BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1022
Page 1
Date of Hearing: July 3, 2007
Chief Counsel: Gregory Pagan
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Jose Solorio, Chair
SB 1022 (Steinberg) - As Amended: May 22, 2007
SUMMARY : Allows a person to have his or her name removed from
the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Child Abuse Central Index
(CACI) if the person was under the age of 18 at the time of the
suspected incident and the incident did not result in a
delinquency adjudication or a criminal conviction.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Provides that if a person is listed in the CACI as a suspect
in a child abuse or neglect investigation due to an incident
that occurred when the person was under 18 years of age and
the incident did not result in a delinquency adjudication or a
criminal conviction.
2)Allows a person to make a written request to the DOJ to have
his or her name removed from the CACI as a suspect as a with
respect to an incident when the person was under the age of 18
years and requires that the request be notarized and include
the person's name, address, social security number and date of
birth.
3)Requires the DOJ, upon receipt of a request to inquire of the
submitting agency whether the incident resulted in a
delinquency adjudication or criminal conviction and unless the
submitting agency responds to the DOJ in the affirmative
within 30 days, to remove the person's name from the CACI as
the person suspected in the incident.
4)Provides that if a person is listed in the CACI as a suspect
with respect to more than one reported incident, the specified
process shall be followed with respect to each incident for
which the person wishes to have his or her name removed from
eh CACI.
5)Requires the DOJ, if a known or suspected child abuser is a
minor, to notify the minor's current caregiver, the minor's
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parents or legal guardian, the minor's attorney, ands the
minor's guardian at litem, if any, that the minor has been
reported to the CACI.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires that any mandated reporter who has knowledge of or
observes a child, in his or her professional capacity or
within the scope of his or her employment whom he or she knows
or reasonably suspects has been the victim of child abuse,
shall report it immediately to a specified child protection
agency. [Penal Code Section 11166(a).]
2)Requires that reports of suspected child abuse or neglect
shall be made by a mandated reporter to any police or
sheriff's department, a county probation department if
designated by the county to receive mandated reports, or the
county welfare department. (Penal Code Section 11165.9.)
3)Defines "mandated reporter" as specific child-care custodians,
health practitioners, law enforcement officers, and other
medical and professional persons. (Penal Code Section
11165.7.)
4)Requires specified government agencies to forward to the DOJ a
report of every case of suspected child abuse or neglect which
is determined not to be unfounded; and if a previously filed
report proves to be unfounded, the DOJ shall be notified in
writing, and shall not retain that report. [Penal Code
Section 11169(a).]
5)Requires at the time a reporting agency forwards a report of
suspected child abuse or neglect to the DOJ, that the agency
notify the known or suspected child abuser that he or she has
been reported to CACI. This requirement applies only to
reports forwarded to DOJ after January 1, 1998 (the date upon
which the requirement became operative). [Penal Code Section
11165(b).]
6)Defines the following types of suspected child abuse or
neglect reports:
a) "Unfounded report" is a report that is determined by the
investigator to be false, inherently improbable, an
accidental injury, or not to constitute child abuse or
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neglect, as defined.
b) "Substantiated report" is a report that is determined by
the investigator based on some credible evidence to
constitute child abuse or neglect, as defined.
c) "Inconclusive report" is a report that is determined not
to be unfounded, but in which the findings are inconclusive
and there is insufficient evidence to determine if child
abuse or neglect, as defined, has occurred. (Penal Code
Section 11165.12.)
7)Requires the DOJ to maintain an index of all reports of child
abuse and neglect submitted by the specified reporting
agencies. The index shall be continually updated and shall
not contain any reports determined to be unfounded. [Penal
Code Section 11170(a)(1).]
8)States that the DOJ shall act only as a repository of the
suspected child abuse or neglect reports that are maintained
in CACI, and that the reporting agencies are responsible for
the accuracy, completeness, and retention of reports. [Penal
Code Section 11170(a)(2).]
9)Requires that information from an inconclusive or
unsubstantiated suspected child abuse or neglect report shall
be deleted from CACI after 10 years if no subsequent report
concerning the suspected child abuser is received within the
10-year period. [Penal Code Section 11170(a)(3).]
