BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                           Senator Tom Torlakson, Chairman

                                           1022 (Steinberg)
          
          Hearing Date:  4/23/07          Amended: 3/27/07
          Consultant: Nora Lynn           Policy Vote: Public Safety 3-1
          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____
          BILL SUMMARY:   

          SB 1022 would require the Department of Justice (DOJ) to remove  
          a person listed in the Child Abuse Central Index (CACI) as a  
          perpetrator of child abuse for an incident that occurred when he  
          or she was a minor and which did not result in either  
          adjudication or criminal conviction. SB 1022 would further  
          require DOJ to notify the caregiver, guardian, attorney,  
          guardian ad litem or parent of a minor if he or she is a  
          suspected abuser and, therefore, subject to inclusion in CACI.
          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____
                            Fiscal Impact (in thousands)

           Major Provisions         2007-08      2008-09       2009-10     Fund
           
          CACI review            $9,800     $227        $227      General
          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____

          STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria to be placed on the  
          Suspense file.

          Current law requires DOJ to maintain CACI as a repository of all  
          reports of child abuse and severe neglect submitted pursuant to  
          mandatory reporting laws. Each year approximately 38,000 child  
          abuse investigations are reported to CACI by police, sheriff's,  
          county welfare and probation departments pertaining to reports  
          of alleged physical abuse, sexual abuse, mental/emotional abuse,  
          and/or severe neglect of a child. 

          There are currently 773,473 reports stored in CACI. DOJ  
          estimates that of these reports, approximately 62,000 of the  
          originating incidents of child abuse were allegedly committed by  
          persons who, at the time of the incident, were under the age of  
          18 and, pursuant to SB 1022, the reports of which would be  
          subject to manual review and potential removal by DOJ staff. 











          DOJ estimates it would require 332,000 hours of staff time, or  
          215 limited-term staff, to review this number of reports. DOJ  
          would require an additional three staff ongoing to identify,  
          remove and review information from incoming child abuse reports.

          Costs for DOJ to provide notice to caregivers, guardians,  
          attorneys, guardians ad litem and parents of minors suspected to  
          be abusers and, therefore, subject to inclusion in CACI should  
          be minor and absorbable.