BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1048
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1048 (Torrico)
As Amended June 1, 2009
Majority vote
PUBLIC SAFETY 5-0 APPROPRIATIONS 8-2
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|Ayes:|Solorio, Furutani, Hill, |Ayes:|Feuer, Brownley, Evans, |
| |Ma, Skinner | |Jones, Krekorian, Lieu, |
| | | |Monning, Nielsen |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | |Nays:|Tran, Knight |
| | | | |
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APPROPRIATIONS 14-3
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|Ayes:|De Leon, Nielsen, Ammiano, | | |
| |Charles Calderon, Davis, | | |
| |Fuentes, Hall, John A. Perez, | | |
| |Price, Skinner, Solorio, Audra | | |
| |Strickland, Torlakson, Krekorian | | |
| | | | |
|-----+---------------------------------+--+----------------------|
|Nays:|Duvall, Harkey, Miller | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Expands the "Safe-Surrender Law" to allow a parent or
other person with the lawful custody of a child 30 days old or
younger to be surrendered to safe-surrender sites, as specified.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Defines "safe-surrender" site as:
a) A location designated by the board of supervisors of a
county or by a local fire agency, upon the approval of the
appropriate local governing body of the agency, to be
responsible for accepting physical custody of a minor child
who is 30 days old or younger from a parent or individual who
has lawful custody of the child and who surrenders the child
pursuant to existing law. Before designating a location as a
safe-surrender, the designatory entity shall consult with the
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governing body of a city if the site is within the city
limits, and with representatives of a fire department and a
child welfare agency that may provide services to a child who
is surrendered at the site if that location is selected; and,
b) A location within a public or private hospital designated
by that hospital to be responsible for accepting physical
custody of a minor child who is 30 days old or younger from a
parent or individual who has lawful custody of the child and
who surrenders the child pursuant to existing law.
2)States that no parent or other individual having lawful custody
of a minor 30 days old or younger may be prosecuted under
existing law if he or she voluntarily surrenders physical
custody of the child to personnel on duty at a safe-surrender
site.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, minor, potentially state-reimbursed costs for local
entities and governments to consult on the designation of
safe-surrender sites.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "Recently, 22 states have time
provisions that give a parent a month or longer to safely
surrender their baby. North Dakota and Missouri have safe
surrender laws that give parents up to a year.
"A survey of these states elicited two primary rationales for the
extended period. The first was a general desire to provide
sufficient time for a parent to take a responsible course of
action.
"The second was the correlation between the onset of postpartum
depression and infanticide or abuse. In our neighboring state,
Nevada, Assemblywoman Barbara Cegavske responded that they were
trying to leave enough time and space in between when a mother
abandoned her baby and went through any postpartum depression
episodes that might be experienced.
"According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders, Fourth Edition, postpartum depression is defined as
episodes of depression beginning within 4 weeks of giving birth.
Cases in which postpartum depression poses the greatest danger to
the child is when the mother is suffering from postpartum
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psychotic depression. Postpartum psychotic depression can occur
within 3 weeks of birth and often goes unnoticed as the women that
suffer from postpartum depression may appear well.
"In California specifically, there are three major obstacles for
mothers seeking to surrender their baby:
1)"Health: Even without the onset of postpartum depression, the
strenuous act of giving birth itself takes a toll on a woman's
mind and body, impairing judgment and depleting physical
strength. Additionally, many women who end up abandoning their
children are often in denial of their pregnancy and those around
her are even unaware of her pregnancy. Without prenatal care or
medical assistance during birth, several complications may arise
that inflict serious trauma, including maternal hemorrhaging.
These types of complications could take days or weeks to
recover, which could cause her to miss the opportunity to safely
surrender her baby.
2)"Geographic: California is geographically diverse. A
significant number of California's counties are composed of
rural and remote areas with limited transportation options,
making quick travel difficult. This problem is exacerbated when
fire stations cannot be designated as safe surrender sites
because they are not staffed 24 hours. In Alpine and Sierra
counties, the situation is even worse. Those counties do not
have ANY safe surrender sites because they do not have any
hospitals or any viable designated surrender sites in their
counties.
3)"Outreach: The existing law does not require any governmental
entity to administer and enforce the law, much less establish an
awareness campaign. There are varying levels of understanding
from county to county and even county to state. This lack of
clear comprehension of the law inevitably poses major problems
for those seeking to obtain the information and those that are
providing the information.
"While collecting information on safe surrender sites in the 58
counties, my staff quickly found that there was no comprehensive
list of safe surrender sites at the state level. At the county
level, only about 10 counties had a partial or complete list on
hand and a majority of the others were unclear about the law. The
challenges faced in gathering this information at the governmental
level, only calls into question the law's effectiveness,
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notwithstanding language barriers.
"In California, there are over 6 million limited English
proficient residents and currently, informational pamphlets have
only been available in English and Spanish. Without access to
information for the nearest safe surrender sites and confusion
among county experts, it appears unreasonable to expect a
desperate mother to safely surrender within the 72 hour window.
"Most of the babies this law seeks to save are born to mothers
with extenuating circumstances and to whom normal and reasonable
standards do not apply."
Please see the policy committee for a full discussion of this
bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Nicole J. Hanson / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744
FN: 0001294