BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1817
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 1817 (Atkins)
As Amended August 24, 2012
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |75-0 |(May 29, 2012) |SENATE: |36-0 |(August 29, |
| | | | | |2012) |
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Original Committee Reference: PUB. S.
SUMMARY : Makes commercial computer technicians mandated
reporters of suspected child abuse and neglect for the purpose
of the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (CANRA).
The Senate amendments :
1)Provide that any commercial computer technician or an employer
of a commercial computer technician who provides access to a
computer to an investigating agency shall have immunity from
civil or criminal liability.
2)Add double jointing language with AB 1434 (Feuer), AB 1435
(Dickinson), AB 1713 (Campos), and SB 1264 (Vargas) to avoid
chaptering issues.
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 that incident immediately to a specified
child protection agency by telephone, and further requires a
written report be sent within 36 hours.
2)Defines a "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
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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
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
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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.
3)Requires a commercial film and photographic print processor
who has knowledge of or observes, within the scope of his or
her professional capacity or employment, any film, photograph,
videotape, negative, or slide depicting a child under the age
of 16 years engaged in an act of sexual conduct, to
telephonically report to the law enforcement agency having
jurisdiction over the case immediately, or as soon as
practicably possible, and subsequently to prepare and send,
fax, or electronically transmit a written report with a copy
of the film, photograph, videotape, negative, or slide
attached. The written report must be transmitted within 36
hours.
4)Provides that mandated reporters shall not incur any civil or
criminal liability for disseminating photographs with the
reports required by CANRA.
5)Provides that the reporting duties under CANRA are individual,
and no supervisor or administrator may impede or inhibit the
reporting duties, and no person making a report shall be
subject to any sanctions for making the report.
6)Provides that any mandated reporter who fails to report an
incident of known or reasonably suspected child abuse or
neglect is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by up to six
months confinement in a county jail, or by a fine of $1,000,
or by both imprisonment and fine.
7)Encourages, strongly, 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
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.
8)Requires that any person who reasonably believes he or she has
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observed the commission of a murder, rape, or lewd act upon a
child under the age of 14 years to notify a peace officer, and
provides that the failure to do so is a misdemeanor 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.
9)Excludes from the reporting requirements for those three
crimes the following people:
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
for his or her own safety or for the safety of his or her
family.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill made commercial computer
technicians mandated reporters of suspected child abuse and
neglect for the purpose of CANRA. Specifically, this bill :
1)Made commercial computer technicians mandated reporters for
the purpose of the CANRA.
2)Defined a "commercial computer technician" as any person who
works for a company that is in the business of repairing,
installing, or otherwise servicing a computer or computer
component, including, but not limited to, a computer part,
device, memory storage or recording mechanism, auxiliary
storage recording or memory capacity, or any other materials
relating to the operation and maintenance of a computer or
computer network system, for a fee. A commercial computer
technician does not include a person who is mandated to report
suspected child abuse or neglect under federal law.
3)Defined "electronic medium" to include, but is not limited to,
a recording, CD-ROM, magnetic disc memory, magnetic tape
memory, CD, DVD, thumbdrive, or any other computer hardware or
media.
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FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee:
1)Potential ongoing costs, likely less than $150,000 (General
Fund) for increased state prison commitments to the extent
increasing the number of mandated reporters results in
additional felony convictions.
2)Ongoing costs to the Judicial Branch, likely in the range of
$25,000 to $50,000 (General Fund) for additional misdemeanor
and felony court filings.
3)Potential ongoing costs (Local Revenue Fund 2011/General Fund)
to county child welfare services departments for fielding and
investigation of increased mandated reports.
4)Minor, absorbable costs to the Department of Justice to
process additional CANRA reports.
5)Non-reimbursable local law enforcement costs due to additional
reporting and investigation, as well as increased enforcement
for failure to report, offset to a degree by fine revenue.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "AB 1817 would add
commercial computer technicians to the list of mandated
reporters of child abuse and neglect.
"Recent, high-profile cases of child sexual abuse have brought
national attention to the need for stronger protections for
children. California law currently mandates forty professions
to report suspected child abuse and neglect. Recently, one of
those professions - commercial film developers - reported to law
enforcement when they processed and identified photos of
children being sexually abused. That report led the Los Angeles
Sheriff's Department to uncover alleged long-standing abuses of
students by several teachers at Miramonte Elementary School in
South Los Angeles. This case clearly illustrates why commercial
film developers were designated as mandated reporters in the
first place.
"Like their counterparts in print media who process commercial
film and photos, commercial computer technicians are uniquely
positioned to discover child pornography in the course of their
work.
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"Within the past year, other events in California, Texas, and
West Virginia have highlighted the need and value in having
computer technicians as mandated reporters. In these recent
cases, computer technicians discovered child pornography in the
routine course of repairing a computer and reported it to law
enforcement. In each case, law enforcement was then able to
identify children who had been sexually exploited in those
images.
"In 2007, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
reported it had identified 9.6 million images and videos of
child pornography and believed there were millions more yet to
be identified.
"To reflect advances in digital technology and the resultant
shift in how the sexual exploitation of children is hidden and
shared, California needs to update its mandated reporter law to
include computer technicians.
"Ten states have already updated their mandated reporters of
child abuse and neglect laws to include computer technicians.
Those states are: Alaska, Illinois, Michigan, Mississippi,
Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina and
South Dakota.
"In 2010, the Department of Justice estimated that the child
pornography industry generates over $3 billion dollars annually
and that more than 200 new images of children being sexually
abused are circulated each day to drive market demand. Over
600,000 unique Internet Protocol (IP) addresses (i.e.,
individual computers) have been tracked trading these images in
the United States alone.
"Not surprisingly, with such easy access to digital material,
traditional print media has rapidly declined as a source of
child pornography. One study found that only 18 percent of
those arrested for possession of child pornography had print
images while 96 percent had digital images. Clearly, in order
to combat the pervasiveness of child pornography and the
continued exploitation of children, California law needs to be
updated to reflect these technological changes.
"Commercial computer technicians are on the front lines for
discovering child sexual abuse and pornography. Making them
mandated reporters protects children and helps law enforcement
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to find and stop the predators who abuse them."
Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion
of this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Gregory Pagan / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744
FN: 0005683