BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1435
Page 1
Date of Hearing: March 6, 2012
Counsel: Stella Choe
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Tom Ammiano, Chair
AB 1435 (Dickinson) - As Amended: February 29, 2012
As Proposed to be Amended in Committee
SUMMARY : Makes athletic coaches, athletic administrators, and
athletic directors employed by a public or private youth center,
youth recreation program, or youth organization mandated
reporters for the purposes of the Child Abuse and Neglect
Reporting Act (CANRA). Specifically, this bill :
1)States that an organization, as specified, shall, by July 1,
2014, provide initial training to each person employed as an
athletic coach, administrator, or director on the following
matters:
a) The identification of child abuse and neglect;
b) Activities that constitute inappropriate and illegal
contact between a youth and an athletic coach, athletic
administrator or athletic director; and,
c) The responsibilities of a person identified as a
mandated reporter in this section, including, but not
limited to, all of the following:
i) To whom a report is required to be made;
ii) The information that is required to be included in a
report; and,
iii) The time within which a mandated reporter is
required to file a report.
2)Requires the initial training to consist of at least two hours
of classroom or other interactive training and education
provided by persons knowledgeable in the identification of
child abuse and neglect, inappropriate and illegal contact
between a youth and an adult, and statutory reporting
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requirements.
3)Provides that, on and after July 1, 2014, an organization, as
specified, shall provide initial training within six months of
the date that an individual is employed as an athletic coach,
administrator, or director, unless the individual received
training within two years prior to the date that the
individual is employed by the organization.
4)Provides that an individual employed as an athletic coach,
administrator, or director who has completed initial training
shall complete continuing training every two years; and this
training shall consist of at least one hour of classroom or
other interactive training and education.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Defines "mandated reporter" under CANRA as any of the
following: a teacher; an instructional aide; a teacher's aide
or teacher's assistant employed by any public or private
school; a classified employee of any public school; an
administrative officer or supervisor of child welfare and
attendance, or a certificated pupil personnel employee of any
public or private school; an administrator of a public or
private day camp; an administrator or employee of a public or
private youth center, youth recreation program, or youth
organization; an administrator or employee of a public or
private organization whose duties require direct contact and
supervision of children; any employee of a county office of
education or the State Department of Education, whose duties
bring the employee into contact with children on a regular
basis; a licensee, an administrator, or an employee of a
licensed community care or child day care facility; a Head
Start program teacher; a licensing worker or licensing
evaluator employed by a licensing agency as defined; a public
assistance worker; an employee of a child care institution,
including, but not limited to, foster parents, group home
personnel, and personnel of residential care facilities; a
social worker, probation officer, or parole officer; an
employee of a school district police or security department;
any person who is an administrator or presenter of, or a
counselor in, a child abuse prevention program in any public
or private school; a district attorney investigator,
inspector, or local child support agency caseworker unless the
investigator, inspector, or caseworker is working with an
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attorney appointed to represent a minor; a peace officer, as
defined, who is not otherwise described in this section; a
firefighter, except for volunteer firefighters; a physician
and surgeon, psychiatrist, psychologist, dentist, resident,
intern, podiatrist, chiropractor, licensed nurse, dental
hygienist, optometrist, marriage and family therapist,
clinical social worker, professional clinical counselor, or
any other person who is currently licensed as a health care
professional as specified; any emergency medical technician I
or II, paramedic, or other person certified to provide
emergency medical services; a registered psychological
assistant; a marriage and family therapist trainee, as
defined; a registered unlicensed marriage and family therapist
intern; a state or county public health employee who treats a
minor for venereal disease or any other condition; a coroner;
a medical examiner, or any other person who performs
autopsies; a commercial film and photographic print processor,
as defined; a child visitation monitor, as defined; an animal
control officer or humane society officer, as defined; a
clergy member, as defined; any custodian of records of a
clergy member, as specified; any employee of any police
department, county sheriff's department, county probation
department, or county welfare department; an employee or
volunteer of a Court Appointed Special Advocate program, as
defined; any custodial officer, as defined; any person
providing services to a minor child, as specified; an alcohol
and drug counselor, as defined; a clinical counselor trainee,
as defined; and a registered clinical counselor intern.