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Author's Statement : According to the author, "This bill
creates a process by which minors (younger than 18 at the time
of the reportable incident), reported to CACI as a suspect in
a case of abuse or neglect, may petition DOJ to have their
name purged from CACI unless the reportable incident resulted
in an adjudication or criminal conviction. If the incident
resulted in an adjudication or criminal conviction, the
suspect would NOT be eligible for this purging process, which
is similar to the current law process for victims of child
abuse and neglect to have their names purged from CACI."
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2)Background : Under existing law, specified child-care
custodians, health practitioners, law enforcement officers,
and other medical and professional persons are required to
report instances of suspected child abuse or neglect to a law
enforcement or child protection agency. The reports are
confidential.
Following an investigation, the responding agency classifies the
case as "substantiated", meaning there is credible evidence of
abuse; "inconclusive", meaning they cannot say whether abuse
has occurred; or "unfounded", meaning there was no abuse. An
investigating agency must forward a summary of the report to
DOJ when the case is determined to be either substantiated or
inconclusive.
Under existing law, DOJ maintains inconclusive reports for 10
years unless, within that period, there is another report
involving the same suspect. If such a subsequent report is
submitted, DOJ will extend the time it keeps the reports for
another 10 years. Substantiated reports are kept
indefinitely.
DOJ maintains the report summaries in CACI, which may be
indirectly accessed by law enforcement for case investigation
or by child welfare agencies when they are placing children in
a home either temporarily or at the time of adoption. Reports
may also be accessed as part of a background check for
employment in childcare and related positions. Neither law
enforcement, nor child welfare agencies have direct online
access to DOJ's summary information. DOJ does not have an
active role in the system but rather informs law enforcement
and child placement agencies that there is a report of abuse
in the system and directs a requesting agency with the name of
the original investigating agency for the actual report.
For example, DOJ can inform the San Jose Police Department that
a San Francisco child protection agency reported a
substantiated or inconclusive case of child abuse involving
the same suspect or child. The San Jose Police Department
cannot use the DOJ's information directly; the police must
conduct an independent investigation, including contacting the
reporting agency and obtaining the case information.
There is general agreement among interested parties that CACI
should undergo a programmatic review. Concerns have been
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raised regarding CACI procedures as well as its value in
protecting children.
3)Argument in Support : According to the County Welfare
Directors Association of California , "Children placed in
foster care due to abuse or neglect may act out due to their
own past abuse. When this behavior results in a report of
alleged abuse or neglect, their own caseworkers often are
required to send information to the index, which DOJ maintains
for use by local law enforcement and child welfare agencies
and certain potential employers.
"Current law requires these children to be listed on CACI even
in cases where no criminal or delinquency charges are ever
filed. In most instances these youth have no notice that they
are included on the CACI and learn of this fact only as
adults, when they are adversely impacted as they pursue job
opportunities or other activities for which a CACI check is
required. Children were themselves victims of abuse or
neglect can, as adults, be prevented from adopting their
siblings, providing foster care, or obtaining employment as a
teacher or child care worker due to relatively minor
transgressions in their past."
4)Argument in Opposition : The California District Attorneys
Association states, "There are many reasons why a juvenile's
suspected abuse or neglect of a child may not result in a true
finding or conviction. It might be the case that the victim
wasn't cooperative or was too young to cooperate. Perhaps
there was a criminal trial that resulted in a hung jury. It
would still be important to maintain these suspects in the
index if, for example, the suspect later seeks employment in a
daycare center or residential facility. Additionally, if the
individual were to be accused of a similar crime, the
information would be valuable as potential propensity evidence
in the current case. If an investigation reveals that a
report is inconclusive or unsubstantiated, the suspect's name
will automatically be deleted after ten years pursuant to
existing law. If a report is unfounded, it would not be in
the index in the first place."
5)Prior Legislation :
a) AB 2442 (Keeley), Chapter 1064, Statutes of 2002,
established the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act Task
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Force for the purpose of reviewing the Act and the CACI./
b) SB 1312 (Peace), Chapter 1106, Statutes of 2002, gave
persons subject to inclusion on CACI a right to a hearing,
and establishes procedures by which these persons may
contest their inclusion on the CACI. SB 1312 was later
amended into an unrelated subject matter.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Welfare Directors Association (Co-Sponsor)
Conference of Delegates of the California Bar Association
(Co-Sponsor)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
Prevent Child Abuse California
Taxpayers for Improving Public Safety
Opposition
California District Attorneys Association
Analysis Prepared by : Gregory Pagan / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744