BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2893|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2893
Author: Mountjoy (R)
Amended: 8/7/06 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 5-0, 8/8/06
AYES: Dunn, Morrow, Escutia, Harman, Kuehl
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 74-0, 5/4/06 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Sex offenders: child custody and visitation
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill seeks to prevent a child from being
placed in a home with a registered sex offender whose
victim was a minor, or have unsupervised visitation with
that offender, when a court fails to state its reasons for
finding no significant risk to the child in writing or on
the record.
ANALYSIS : Existing law requires a court to grant custody
or visitation according to the best interests of the child.
Existing law requires a finding of no significant risk to
the child prior to a grant of custody or unsupervised
visitation to a registered sex offender, where the victim
was a minor, or to an individual convicted of child
abandonment, neglect, abuse or molestation. Existing law
also requires a finding of no significant risk to the child
CONTINUED
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prior to a grant of custody or unsupervised visitation if
anyone in a person's household is required to register as a
felony sex offender, where the victim was a minor.
Existing law presumes a significant risk to the child from
unsupervised contact with a felony sex offender whose
victim was a minor.
Existing law requires findings of no significant risk to be
stated in writing or on the record.
This bill further adds that a child may not be placed in a
home in which that person resides, nor permitted to have
unsupervised visitation with that person, if those findings
are not in writing or on the record.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/10/06)
California District Attorneys Association
Office of the Sheriff of San Bernardino County
Junior Leagues of California State Public Affairs Committee
Incest Survivors' Speakers Bureau of Yolo County
Child Abuse Solutions, Inc.
Law Officers of Cynthia L. Spencer
Calegislation
Mothers of Lost Children
California Family Council
California Police Chiefs Association
California Protective Parents Association
Los Angeles District Attorney's Office
Children's Civil Rights Union
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : Both the author and supporters
emphasize the need to fully protect children from the risk
of abuse, especially in cases where a prospective custodial
parent must register as a sex offender due to crimes
against a minor. As stated in a report on the Myths and
Facts About Sex Offenders, created by the Center for Sex
Offender Management:
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"[a]pproximately 60 percent of boys and 80 percent of girls
who are sexually victimized are abused by someone known to
the child or the child's family [citation omitted].
Relatives, friends, baby-sitters, persons in positions of
authority over the child, or persons who supervise children
are more likely than strangers to commit a sexual assault."
The purpose behind this bill is to ensure that courts
comply with existing law that requires them to find "no
significant risk to the child" and place those findings in
writing or on the record prior to granting custody or
unsupervised visitation to registered sex offenders, whose
victim was a minor. The author's office asserts that they
have received recent reports of courts failing to meet this
statutory mandate, resulting in children being placed in
the homes of registered sex offenders without the requisite
findings.
The Incest Survivors' Speakers Bureau of Yolo County
(ISSBYC), supporter, states that this bill:
"provide[] [an] important safeguard which children need and
deserve. Several members of ISSBYC, as children, clearly
remember wanting to be placed in foster care or to be
allowed to stay in foster homes. However, we were forced
to continue living with the family members who had molested
us."
Accordingly, this bill would ensure that courts require
registered sex offenders to meet the high statutory burden
prior to being able to place children in their homes.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Aghazarian, Arambula, Baca, Bass, Benoit, Berg,
Bermudez, Blakeslee, Bogh, Calderon, Canciamilla, Chavez,
Chu, Cogdill, Cohn, Coto, Daucher, De La Torre, DeVore,
Dymally, Emmerson, Evans, Frommer, Hancock, Harman,
Jerome Horton, Shirley Horton, Houston, Huff, Jones,
Karnette, Keene, Klehs, Koretz, La Malfa, Laird, Leno,
Leslie, Levine, Lieber, Lieu, Liu, Matthews, Maze,
McCarthy, Montanez, Mountjoy, Mullin, Nakanishi, Nation,
Nava, Negrete McLeod, Niello, Oropeza, Parra, Pavley,
Plescia, Richman, Ridley-Thomas, Sharon Runner, Ruskin,
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Saldana, Salinas, Strickland, Torrico, Tran, Umberg,
Vargas, Villines, Walters, Wolk, Wyland, Yee, Nunez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Chan, Garcia, Goldberg, Haynes, La Suer,
Spitzer
RJG:nl 8/10/06 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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