�Penal Code Section 11165.7(a).]
2)Provides that volunteers of public or private organizations,
except a volunteer of a Court Appointed Special Advocate
program, whose duties require direct contact with and
supervision of children are not mandated reporters but are
encouraged to obtain training in the identification and
reporting of child abuse and neglect and are further
encouraged to report known or suspected instances of child
abuse or neglect to a specified agency. �Penal Code Section
11165.7(b).]
3)Strongly encourages employers to provide their employees who
are mandated reporters with training in the duties imposed by
CANRA. This training shall include training in child abuse
and neglect identification and training in child abuse and
neglect reporting. Whether or not employers provide their
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employees with training in child abuse and neglect
identification and reporting, the employers shall provide
their employees who are mandated reporters with a statement
that informs the employee that he or she is a mandated
reporter and informs the employee of his or her reporting
obligations and of his or her confidentiality rights. �Penal
Code Section 11165.7(c).]
4)Encourages public and private organizations to provide their
volunteers whose duties require direct contact with and
supervision of children with training in the identification
and reporting of child abuse and neglect. �Penal Code Section
11165.7(f).]
5)Requires a mandated reporter to make a report to a specified
agency whenever the mandated reporter, in his or her
professional capacity or within the scope of his or her
employment, has knowledge of or observes a child whom the
mandated reporter knows or reasonably suspects has been the
victim of child abuse or neglect. The mandated reporter shall
make an initial report to the agency immediately or as soon as
is practicably possible by telephone and the mandated reporter
shall prepare and send, fax, or electronically transmit a
written followup report thereof within 36 hours of receiving
the information concerning the incident. The mandated
reporter may include with the report any nonprivileged
documentary evidence the mandated reporter possesses relating
to the incident. �Penal Code Section 11166(a).]
6)Any mandated reporter who fails to report an incident of known
or reasonably suspected child abuse or neglect as required by
this section is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by up to
six months confinement in a county jail or by a fine of one
thousand dollars ($1,000) or by both that imprisonment and
fine. If a mandated reporter intentionally conceals his or
her failure to report an incident known by the mandated
reporter to be abuse or severe neglect under this section, the
failure to report is a continuing offense until a specified
agency discovers the offense. �Penal Code Section 11166(c).]
7)Defines "child" under CANRA to mean person under the age of 18
years. (Penal Code Section 11165.)
8)Defines "child abuse or neglect" under CANRA to include
physical injury or death inflicted by other than accidental
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means upon a child by another person, sexual abuse as defined,
neglect as defined, the willful harming or injuring of a child
or the endangering of the person or health of a child as
defined, and unlawful corporal punishment or injury as
defined. "Child abuse or neglect" does not include a mutual
affray between minors. "Child abuse or neglect" does not
include an injury caused by reasonable and necessary force
used by a peace officer acting within the course and scope of
his or her employment as a peace officer. (Penal Code Section
11165.6.)
9)Requires any person who reasonably believes that he or she has
observed the commission of any of the following offenses where
the victim is a child under the age of 14 years shall notify a
peace officer:
a) Murder;
b) Rape; and,
c) Any lewd or lascivious act upon or with the body, or any
part or member thereof, of a child with the intent of
arousing, appealing to, or gratifying the lust, passions,
or sexual desires of that person or the child by use of
force, violence, duress, menace, or fear of immediate and
unlawful bodily injury on the victim or another person.
�Penal Code Section 152.3(a).]
10)States that the failure to notify as required pursuant to the
provisions above is a misdemeanor and is punishable by a fine
of not more than $1,500, by imprisonment in a county jail for
not more than six months, or by both that fine and
imprisonment. �Penal Code Section 152.3(c).]
