughbred horsemen's organizations, each
horsemen's organization, except an organization that solely
represents owners, or an organization that solely represents
trainers, shall provide for the representation of owners and trainers
on its board of directors. The provisions setting forth the
composition of the board of directors of each organization shall be
in the bylaws of the organization and shall be submitted to the
board. The bylaws and any changes thereto shall be approved by the
board.
(b) Each thoroughbred horsemen's organization, except an
organization that solely represents trainers, shall provide for the
representation of owners and owner-trainers, as defined in
subdivision (c), on its board of directors. The provisions setting
forth the composition of the board of directors of each organization
shall be in the bylaws of the organization and shall be submitted to
the board. The bylaws and any changes thereto shall be approved by
the board.
(c) The organization representing owners shall provide in its
bylaws that owners who are also licensed as trainers, and their
spouses who are licensed as owners shall comprise a class of
owner-trainers, which may elect three of its members to the board of
directors of the organization representing owners. All other
directors shall be owners as defined in Section 19613, and shall not
be members of the class of owner-trainers.
(d) The board of directors of the thoroughbred owners'
organization shall not exceed 15 persons, and all members of the
board shall have equal standing. No person other than a duly elected
or appointed member of the board of directors shall be entitled to
vote on matters that are subject to the vote of the board.
(e) The Board of Directors of the organization
representing thoroughbred trainers and the organization
representing thoroughbred owners may, upon the effective date
of this section, appoint three mutually agreed upon
individuals who qualify as members of the class of owner-trainers as
described in subdivision (c) to the board of directors of the
organization representing thoroughbred owners. These
appointees shall hold these positions until members of the class are
elected to fill the positions, no later than July 1, 2003.
This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2007 2008 , and as of that date is repealed,
unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1,
2007 2008 , deletes or extends that
date.
SECTION 1. Section 11172 of the Penal Code is
amended to read:
11172. (a) No mandated reporter shall be civilly or criminally
liable for a report required or authorized by this article, and this
immunity shall apply even if the mandated reporter acquired the
knowledge or reasonable suspicion of child abuse or neglect outside
of his or her professional capacity or outside the scope of his or
her employment. A person reporting a known or suspected instance of
child abuse or neglect shall not incur civil or criminal liability as
a result of a report authorized by this article unless it can be
proven that a false report was made and the person knew that the
report was false or was made with reckless disregard of the truth or
falsity of the report, and a person who makes a report of child abuse
or neglect known to be false or with reckless disregard of the truth
or falsity of the report is liable for damages caused. No person
required to make a report pursuant to this article, nor a person
taking photographs at his or her direction, shall incur civil or
criminal liability for taking photographs of a suspected victim of
child abuse or neglect, or causing photographs to be taken of a
suspected victim of child abuse or neglect, without parental consent,
or for disseminating the photographs with the reports required by
this article. However, this section shall not be construed to grant
immunity from this liability with respect to other uses of the
photographs.
(b) Subdivision (a) shall not apply to a mandated reporter who is
an official or employee of the state, a city, county, city and
county, district, or other political subdivision of the state, if all
of the following apply:
(1) That official or employee is required to report an incident or
reasonable suspicion of child abuse or neglect in his or her
professional capacity or in the scope of his or her employment.
(2) That official or employee intentionally or with reckless
disregard of the truth or falsity of a report misrepresents or
conceals an incident or reasonable suspicion of child abuse or
neglect.
(3) There is clear and convincing evidence that absent the conduct
described in paragraph (2) a different result or decision related to
that incident or reasonable suspicion of child abuse would have been
reached.
(c) A person, who, pursuant to a request from a government agency
investigating a report of suspected child abuse or neglect, provides
the requesting agency with access to the victim of a known or
suspected instance of child abuse or neglect shall not incur civil or
criminal liability as a result of providing that access.
(d) The Legislature finds that even though it has provided
immunity from liability to persons required or authorized to make
reports pursuant to this article, that immunity does not eliminate
the possibility that actions may be brought against those persons
based upon required or authorized reports. In order to further limit
the financial hardship that those persons may incur as a result of
fulfilling their legal responsibilities, it is necessary that they
not be unfairly burdened by legal fees incurred in defending those
actions. Therefore, a mandated reporter may present a claim to the
State Board of Control for reasonable attorney's fees and costs
incurred in an action against that person on the basis of making a
report required or authorized by this article if the court has
dismissed the action upon a demurrer or motion for summary judgment
made by that person, or if he or she prevails in the action. The
State Board of Control shall allow that claim if the requirements of
this subdivision are met, and the claim shall be paid from an
appropriation to be made for that purpose. Attorney's fees awarded
pursuant to this section shall not exceed an hourly rate greater than
the rate charged by the Attorney General of the State of California
at the time the award is made and shall not exceed an aggregate
amount of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000).
(e) Subdivision (d) shall not apply if a public entity has
provided for the defense of the action pursuant to Section 995 of the
Government Code.
(f) A court may award attorney's fees and costs to a commercial
film and photographic print processor if a suit is brought against
the processor because of a disclosure mandated by this article and
the court finds this suit to be frivolous.