BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1048
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 1048 (Torrico)
As Amended July 15, 2010
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |67-9 |(June 3, 2009) |SENATE: |27-6 |(August 19, |
| | | | | |2010) |
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Original Committee Reference: PUB. S.
SUMMARY : Requires a designating entity to consult with the
governing body of a city, if the safe-surrender site is within
city limits, and with representatives of the applicable fire
department and child welfare agency.
The Senate amendments :
1)Require a designating entity to consult with the governing
body of a city, if the safe-surrender site is within city
limits, and with representatives of the applicable fire
department and child welfare agency.
2)Change the age from 30 days old or younger to 72 hours old or
younger to be surrendered to safe-surrender sites by a parent
or legal guardian.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill:
1)Defined a "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 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
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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)Stated 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
psychotic depression. Postpartum psychotic depression can occur
within 3 weeks of birth and often goes unnoticed as the women
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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, notwithstanding language barriers.
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"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: 0005310