11)Excludes from the reporting requirements above the following:
a) A person who is related to either the victim or the
offender, including a husband, wife, parent, child,
brother, sister, grandparent, grandchild, or other person
related by consanguinity or affinity;
b) A person who fails to report based on a reasonable
mistake of fact; and,
c) A person who fails to report based on a reasonable fear
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for his or her own safety or for the safety of his or her
family. �Penal Code Section 152.3(e).]
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Author's Statement : According to the author, "A number of
recent events involving instances of sexual abuse between
athletic coaches and youth whom coaches instruct, has focused
attention as to whether coaches have the proper training about
what constitutes sexual abuse of minors, and what to do if
they, as coaches, become aware of a youth who is or has been
the subject of abuse. Perhaps the highest profile event
concerned the late Penn State football coach, Joe Paterno, who
claimed in an interview, that upon receiving a report of
another coach who was abusing youth 'I didn't know exactly how
to handle it . . . ' Recently, an article in the Sacramento
Bee identified at least a half dozen cases of improper contact
and sexual abuse between coaches and youth who were in their
charge, in the Sacramento region alone, within a six month
period. These and other reports have underscored shortcomings
in both the state's mandated reporter law?coaches are not
explicitly covered, and a lack of training and education of
athletic coaches, administrators and directors, in terms of
what is inappropriate and illegal behavior, and what to do if
they become aware of such behavior.
"California has taken the lead in making sure people are safe in
their workplace and that their civil rights are protected.
For example, the state has mandated employers provide sexual
harassment training in organizations that employ 50 or more
workers. It is equally, or even more important that children
are similarly protected and that every precaution be taken to
ensure that goal, especially when youth are in situations of
trust such as that which exists between a coach and children
they instruct. In that regard, closing the coaching gap in
California's Mandated Reporter law and requiring athletic
coaches, administrators, and directors receive the sexual
abuse and neglect training required by this legislation, takes
a big step forward in achieving that goal."
2)Background : According to information provided by the author,
"Currently, people working in a variety of professions are
required to report instances of child sexual abuse and
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neglect. However, there is a gap in current law. Athletic
coaches, administrators and directors are not specifically
cited in the current statute. Athletic coaches hold a
particularly high position of trust with the youth they work
with, and there should be no mistake or confusion that
coaches, administrators and athletic directors should be
included as Mandated Reporters.
"While current law encourages organizations to train employees
who are listed as Mandated Reporters, there is no requirement
to do so. In light of recent events involving athletic coaches
and their supervisors failing to make timely reports of
instances of child abuse and neglect, it is imperative that
training in the identification and reporting of child abuse be
required, not just encouraged, as well as training and
education about what constitutes inappropriate and illegal
contact between an athletic coach, administrator or director,
and a youth."
3)Penal Code Section 152.3 : Under Penal Code Section 152.3, any
person who reasonably believes that he or she has observed the
commission of rape or a forcible lewd or lascivious act upon a
child under the age of 14, shall notify a peace officer.
Failure to notify a peace officer is punishable by a fine of
not more than $1,500, by imprisonment in a county jail for not
more than six months, or by both that fine and imprisonment.
Regardless of whether an individual is deemed a mandated
reporter for the purposes of CANRA, any person who witnesses
rape or a forcible lewd or lascivious act upon a child under
the age of 14 is required under current law to notify a peace
officer, and faces criminal prosecution if he or she fails to
do so.
4)Rise in Incidents of Child Sex Abuse ? According to a recent
news article, "The overwhelming media coverage after the
arrest of Miramonte Elementary School teacher Mark Berndt for
allegedly spoon-feeding his semen to blindfolded children has
intensified discussion among school officials, parents and
children about abuse. But whether more children are being
abused or more abusers are being caught is difficult to say.
Law enforcement officials stressed that they don't believe
that more abuse is occurring. Rather, the Miramonte episode
has sparked some people to come forward and others to be more
watchful, they say. Los Angeles Police Capt. Fabian E.
Lizarraga, who oversees child sex crime investigations, said
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the department has seen an increase in allegations of 'child
annoyance' more than of more serious sexual misconduct."
�Winton, Blume, and Allen, Spate of arrests shows rise in
reporting, not in abuse, police say, L.A. Times (Jan. 24,
2012).]
A recent Sacramento Bee article named several coaches, pastors
and school administrators in the Sacramento region who have
been arrested or charged with molesting children. The article
notes, however, that crime statistics indicate a decline in
sex offenses against children. "Through November, Sacramento
police wrote 61 crime reports involving sex offenses against
children, down 25 percent from the previous year, police data
show. Officers took another 118 informal reports of sex
offenses against minors, down 20 percent from the prior year.
The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department also showed a
decline in child sex offenses through the first 11 months of
2011, but the drop was slight." �Breaton, Mentors accused of
child molestation betray our trust, Sacramento Bee (Jan. 15,
2012).]
5)Argument in Support : According to the American Federation of
State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) AFL-CIO ,
"Athletic coaches hold a particularly high position of trust
with the youth they work with and as a result there should be
no mistake or confusion that coaches, administrators and
athletic directors should be included as Mandated Reporters."
6)Related Legislation :
a) AB 1434 (Feuer) makes an employee of a public or private
institution of higher education a mandated reporter. AB
1434 will be heard by this Committee today.
b) AB 1438 (Bradford) makes it a misdemeanor punishable by
up to six months in the county jail to fail to report to a
peace officer an instance of known or suspected child
sexual abuse. AB 1438 will be heard by this Committee
today.
c) AB 1564 (Lara) makes volunteers of public and private
organizations, including non-profits, mandated reporters
under CANRA, and revokes a non-profit's tax exempt status
if an employee or volunteer fails to report an instance of
known or suspected child abuse. AB 1564 will be heard by
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this Committee today.
d) AB 1628 (Beall) makes technical, non-substantive changes
to the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act. AB 1628 is
pending rereferral by the Assembly Rules Committee.
e) AB 1713 (Campos) expands the list of persons identified
as mandated reporters to include commercial-film and
photographic-print or image processors, and also expands
the list of media to which CANRA provisions apply to
include, among other things, any representation of
information, data, or an image. AB 1713 has not yet been
set for hearing by this Committee.
f) AB 1817 (Atkins) expands the list of persons identified
as mandated reporters to include commercial computer
technicians. AB 1817 has not yet been set for hearing by
this Committee.
g) SB 1264 (Vargas) expands the list of persons identified
as mandated reporters to include athletic coaches at public
or private postsecondary institutions, and increases the
penalties for failure to report an incident. SB 1264 is
pending referral by the Senate Rules Committee.
7)Previous Legislation :
a) SB 646 (Watson), Chapter 1444, Statutes of 1987,
established CANRA, which requires specified persons who
have knowledge of or observe a child in their professional
capacity or within the scope of their employment, whom the
person knows or reasonably suspects has been the victim of
child abuse to report the known or suspected instance of
child abuse to a child protective agency, as defined.
b) AB 1241 (Rod Pacheco), Chapter 916, Statutes of 2000,
expanded the list of mandated reporters and training
requirements under CANRA, and required that specified
additional information be included in a report of suspected
abuse or neglect.
c) AB 525 (Chu), Chapter 701, Statutes of 2006, expanded
the definition of "child abuse and neglect" to include
instances in which a child suffers or is at substantial
risk of suffering serious emotional damage.
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d) AB 673 (Hayashi), Chapter 393, Statutes of 2007, added
death by other than accidental means to the definition of
"child abuse and neglect," and clarified that a mandated
reporter not acting in his or her private capacity or in
the course and scope of his or her employment may report
instances of known or suspected child abuse.
e) AB 2380 (Lowenthal), Chapter 123, Statutes of 2010,
clarified that a "reasonable suspicion" that a child has
been a victim of child abuse or neglect does not require
certainty that a child has been abused, and may be based on
credible information from other individuals.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
American Federation of State, County, and
Municipal Employees (AFSCME), AFL-CIO
California Protective Parents Association
Child Abuse Prevention Center
Crime Victims United of California
Opposition
None
Analysis Prepared by : Stella Choe / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744